ago

Ago means in the past.

It’s always used in combination with other words that indicate exactly or about how much time has passed since something happened—never by itself (you wouldn’t say That happened ago).

Examples of such phrases are three weeks ago, an hour ago, five days ago, long ago, and a long time ago.

Example: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ….

Ago entered English long ago, before the year 1000. It comes from the Old English word āgān, meaning “to go by” or “to pass.” It uses the prefix a-, which is added to verbs to indicate the start or end of an action (as in arise). The go part comes from the same word that gave us the English verb go.

Ago is so common that we can take it for granted, but there’s no simpler way to say what it says. With just three letters, it acts as a time machine, taking us from the present to the past. How far back it takes us is determined by the words that it follows, from one second ago to billions of years ago to long, long ago.

Long ago is just one of the many common phrases that ago appears in, and it can also be used as a noun (as in In the long ago, we hunted and foraged for food) or a compound adjective (as in These monuments were built by long-ago civilizations).

Sometimes, ago is followed by the word today, as in nine years ago today, indicating that something happened exactly on this date nine years in the past.

Ago should not be confused with the noun phrase a go, as in The plan is a go (meaning that it has been approved) or Give it a go (meaning “try it”).

And, we’re sorry to point this out, but ago is one of those common words that starts to sound strange when you repeat it a bunch of times. Go on, give it a go.

What are some words that share a root or word element with ago? 

• go
• arise

What are some words that often get used in discussing ago?

• long
• minute
• hour
• day
• week
• month
• year
• past
• before
• since
• time

Ago is an extremely common word that’s used in all kinds of contexts.

Exactly five years ago today, I snapped this photo in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, as the Russia-instigated separatist uprising was gaining momentum and about to explode into all-out war. I wonder where this guy in the suit is now. pic.twitter.com/lcdBehNPLi

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 10, 2019

My dad told me a long time ago “if you have 1 to 2 true friends in life you’re doing good” I used to think he was crazy… he wasn’t lol

— Coach Jones 💪🏼 (@BrettJones58) April 14, 2020

"Once upon a time, long, long, long ago (like we're talking just after BC turned to AD) a dude named Ovid wrote his own fairytale about the gods Cupid and Apollo."

-Student, intro. to Apollo and Daphne essay

— Melissa (@magistrabeck) February 21, 2020

Is ago used correctly in the following sentence?

“You should stop living ago and start living in the present.”