I was wondering if I could take you to the cinema on Friday night
A question from Kimia in Iran:
My question is about the word ‘wonder’, ‘I am wondering’, ‘I was wondering’. Could you please explain the meaning of each phrase and how to use them in sentences?
Trudi Faulkner-Petrova answers
Click below to hear the answer:
How are you Kimia? I’ll do my best to stop you wondering how to use ‘wonder’.
In the kind of sentences you have asked about, ‘wonder’ means the same as ‘think’. Saying ‘I am wondering’ uses the present continuous tense. That tense implies that you’re thinking about something right now, at that moment and it emphasises that there’s something you don’t know or you haven’t decided upon. Here are a couple of examples:
I’m wondering whether to go to the party or not - means 'I’m thinking about it now but haven’t made a decision yet'.
I’m wondering if I should take a taxi to work today.
I’m wondering where Sammy is - which means 'I’ve been waiting 20 minutes for her and she still hasn’t arrived'.
Let’s move on now to ‘I was wondering’. As it uses the past continuous tense, it implies that you started thinking about a subject before the time of speaking. You state that the ‘wondering’ started in the past. Again a few examples:
I was wondering where you had put my sunglasses.
I thought I’d call you because I was wondering where you are at the moment.
I was wondering if we should go and visit Paula this weekend.
Of course, ‘I was wondering’ can be placed entirely in the past and referred to as an action you did yesterday, last week, last month. An example is:
Yesterday, I was wondering if we can afford to go to Thailand in May.
I was wondering last night whether you really love me.
As a general rule of thumb, if you are not sure which one to use, then say ‘I was wondering’. The reason is this: if a thought occurred to you (in your head) and then you immediately reported it to your friend, it was still ‘wondered’ in the past. That means saying 'I was wondering’ is always right!
Don’t forget that when ‘I was wondering’ is followed by ‘if’ or ‘whether’, it can be a polite frame for a question or request. I’ll leave you with some examples of this:
I was wondering if I could take you to the cinema on Friday night.
I was wondering whether you’d be able to help me move house
next weekend.
I was wondering if you’d mind writing me a letter of recommendation.
So now I’m wondering whether the use of ‘wonder’ makes sense to you and I’m hoping it does!
About Trudi Faulkner-Petrova
Trudi Faulkner-Petrova has a BA (Hons) in English, Bsc. in Psychology and Cert.TESOL. She has been teaching EFL, EAP and Business English in international schools, businesses and universities in Beijing over the last 10 years. Currently, she is a freelance tutor for ESOL, English Literature, SAT/TOEFL preparation and also works for the British Council as an IELTS and BULATS examiner. She is in the final year of studies for an Msc. in Psychology.
