I go play fotball at 5:00 p.m.

[Lenka]

I go play fotball at 5:00 p.m.

is the sentence completely correct? It sound a bit weird to me, but I don't know why... Anyway, I am not a native speaker, so I can't judge at all. Probably the usage of the verb pattern is the thing that seems that odd to me...

What do you think?

[Nikole]

I think it should be changed into
I go playing football at 5:00 p.m.

[Ouisch]

It depends upon the context. It would probably sound better if you said "I'm playing football at 5:00" or "I play football at 5:00."

"Can you join us for dinner tonight?"
"No, sorry; I'm playing football at 5:99."


"Are you available to work overtime this week?"
"No, I play football at 5:00 every day."

[Mister Micawber]

.
Still, the original sentence is fine (if you correct the spelling). It refers to a scheduled event:

I finish school at 4:30, and then I go play football at 5 pm. After football, I go home.


Go playing is quite odd, and probably impossible, although other verbs collocate: go fishing, go shopping, etc.
.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Ouisch

It depends upon the context. It would probably sound better if you said "I'm playing football at 5:00" or "I play football at 5:00."
"Can you join us for dinner tonight?"
"No, sorry; I'm playing football at 5:99."
"Are you available to work overtime this week?"
"No, I play football at 5:00 every day."

And another context: someone with his holdall in his hand, opening the door to go out:

"I'm going to play football". This isn't really the 'going to' future of 'play'. He's saying 'I'm going' and he's adding his reason for going.

A way to avoid having to think about the 'going' verb at all wd be to say

"I'm off to play football."

("I'm/he's/they're [etc] off" is a pretty common and useful idiom.)

b

[Philly]

Originally Posted by BobK

"I'm going to play football". This isn't really the 'going to' future of 'play'. He's saying 'I'm going' and he's adding his reason for going.
A way to avoid having to think about the 'going' verb at all wd be to say
"I'm off to play football."
("I'm/he's/they're [etc] off" is a pretty common and useful idiom.)
b

In AmE, there probably wouldn't be any confusion between the 'be going to' future and the present continuous of 'go' whatsoever seeing as the 'going to' future would be pronounced as 'gonna' whereas the present continuous of go would not.
.

[Lenka]

Thank you for your replies!