Learn English – What’s the difference between “next Friday” and “the next Friday”

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Say it's Monday, June 9 today, and yesterday Paul told me that he will have a test on Friday, June 13. Are the following sentences correct, or should it be the other way around?

Paul said, "I'll have a test next Friday."

Paul said that he'd have a test the next Friday.

Besides, how should I refer to the Friday in the next week (June 20)?

Best Answer

Your use of them is correct.

Local dialects aside, "next Friday" is prospective (looking forward). It's what I would use right now to talk about the Friday a few days from now. By contrast, "the next Friday" is retrospective (looking back). You would use it in past tense, to refer to a Friday that is already in the past.

A clearer example:

Paul said, "I can't come to the party, I have a test next Friday."

Several months later, Paul heard Alice and Bob talking about how fun the party was and sadly said, "I couldn't go to the party, I had a test the next Friday."


Referring to the Friday after next Friday is largely a matter of dialect.

"The Friday after next" is the most common, and is prospective (like "next Friday"). The retrospective variation is technically "the Friday after the next", but I wouldn't use that; it sounds very stilted.

An alternative is "Friday week".