How Long Is “Soon”?

You may have heard people say “soon” in response to a question about how long something will take. But how long is “soon?” Do they mean a few days? A week? In this post, we’ll shed some light on what people may mean when they say “soon”.

How Long Is “Soon”?

There is no official consensus on how long “soon” is. Generally speaking, “soon” is supposed to mean “relatively quickly” or “in a short while”. However, some people say “soon” to mean “whenever they get a chance”, which could actually be any length of time.

With words like “soon”, the exact meaning really comes down to the individual. Different people have different ideas of what “soon” means. Because this is the case, there’s never really a way to know what exactly someone means when they say “soon”.

However, it is important to keep context in mind. Generally speaking, “soon” is relevant to the expectations of reasonable time that someone has.

For instance, if you were working on a project that would take three months and someone asked you how long it would take to do one task, “soon” could mean a week. In that scenario, a week is a small and relatively brief period of time compared to the total length of the project.

However, if you were working on a project that is supposed to be finished in an hour, and someone asks you how long a certain part will take to complete, then “soon” would likely only be a matter of minutes. “Soon” is mostly understood in reference to expected timeframes.

But even taking context into consideration, there is still no way to truly be sure. If you are unsure of what someone means when they say “soon”, the only way to get an exact or more specific time is to ask them directly.

How Long Is “Soon” In Minutes?

Generally speaking, if the timeframe being discussed is a matter of hours (or even just a single hour), then soon will mean any length of time thirty minutes and lower. This is because most people would not consider more than half an hour to be “soon” if there was only an hour to do something.

How Long Is “Soon” In Days?

In terms of days, most people would mean “soon” to be implying three days or less. Rarely would anyone mean “soon” as more than that, because four or more days would be more than half a week, and that period of time would be unlikely to be interpreted as “soon”.

How Long Is “Soon” In Years?

Once we get into years, “soon” could mean anything. Years are already very lengthy periods of time. Some might consider one or two years to be soon. Others might believe that five years is soon. For some, even a decade might be “soon”.

Usually, “soon” in years has to do with the point of reference. If we are thinking about all of history and its thousands of years, than a small frame of time like a hundred years might be “soon”. But if we are thinking of the roughly hundred years of one person’s life, a decade might be “soon”.

How Long Is “As Soon As Possible”?

“As soon as possible” does not describe any specific length of time. It only describes that someone is referring to whatever amount of time is necessary before they are capable of doing something.

“As soon as possible” could mean any length of time; whatever length of time passes before something is possible.

Why Do People Say “Soon”?

People say “soon” as a vague answer when they don’t have a specific timeframe in mind. If they cannot state a specific time, they might say “soon” to imply that they don’t know how long, but that the length of time will not be particularly long.

Conclusion

Ultimately, there is no agreed upon consensus of what “soon” means. Everyone takes it to mean “a reasonably short period of time”, but everyone has a different idea of what that means. Because it is a matter of personal perception, “soon” can mean any length of time at all.