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At what point does next Tuesday mean

the next Tuesday that will come to pass

and no longer

the Tuesday after the Tuesday that will come to pass?

And, when does the meaning switch back?

Chris
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    This leads to lots of problem on a Sunday, as it is not even well defined what "next week" and "this week" means. – Ian Oct 11 '10 at 15:20
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    I suspect that 'next Tuesday' is that day when Wimpy finally pays for all those hamburgers he's eaten. – oosterwal Jan 30 '11 at 04:29
  • possible duplicate of How did "next day" come to mean "day of next week"? – FumbleFingers Nov 01 '11 at 18:42
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    Hey, you tricked me! Are we really supposed to close an older question as a duplicate of a newer one? – Daniel Nov 01 '11 at 21:11
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    I bet the imperial system stroke again. When does the entire world finally go metric? – MarcH Dec 03 '15 at 21:36
  • @MarcH I'm not sure how this question relates to the Imperial system, but people have tried and failed to institute metric weeks and metric clocks, and they were colossal failures. The idea that everything should be base-10 has been tested and been found a failure. Would you like to redesign computers to internally use base 10? Good luck. There are times when base 10 is not ideal. – iconoclast Sep 04 '18 at 16:14
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    To make this even more fun, US calendars split WEs in two and start their week on Sundays. – MarcH Oct 09 '19 at 19:43

8 Answers8

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To me, “next Tuesday” means the Tuesday that comes next week. For example, on Monday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 13, “next Tuesday” means October 19. Whereas on Monday, October 18, “next Tuesday” means October 26. “This Tuesday” refers to the Tuesday that comes this week, which on Wednesday would refer to yesterday, and on Monday refers to tomorrow. Similarly, “Last Tuesday” is the Tuesday that came last week. Without any descriptors, day names by themselves mean the next such day in the future unless used in the past tense. “He will do it on Tuesday” means the next time there is a Tuesday, which on Monday would mean “tomorrow” but on Wednesday would mean the following Tuesday. In the past tense, day names mean the last such day which occurred. “He did it on Tuesday” means the most recent day that was a Tuesday.

Not everyone may agree with this analysis, but in my experience this is what most people mean when they use “this”, “last”, and “next” with day names.

RegDwigнt
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nohat
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    To refer specifically to the most recently past Tuesday or the nearest approaching Tuesday, I say "this past Tuesday" or "this coming Tuesday"; to refer to the Tuesday that occurred in the most recently completed week, or the Tuesday of the next week that has yet to start, I say "last week Tuesday" or "next week Tuesday", respectively. This is the norm at least in my area of New England. – Jon Purdy Oct 08 '10 at 23:48
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    I notice people also say "the Tuesday after next", which would imply that the tomorrow (if it's Monday) is next Tuesday. – MSpeed May 05 '11 at 08:18
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    +1 I've tried explaining this to my family half a dozen times...Furthermore, I was just forcefully reminded of that scene in Spaceballs. "When will 'then' be 'now'?!" :) – kitukwfyer Jun 08 '11 at 21:34
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    As an AmEnglish speaker I agree with nohat's analysis. The British employ "Tuesday week" to clarify, which means 'Tuesday of next week,' or 'Tuesday in a week,' but certainly not the Tuesday of this week. – Mark Nov 02 '11 at 10:35
  • Yes, the common interpretation of "next Tuesday"==Oct 19th would seem to imply that "Tuesday after next"==Oct26. However, usually people who say "Tuesday after next" on Mon Oct. 11 are just being explicit in referring to the Oct26 Tuesday to avoid confusion. To me the use of "next Tuesday" is quite ambiguous when there is a Tuesday during the current week, and I always ask for clarification of the exact date. – AaronLS Mar 16 '15 at 18:33
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    This does not answer the question. During which of the nights (presumably between Friday and Monday) does the change of meaning take place? And at which point in time (presumably some midnight)? – Marc van Leeuwen Mar 23 '15 at 10:59
  • It is my impression that Americans do not use the term Tuesday week. On Sunday 9th, in Britain, I might say My next appointment with the chiropodist is Tuesday week, which means Tuesday 18th. But I believe this usage may confuse the "diaspora English". Would I be right? – WS2 Jul 21 '15 at 16:08
  • @Mark Having been even more confused by it so many times, I absolutely loved your "...employ Tuesday week to clarify" :-) – MarcH Dec 03 '15 at 21:42
  • "Tuesday week" to mean the Tuesday of next week is used in southeastern AmE, if not elsewhere. – Davo Jun 19 '17 at 11:50
  • DV as if I say on Wednesday 13th October "this Tuesday I'm working from home", I'm talking about the future (next week) not the past (this week). – AndyT Aug 24 '18 at 08:45
  • If you say next week, do you refer to the upcoming week or the one after? No wonder this very unconventional usage of next in the context of weekdays is causing so much confusion. If you miss the bus, you say "I'll take the next one" to mean the immediately upcoming one, not the one after. Losing at a game, you also say "better luck next time" to mean the very next time. Plus, in French, "next Friday" always means upcoming Friday. So it seems to me that using next to refer to the one after the upcoming in the context of weekdays is an anomaly. I can't find similar usages in other contexts. – rempsyc Jun 24 '21 at 17:56
  • Also, you claim that last Tuesday is the Tuesday of last week. But do you imply that saying "last Tuesday" to refer to the Tuesday that just passed (of the current week, say we are Friday) is incorrect usage? – rempsyc Jun 24 '21 at 17:57
  • @RemPsyc Yes, the use of last/this/next in "last/this/next $day_name" referring in context to the week rather than the particular day is anomalous. I do kind of think of it maybe a little like driving directions... does every change in position of the steering wheel constitute a "turn"? If the road has no intersections but changes directions by 90° or more does that constitute a "turn"? If you say "after the next turn" what does that refer to? Sometimes there is an implied context for use of these terms—English does not always obey strict rules of logic for this kind of thing. – nohat Jun 29 '21 at 20:57
  • If you miss a bus and say "I'll take the next one" you don't necessarily mean the very next bus that appears at that bus stop. You probably mean the next one that is running the same route as the one you missed, or the next one that goes to your destination. "Better luck next time" maybe refers to the very next game, but maybe it means the next day you play that particular game even if you have more matches that day, or the next time you play against that opponent even if you play against other opponents in the meantime. There's lots of potential ambiguity with terms like this/next/last. – nohat Jun 29 '21 at 21:01
  • ... and the grammar of English does not specify that one interpretation is correct and the rest are wrong. Rather, as I tried to imply in my answer by couching my explanation as meaning what it means "to me" and "in my experience this is what most people mean". Indeed, referring to "next Friday" on a Monday can be quite ambiguous, so you have to rely on context and intonation to determine meaning, and you can still be wrong, so best to confirm with the actual date. – nohat Jun 29 '21 at 21:06
  • But in answer to your first question—"If you say next week, do you refer to the upcoming week or the one after?"—for me, as in whenever I say "next week", I mean the week that begins after the current week ends. "Friday" = "upcoming Friday or most recent Friday, regardless of week, but depending on whether used with a past tense or present/future tense verb. "This Friday" = "Friday of this week" (but could only be in the future); "next Friday" = "Friday of next week"; "last Friday" = "Friday of last week". – nohat Jun 29 '21 at 21:13
  • As a middle-aged, mid-western, native speaker of American English, I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone use "this Tuesday" to mean a day in the past. Granted, it would be clear given the tense of the sentence, but "I went to the store this Tuesday" sounds awkward to me. I would say, "I went to the store on Tuesday" or "I went to the store Tuesday," never "...this Tuesday." If someone starts a sentence with "This Tuesday..." the default meaning would be the upcoming future Tuesday until they used a past tense verb. Maybe it's a regional difference. – Todd Feb 03 '24 at 22:58
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This clearly has no definitive answer - usage varies between speakers. To me, "next Tuesday" means (strictly) the next instance of a Tuesday, although I just wouldn't use it on Sunday or Monday (preferring the day after tomorrow/tomorrow or an unqualified "Tuesday", which generally refers to the current week, past or present). However, I accept that this is personal and that others may sometimes mean "the next Tuesday but one", bizarre as that may seem.

This assumes that I know what day it is, which cannot always be relied on.

Albert Herring
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  • It has also struck me that the written form disguises two spoken forms: one contrastive, with emphasis on "next", the other unmarked and evenly stressed. I think that I'd almost always use the contrastive form for seven days from today, for example, or otherwise when there is perceived scope for confusion. When both the-next-Tuesday and the-Tuesday-after-that are referred to, "this Tuesday" and "next Tuesday" may be used together. And most of the comments relating to "next" can also be applied mutatis mutandis to "last". – Albert Herring Oct 09 '10 at 23:20
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    When I moved from Ireland to the USA I noticed that I was always getting into misunderstandings with Americans over "this" vs. "next". There was some subtle difference in usage between the two sides of the Atlantic that I never quite pinned down. I now consistently never use "this" or "next" alone. I will always say "this coming Tuesday" or "Tuesday of next week". – Eamonn O'Brien-Strain Nov 29 '12 at 06:36
  • I agree. Logically, any phrase that refers to a Tuesday that has not happened could be confused with the next Tuesday on the calendar, or the one after that. I've even seen "this" used to refer to the most recent in the past! As a result, I rarely use "next" or "this" and use dates to be exact and avoid problems. – ow3n Dec 13 '17 at 13:15
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My preferred use is to specify "this coming Tuesday" or "the Tuesday after next" when I talk about days, specifically because of the ambiguity of what "next Tuesday" could be.

That's just my preference, though.

munin
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    "the Tuesday after next" doesn't resolve the ambiguity. To someone for whom "next Tuesday" means "next week's Tuesday", "the Tuesday after next" means "the Tuesday after next week's Tuesday" i.e. "the Tuesday in two weeks". That's how I would interpret it. – JBentley May 07 '18 at 08:40
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My answer to another question making a similar inquiry about using the phrase "next week"—

The issue isn't as definitive as you might think. Ultimately, it comes down to what interpretation of "next" you consider to be correct. For example, the American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed) defines 'next' simply as

Immediately following, as in time, order, or sequence

Following this definition, "next weekend" will always mean the weekend with the start date in closes proximity in time. If the phrase is used during a weekend, of course, you'd be referring to the weekend following the one you are currently experiencing.

However, the issue gets more complicated if you look to other definitions. The Oxford American Dictionary has a specific definition for 'next' when used in the context of time:

(of a day of the week) nearest (or the nearest but one) after the present : not this Wednesday, next Wednesday

Here, we're given the choice: it can either mean the weekend with the closest start date, or the following one (as specified by the parenthetical addition or the nearest but one).

This definition has come about mostly because of usage development. Many words and phrases in the english dictionary have meanings contrary to their technical definitions, and yet are still used commonly and considered valid. Thus, while technically "next" implies immediate sequence, it is used in other ways (which dictionaries like the OAD have accommodated for validity), so it's really a matter of personal preference. For example, it is unlikely that I will even use the phrase "next weekend" during the week, because some people might be confused as to what I am referring to. Instead, I will say "this weekend," unless it is currently the weekend, in which case I will say "next weekend."

Ryan Atallah
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"next-Tuesday" would be better said as "Tuesday of next week". Thus, the answer to your question would be "on Tuesday".

Christopher Bottoms
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There are several possibilities:

  1. This Tuesday is the Tuesday of the week that we are in. Next Tuesday is the Tuesday of the week we'll be in after this one. This appears to be the most common usage, and makes most sense when you're trying to distinguish between imminent Tuesdays.
  2. They both refer to the same date; this (coming) Tuesday, which is the next Tuesday on the calendar from today.
  3. This Tuesday refers to this (coming) Tuesday, or the Tuesday that comes next on the calendar from today. Next Tuesday refers to the Tuesday after this (coming) Tuesday, or the Second Tuesday on the Calendar from today. This usage seems rare... but is actually what I understood for many years (although I was aware that people didn't always share my views).

Some people switch meanings on Tuesday. For example, they mean (1) on Sunday and Monday, but (2) from Wednesday onwards.

Occasionally, I've heard people talking who have different understanding of the terms, but who happen to come to the same conclusion about the date of an appointment!

And then there's "Last Tuesday"... but let's not get started on that one!

All in all, unless you know that you speak the same "calendar language" as someone else (and it isn't always obvious) your best bet is to:

  1. Use a different way to express yourself, "Tuesday of Next Week", for example.
  2. Use dates, "Tuesday 11th".
  3. Or get out your calendar and point.
Kramii
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I know someone who would confuse it even further with the usage "Tuesday first" meaning the first Tuesday after today - where most people would interpret that as meaning a Tuesday which landed on the 1st of a month.

neil
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I think this question would be better if we spoke of Saturday rather than Tuesday because Saturday happens at (or near, depending on what day you feel starts the week off) the end of the week.

So on Monday the 1st I would say "this Saturday" to refer to the upcoming Saturday (the 6th). I would refer to "next Saturday" in contrast to "this Saturday". This and Next can't refer to the same thing, right? If you and I are catching taxis and I say "I'll take this taxi, you grab the next one" and you say "ok" and then try to climb into my taxi, arguing that this IS the next one... I'd regard you as insane.

The same applies to the days of the week and what I think is meant by "this [something]Day" is this week's [something]Day and "next" [something]Day as next week's something[Day].

Yevgeny Simkin
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  • You'd regard them as insane? That's rather disrespectful. "This" implies "here". If "this taxi" means anything, it refers to the taxi that's here. By contrast, there is nothing it could refer to if no taxi is here. Yet that is the situation with days. We are talking about a day which is in the future; it is not here; it is not "this". – Rosie F Jul 09 '21 at 17:55
  • @RosieF, We are talking about a day that belongs to "this" week or "next" week. "This Saturday" belongs to this week. Next Saturday belongs to next week. It's not about the day's proximity to the current day (as I interpret it). And "this" cab is technically the "next" cab - but any "sane" person (I use that term hyperbolically not as a medical diagnosis) understands that the next taxi is not also this taxi. – Yevgeny Simkin Jul 14 '21 at 15:43
  • 'We are talking about a day that belongs to "this" week or "next" week. ' And the idea you've stated there is the problem (or part of it). You're thinking of a day and a week it's in. You expect others to think of days the same way. But not everyone thinks of days that way. Someone might think of a day simply as a day -- it might be "next Saturday" purely by virtue of when it is in the future, nothing to do with weeks. – Rosie F Jul 14 '21 at 16:30
  • @RosieF - I get that not everyone sees it my way - I just think my way is the more consistent with how we generally use "this" and "next" in other contexts (hence my taxi analogy). When I say "this March" the 'this' naturally refers to the year. Though "last March" could easily mean the one that just passed rather than the one from the previous year. So yeah - it's not very clear but people should just learn to read each other's minds so all of this becomes moot. Perhaps they will... next Saturday. – Yevgeny Simkin Jul 15 '21 at 04:20
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    I like the taxi analogy @YevgenySimkin. Yes, the "next" taxi person is clearly insane. – Homer Sep 03 '21 at 13:54