This is what we were talking about in class

Wait... you WERE gonna do what?

The difficult part is not really gonna. The difficult part is moving your viewpoint into the past and then talking about something that was still in the future.

Use the Portuguese help without letting it do the work for you.

1 Try the English first.2 Open Português only if meaning is fuzzy.3 Close it and say the English again.

PAST VIEWPOINTVictor hears the plan.

His boss tells him about the Cirque du Soleil period.

FUTURE FROM THAT PASTThings were going to happen.

His boss would be away. Victor would have more responsibility.

LATERThe circus actually starts.

Now Victor can talk about what really happened.

PLAN / EXPECTATION

was / were going to + verb

Use it for a plan, intention, or expected event that was future at a past moment.

NOW My boss is going to be away.

PAST VIEW My boss was going to be away.

PT-BR · Ver em português

My boss was going to be away.

Meu chefe ia ficar fora / estaria ausente.

gonna is the informal spoken form of going to. Use it when speaking or in very informal writing; keep going to in normal written work.

FUTURE SEEN FROM THE PAST

would + verb

Use it when you report what you knew, thought, expected, or said about what came next.

NOW I will have to speak English.

PAST VIEW I knew I would have to speak English.

PT-BR · Ver em português

I knew I would have to speak English.

Eu sabia que teria que falar inglês.

Notice: would does not need was/were. It goes directly before the base verb.

Now / future	Past view of that future	What changed?
Cirque is going to perform.	Cirque was going to perform. PT-BR · Ver em português O Cirque du Soleil ia se apresentar.	is → was
The performers are going to come.	The performers were going to come. PT-BR · Ver em português Os artistas iam vir.	are → were
I am not going to replace him.	I wasn’t going to replace him. PT-BR · Ver em português Eu não ia substituí-lo.	am not → wasn’t
They aren’t going to sound the same.	They weren’t going to sound the same. PT-BR · Ver em português Eles não iam soar do mesmo jeito.	aren’t → weren’t
I will have to speak English.	I knew I would have to speak English. PT-BR · Ver em português Eu sabia que teria que falar inglês.	will → would
It will be difficult.	I thought it would be difficult. PT-BR · Ver em português Eu achei que seria difícil.	will → would

Two structures, one time idea.

Was/were going to usually highlights the plan or expectation itself. Would often appears after a past verb such as knew, thought, said, expected. They can overlap, but they are not mechanically interchangeable in every sentence.

Portuguese is a bridge, not a word-for-word formula.

In Portuguese, ia + infinitivo often helps you feel the meaning of was/were going to, while forms such as teria, seria, estaria often help with would. Use the translations to understand the idea, then come back to the English structure.

Keep these other uses of “would” outside this lesson for now.

“I wouldn’t go if I were you” is hypothetical. “When I was a kid, I would go by bus” describes a past habit. Here we are training future in the past.