Learn English – the time frame of “This weekend”

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On a weekday, the weekend or this weekend can refer either to the
previous weekend or the following weekend. You can use at, during, or
over in front of the weekend. Don't use any preposition in front of
this weekend.

My birthday was this weekend.

We might be able to go skiing this weekend.

Here is what I understood, suppose that today is Tuesday & I say:

My birthday was this weekend. (the previous weekend, ie 4 days ago)

We might be able to go skiing this weekend. (the following weekend., ie that will happen in 4 days)

And Cambridge Grammar says:

We often use this with words describing time and dates like morning,
afternoon, evening, week, month, year to refer to ‘the one that’s
coming’ or ‘the one we’re currently in’:

I’ll be with you some time this evening.

Johan seemed very happy this afternoon.

Ian is in Germany all this week.

If I say:

My birthday was this weekend.

Suppose today is Sunday, does that sentence mean my birthday happened on Saturday?

Suppose today is Friday, does that sentence mean my birthday happened at the weekend last week?

Best Answer

On McGRAW-HILL'S ESSENTIAL ESL Grammar, I found the following explanation about the use of this and that:

Generally speaking, this and these have a sense of "closeness," and that and those have a sense of "distance." The "closeness"/"distance" distinction can be either in space or in time.

The example given for the use when referring to a time was:

I was able to finish the project this week because I had more time than I did that week (a week at some more distant time in the past).

The importance seems to be the relative "closeness"; not if it is past or future.

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