Phrase Meaning – Understanding ‘This Monday’ and ‘Next Monday’

future-timephrase-meaningtime

Suppose it is Wednesday:

  1. Does the expression "This Monday" mean:

    • The Monday of the same week.
    • The Monday of the following week.

  2. Does the expression "Next Monday" mean:

    • The Monday of the following week.
    • The Monday of the week following the following week.

As an aside, I'm not even sure if the fact that this would work one way rather than another is a matter of which language is spoken (e.g. English), or whether the same reasoning as would be given by answers on this group would apply to other languages as well (as a matter of pure logic).

Best Answer

I agree with Tetsujin; native English speakers differ. I've heard native speakers use both meanings in each of the examples you give. I most often hear "this Monday" and "next Monday" to both mean "the Monday of the following week". And of course contextual cues can be used to determine if the speaker is intending "this Monday" to be in the past. "This Monday the weather was so nice I washed my car" is pretty clearly in the past.

I personally am in the habit of saying "this past Monday" and "this coming Monday" to clearly indicate which I mean.

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