How to use, Be supposed to

How to use Be supposed to

So, how do I use the expression, “be supposed to do something”? For example, what? Michael Jackson, you’re supposed to be dead. No I’m not dead. Oh, um, then I’m sorry. Don’t be sorry. So, be supposed to, basically it describes an expectation. Now this could be an obligation or responsibility but mainly, it’s an expectation. What people think should happen or should have happened. For example: so, you’re walking to work and your boss expects you to arrive at nine o’clock but, oh uh-oh, I think I’m late. It’s 9:30, you’re late. Everyone expected me to be at work at nine o’clock. But, we’ll use this in a passive. This form will always be in a passive. So, it will look like this: I version of be, was, because it’s past and it’s me; I was supposed to, that never changes. I was supposed to, the infinitive, be at work at 9:00. People expected me at 9:00 o’clock. I was supposed to be at work at 9:00. That’s how you’d say it. So it’s just an expectation.

You make a plan to meet your friend at 8 o’clock. You both say okay. Let’s meet at 8 o’clock at the cinema. So, your friend is at the cinema at 8 o’clock. Your friend arrives at the cinema. It’s 8 o’clock. She’s thinking 8 o’clock, we have a plan, my friend will arrive. Now and of course you’re a bad friend, you arrive late. Remember your plan was to meet at 8:00 not 8:30. She was expecting to meet at 8 o’clock. So, how can she say that? The expectation was to meet at 8 o’clock. We, it’s a past version of be, we were, remember that never changes, we were supposed to, what’s the verb? Meet, does it change? No, infinitive means the verb doesn’t change. We were supposed to meet at 8. We were supposed to meet at 8. Bad friend. So, again just remember that be supposed to, it’s just your expectation. Would you expect to happen? Would do you expect to have happened, like in this case.

Another example, you look at the weather on your phone and you see, ah today, I’m expecting a sunny day. So, it present, it is, supposed to, sunny, that’s an adjective so the verb is be; it’s supposed to be sunny. Now, if you’re in London and it’s supposed to be sunny, usually this happens. You just go outside your house and then. So now, this is a past expectation, it’s raining, but I wasn’t expecting rain, so: come on, it was supposed to be sunny today, what the hell England!! It was supposed to be sunny. My expectation, sunny.

So, this is a positive sentence. But, how about negative? Let’s say the same thing in a negative way. Okay, we need to make it opposite. Where does the negative go? Goes there. That’s our negative. Now, we need to change this to mean the same thing. Remember it was raining but he wasn’t expecting rain. So, it wasn’t supposed to be rainy or raining. It’s two options really. So, you could say, it wasn’t supposed to be rainy today. It wasn’t supposed to be raining, hmm.

So you think you understand be supposed to now? You understand nothing John Snow. Because, that’s not the only way we can use be supposed to, not just for expectation. It can be for an obligation but, in a polite way. Let me give you an example. So, in this case it shows an obligation or a rule but said in a maybe soft, polite way. So, for example, he wants to say, like, you mustn’t smoke in here but to say a bit soft, a bit polite, everyone knows that, don’t do this thing. He would say this way: he would say you aren’t, remember are, that’s the version of be, for you, you aren’t supposed to, remember never changes, smoke, the infinitive doesn’t change, in here. You aren’t supposed to smoke in here. We’ve learnt a different meaning. It’s an obligation. You aren’t supposed to smoke in here. But, listen to how I’m saying it. Supposed to, you can hear it in two ways. Supposed to, that’s the normal way but in casual conversation, people talk quickly so they pronounce it like, supposed to. Supposed to. Like that u isn’t there, spur, supposed to, sounds like this. Supposed to. You aren’t supposed to smoke in here. And again you can hear it both ways. Depends how fast the person is speaking.

Let’s imagine you’re with your friends and there’s a secret, someone has a secret. So, he wants to say: okay, I have a secret, I have an obligation not to tell you but you’re my best friend so I will. What do you think he’s going to say? I have an obligation not to tell you. So, it’s a negative, this. I’m not supposed to tell you. So, there you have two meanings of be supposed to do something. It’s mainly an expectation which could be an obligation. People expect you not to do something. And lastly just to remember, this is always impassive, be supposed to. You’d never say, I don’t suppose to do something, no. It’s always I’m not supposed to do something. Also never in “ing” form. Never in continuous form.