'For now'

Status
Not open for further replies.

ZOEYW

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hey there,

The phrase ' for now' means until later as I learned. Just want to make sure my understanding is correct. Here is the example I have. For now I will give you my text. It means I won't give the text to you until later on
not now.

Thanks,
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Who told you that "for now" means "until later"?
Your example uses "for now" incorrectly.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
"For now" means "this is true right now, but it might not be true later."

You live in an area experiencing flooding. You say to your worried mother, who is calling you from a long way away, "For now, we are safe, but don't worry - if anything changes, we will evacuate."

("until later" may not be grammatical either - If you had written "Until later I will give you my text" that would not be correct. "I will give you my essay later.")
 

Boris Tatarenko

Senior Member
Joined
May 6, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Not a teacher.

I think we can replace "for now" with "until a later time". For example: Goodbye for now. Am I right?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
No native speaker would say 'Goodbye until a later time'.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
We don't say "Goodbye until a later time" although it's understandable why speakers of other European languages might logically think that we do.

"Au revoir. A la prochaine" (French) = Goodbye. Until the next time.
Adios. Hasta la proxima (Spanish) = Goodbye. Until the next time.
Adios. Hasta luego (Spanish) = Goodbye. See you later. (Literally "until then").

After "goodbye", we use a variety of phrases:

See you later.
See you soon.
See you tomorrow/tonight/Monday.
Later! (a much more recent addition)
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
An even more recent addition: Laters.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top