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Hello English learners. Welcome back to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica

and today we’re looking at some more romance

we’re talking about dating

dating, exactly

And not only dating but asking someone to become your boyfriend or girlfriend.

Yeah, that’s true and so we’re gonna be focusing on language to express your romantic feelings. And also maybe some phrases you can use to ask someone out.

Very good. So I’m sure you guys are excited about this one so let’s listen to the dialogue for the first time.

A: Hey, you’re early! Where’s everyone?

B: Well. I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have an quiet evening all to ourselves.

A: Oh. Why?

B: Jennifer, there’s something I wanna ask you.

A: Sure. What is it?

B: Hmm. Okay, here’s the thing. I’ve always seen you as more than just a friend, and I can’t take it any more. I know you better than anyone. I know the pros and cons of your personality. I even know what side of the bed is yours! I think we would be great together, don’t you?

A: Are you serious? We’ve been friends for years! We can’t just change that overnight!

B: I know! I never had the guts to tell you. until today. So, what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?

A: I– I—I

I wonder is she going to say yes.

I know. She seems a little bit confused.

Well, I guess it’s always strange when your best friend suddenly wants to be your boyfriend or girlfriend.

It does happen though. It does happen. So why don’t we took a look at some of the vocabulary that was used in this dialogue to express these feelings and let’s start with fluency builder.

Fluency builder

Okay, so we’re doing things a little differently today. We’re looking at phrases and not just vocabulary words. So he used some wonderful friends to ask her to be his boyfriend and he started with this: here’s the thing

here’s the thing

here’s the thing

All right, that’s a very strange phrase here’s the thing. Is he giving her something?

Not quite. He’s not giving her an object but he’s giving her some information.

Okay, so it’s a very common way to start an idea.

that’s right

you’re about to tell the person the main problem or the main

the main piece of information

right? So you would start with here’s the thing and then start explaining.

Okay, why don’t we do an example?

for example you could say: all right, here’s the thing, people don’t like you.

All right, well, I hope they don’t say that to me but another example: Marco, here’s the thing, we’re behind in our podcasting. We have to work overtime.

Okay, so the main idea

yeah

very good, moving on to our next phrase.

He said I can’t take it

I can’t take it anymore

I can’t take it anymore

So he can’t take it anymore. Take what?

Well, why don’t we find out by listening to some examples?

example 1

The man next door has been so loud. I can’t take it anymore.

example 2

My boss always yells at me. I can’t take it anymore.

example 3

I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to quit.

All right, so basically is you can’t stand it, you can’t tolerate it anymore.

Exactly, this is a phrase we use when we are really frustrated.

Yeah when we’re frustrated or when we just can’t handle it anymore. And well after he finished his declaration of love, she responded by saying: are you serious?

are you serious?

are you serious?

Are you serious?

Okay, so what does she mean?

She’s just saying: really?

Exactly. It’s another way of saying really.

Yeah. So this is a phrase that’s really, it’s quite informal, isn’t it?

Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t use it in a business context.

no and it’s also something that is used mostly by younger people.

Right, if you say something that’s amazing or that’s incredible, hard to believe, you might get this response:

are you serious?

Right. So he is very serious but he confessed that he never had the guts to tell her

have the guts

I never had the guts to tell you

I never had the guts

all right so to have guts

that’s to be brave

to be brave, courageous

yeah

so we have some examples of how we would use guts in different situations so let’s listen.

example 1

I don’t have the guts to go Sky-diving.

example 2

I don’t have the guts to give a speech.

example 3

I’ve never had the guts to say no to my boss.

All right, so to have the guts to do something. Hey but Marco this word guts, it’s an interesting one.

yes it is because guts can also mean your internal organs

like your stomach and your intestines and your lungs

exactly, those are your guts

yeah, so when you have guts, you’re really brave

exactly, you’re courageous

all right, very good. Why don’t we listen to the dialogue for the second time? We’re going to slow it down a little bit and we’ll come back and look at some phrases and putting it together.

A: Hey, you’re early! Where’s everyone?

B: Well. I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have an quiet evening all to ourselves.

A: Oh. Why?

B: Jennifer, there’s something I wanna ask you.

A: Sure. What is it?

B: Hmm. Okay, here’s the thing. I’ve always seen you as more than just a friend, and I can’t take it any more. I know you better than anyone. I know the pros and cons of your personality. I even know what side of the bed is yours! I think we would be great together, don’t you?

A: Are you serious? We’ve been friends for years! We can’t just change that overnight!

B: I know! I never had the guts to tell you. until today. So, what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?

A: I– I—

That’s a little bit clearer this time but while I was listening I noticed that there’s some more great phrases that you can use together with different words. So let’s look at those now in putting it together

Putting it together

All right let’s take a look at the first one. He said I made a reservation just for the two of us

the two of us

just the two of us

so just the two of us, quite simply it means you and me, just us, right?

Right, just us. So why is this phrase important?

I think it’s a great way to show the idea only of only us, right?

right

and we can use that together with any number we want

so what about the four of us?

just the four of us

okay

just the eight of us

okay

so it suggests the idea of only us

okay. So he made the reservation just for the two of us because he thought they could have a quiet evening all to ourselves

all to ourselves

all to ourselves

all to ourselves

if you have something all to yourself or we have something all to ourselves

we have that thing all alone, we don’t have to share it

we don’t share, very good. So I guess you can say: my parents are out of town so I have the apartment or I have the house all to myself

or even: she wants to eat the cake all to herself

very good, so that’s a very good phrase

and you can use it with any pronoun. Well, so the guy is explaining that: I’ve always seen you as more than just a friend.

I’ve always seen you as

I’ve always seen you as

so basically is the perception or the way you consider that person

the way you think about that person

so I can say I’ve always seen you as a good friend

I’ve always seen you as a leader. Okay, so our last phrase is also the last thing we heard in the dialogue. He said: are you willing to give me a shot

are you willing to give me a shot

to give me a shot

give me a shot. All right, I think we have some more examples of how we could use, give me a shot, in different situations. So let’s listen

example 1

I know I can do this drawing better, just give me a shot.

example 2

The HR manager wasn’t going to hire me but he decided to give me a shot.

Okay so when you give someone a shot, you take a chance, right?

give that person or give an opportunity

all right so we don’t know if she will give him a shot or not but why don’t we listen to the dialogue once more to hear these phrases in action.

A: Hey, you’re early! Where’s everyone?

B: Well. I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have an quiet evening all to ourselves.

A: Oh. Why?

B: Jennifer, there’s something I wanna ask you.

A: Sure. What is it?

B: Hmm. Okay, here’s the thing. I’ve always seen you as more than just a friend, and I can’t take it any more. I know you better than anyone. I know the pros and cons of your personality. I even know what side of the bed is yours! I think we would be great together, don’t you?

A: Are you serious? We’ve been friends for years! We can’t just change that overnight!

B: I know! I never had the guts to tell you. until today. So, what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?

A: I– I—

All right so, an interesting dialogue and it opens up a cultural point

that’s right. So in dialogue the guy was asking her if she would be his girlfriend, right?

right but I guess it’s not very common among adults at least

yeah

in the English-speaking countries

yeah, we don’t say like: okay, so please will you be my boyfriend now, you know?

Right, right, right. You would do that maybe in high school

Yeah but even then I think it gets a little funny. I think for us when we start to have romantic relationships it just happens naturally, right? You never really have this conversation, will you be my boyfriend

right I guess afterwords you just start talking about other things which you just consider that you guys are already boyfriend and girlfriend

yeah

but there’s no real

there’s no official starting point

yeah, there is no official point that says okay now we are boyfriend and girlfriend

yeah

which is interesting because in other countries they do go through the formality of asking somebody to become their boyfriend

yeah but even you know like 20 or 30 years ago in English-speaking countries you would do this

oh, yeah, of course

and it was called going steady

going steady

so you would ask will you go steady with me

that means let’s become a stable couple

exactly

all right, so we want to hear your stories and well how you would do it in your country? Do you ask someone out? Do you maybe just give them the first kiss and that’s an automatic yes?

Well, I don’t know but I’m looking forward to hearing from our listeners. So guys check on our website Englishpod.com. You can leave your questions and comments there.

All right, we’ll see you guys there and until next time.

Goodbye.