FIGURE OUT vs FIND OUT

FIGURE OUT vs FIND OUT

Hello. Hello. Welcome to today’s live English lesson, here on the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube Channel. If you’re new here, welcome, we have live English lessons every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 a.m. EST, that’s the New York time zone. In the next two weeks there’s going to be a couple time changes because I’m going to be traveling to New York, so if you would like to get updates about the time changes, so that you can join me exactly at the right time, feel free to join my email group.

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When you get that free ebook, you will also receive free email lessons, and the best English tips and materials that I want to share with you. We have another little friend, today, my cat Pippin is curious about what we’re going to talk about today, and we’re going to be talking about two important phrasal verbs that often get confused, and even when I was thinking about them I was trying to think about what the exact difference is between figure out, and find out.

Today, I want to give you a fixed sentence structure that you can use with each phrasal verb, and we’re going to practice it here together. I hope if you’re here live with me you’re ready to write some sentences, give some feedback, and really use this as best as you can. We have friends from all over the world who are here. Hello. Hello. From South Korea, [inaudible 00:02:10], glad you’re here.

[inaudible 00:02:10], Márcio, [inaudible 00:02:14], hello. Welcome, from all over the world. Are you ready to find out how to use this word? Well, let’s start with one of these phrasal verbs, and then if you have any questions about how to compare them, feel free to do that. We’re going to talk first of all about figure out. Figure out. I want to ask you before we get started, how would you use this?

Can you make a sentence with figure out, before I even give any tips, any hints about it? I think it’s good to try first and see where you’re starting. Maybe you already are using it correctly. Great. I want to make sure that you’re on the right path, and we’ll do the same thing with the other phrasal verb. Let me know. What is a good sentence that you can make with figure out? Figure out.

Then I’ll give you as many tips and hints as possible to help you use it correctly. We have our first sentence with figure out. [inaudible 00:03:28], says, “I can’t figure out how it is to live in Japan.” Oh, maybe complicated life. [inaudible 00:03:36] says, “I will figure out how good this class will be.” All right. I will figure out your voice. I’ll figure out how to use a new coffee machine. We have a lot of similar sentence structures, here. It’s difficult to figure out how to use phrasal verbs.

Let’s take all of these sentences and find three words that are similar. We’ve got our phrasal verb, plus one extra word. Did you notice what that extra word is? I will figure out how to get my computer to work. I will figure out how to use this phrasal verb. I’ll figure out how. How is often used with figure out, because figure out implies there’s some kind of process.

Now, just to let you know we don’t need to use how with figure out, it’s not necessary, it’s not required 100% of the time, but if this phrasal verb plus find out are complicated to you, I recommend using this sentence structure, how, figure out how. Let’s write a sentence. I’m going to write one here on my trusty clipboard, and we’ve got some great sentences in the comments, maybe I’ll use one of yours, as well. Ada, Ada says, “I will,” I love the use of will here, because will shows that you’re serious.

I’m not thinking about doing it, I will do it. “I will figure out how to learn more English every day.” Beautiful sentence. This is actually a really great statement, too, because it’s positive, it’s showing I’m going to do it, I’m not questioning can I do it, is it possible, you’re saying I will, I love that, really powerful statement. Let’s say, I will figure out, plus, how. I’ll figure out how to learn more English every day.

I’ll figure out how to help my little cousin read better. I’ll figure out how to do something. Of course, if you have other sentences with figure out that do not include how, feel free to write them in the comments, and I’ll try my best to give you some feedback, because this word, how, how is going to talk about, lets use a light blue color. Figure out, is some kind of process, some kind of process, so because we’re using figure out we need to imply that it’s not an item.

We’re going to talk about an item, a thing with find out, but with figure out we can imagine in your head there’s a motor, maybe an engine, and some gears are turning, and this is a process. You’re trying to figure out how to solve a problem. You’re not trying to find out the solution. You’re trying to figure out how to solve the problem. Let’s write one more sentence using figure out, and then I’m going to read some of your lovely sentences. I’m going to figure out how to solve the problem.

Here we have our favorite three words all together, figure out how, figure out how, and this is talking about the process. Figure out how to solve the problem. Maybe if your problem is that in the morning you have to get to the airport really early, but your car isn’t working, you have to figure out how to solve, to solve, solving is talking about this thought process, how to solve this problem.

Maybe you would think, oh, I should try to call a taxi, or maybe I’ll call my friend, maybe I’ll just walk, maybe I’ll try to find a bus. I need to figure out how to solve this problem. Let’s take a look at some of the sentences from those of you who are here live. You’ve got great sentences. I love this interaction, and feedback. That’s the wonderful thing about live lessons.

I’ll try my best to give you some feedback. [inaudible 00:09:13] says, “I’ll figure out how to improve my English vocabulary with Vanessa’s Live Lessons.” Oh, I hope so. I hope you can use these phrasal verbs, add to your vocabulary. Let’s see, oh Gail says, “My son doesn’t sleep at all, but I will figure out how to make him sleep the whole night.” I think this is a parents constant struggle. “I will figure out how to make him sleep the whole night.” This is going to be a process.

There’s not one clear solution, if there were a clear solution, you would have already found it, so you’re going to try to work through the problem, and figure out the problem. Beautiful sentence. Oh, Imad says, he has a little dialogue here, he says, “Do you know how this machine works?” “No, but I will figure it out.” Beautiful. You’re talking about the process.

I’m going to learn the different techniques to get it to work. I’m going to figure out, and we often use this together, so I’m that you brought this up. Figure it out. I will figure it out. I can’t figure it out. Yesterday, I was helping to babysit one of my friends daughters and she’s three years old, and we were eating some pistachios together. Pistachios are a kind of nut, and you have a shell, and you have to break open the shell and eat the nut from the inside, and her fingers are small, her patience is kind of limited, so she tried one of them, and she said, “I can’t figure it out.

I can’t do it,” and I said, “Let’s look for a pistachio shell that’s open really wide,” and this would make it easier for her little fingers to open it up, and she found a pistachio with an open shell. There’s a lot with open shells, and she opened it up and she said, “I figured it out. I did it.” This means she learned that process, and now hopefully when she eats pistachios with her parents she won’t ask them all the time, “Open this. Open this. Open this.”

Hopefully she can continue to figure it out herself by using that kind of mental process. It’s a process. Let’s go to the second phrasal verb, and we’ll compare these two together. The second one is, find out. Find out. What do you think is the difference between figure out, and find out, how can we use find out? So far, we had three words, figure out how, but what could we use with find out?

There’s one word, similar word, we don’t have to use it, but we can use it if we want to be extra clear about using the phrasal verb correctly. Let me give you a sample sentence and see if you can guess which word it is. I need to find out what the weathers going to be like tomorrow, because I’m packing to go on a trip, so I have to pack the right clothes.

I need to find out what my sister wants for her birthday, so I’m going to ask her, and that’s the clearest way. I need to ask her. I need to find out what she wants for her birthday. Louise, you got it. Louise says, “What,” and there are a couple different words you can use after find out. No problem, but the word what is not implying a process, like how, how implies a process.

Let’s write a sentence using what. I’m going to figure out how to solve the problem. Let’s write a similar sentence, but using find out. I’m going to find out what the solution is. A lovely sentence. I need to find out, I need to find out what the solution is, so here we have a specific thing, maybe the solution is a physical thing, maybe it’s a mental thing, but we have one item here, the solution, I need to find out what the solution is. I need to find out what my sister wants for her birthday.

There’s an item, maybe she wants tickets to go to a concert. Great. That’s a physical thing. I need to find out. You’re looking for some information, so that’s going to be our key here is something that you are possibly seeing, maybe an item, or it could be something more physical, something more physical. Of course, let’s talk about the difference between them in just a moment, but first of all let’s practice some sentences with this, because there are some situations when you can use both of them.

Before we get to that part, let’s talk about some clear sentences with find out. Find out. Oh, [inaudible 00:15:36] says, “I want to find out why I forgot my lesson.” Oh, great, maybe you didn’t set your alarm, or there was a time change in the US, so if you thought that this live lesson was at a different time, well, maybe your country hasn’t had a time change, yet, or maybe your country doesn’t have a time change.

You need to find out why did I miss it? What happened? What was the problem? Let’s see what else we have, some other great sample sentences. “I want to find out when I can go to the US.” Here, this is a beautiful sentence. I need to find out when I can go to the US, [inaudible 00:16:24], great sentence. The reason why we can use, find out, here is because you’re going to be looking on your calendar for a specific date. You’re looking for a specific piece of information.

I need to find out when, so as I said this word could change, you can use this, it’ll be clear, but you can also change it. [inaudible 00:16:50] says, “Before I eat this, I need to find out what this food is.” Good idea. Usually we like to find out what we’re eating before we eat it. In fact, today, this afternoon, in a couple minutes I’m going to be driving with my husband to visit a friend who lives three hours away, and she lives in an area that is full of Korean restaurants, so as you can imagine I’m pretty excited.

I plan to eat a lot of Korean food over the next two days. I wanted yesterday, I wanted to find out what is the best Korean restaurant in that area, or what restaurant I wanted to go to, so Dan and I looked on the computer, we tried to figure out how we could get to the restaurant on time, because the restaurant that we want to go to had a lunch special until 2:30. After this live lesson, we need to go three and get there before the lunch special finishes. I really want to eat some amazing gamja-tang.

Last night, we needed to find out what were the best restaurants in that area. We were looking for a specific piece of information, an item, some physical information. Let’s read some other sample sentences, here. Let’s see, how about, oh, [inaudible 00:18:35] says, “I’m going to find out which kind of food he likes.” Beautiful. We’re looking for an item, some information, specific piece of information. I’m going to find out what kind of food he likes. I’m going to find out where my pen got lost.

You could use either phrasal verb, but it has a little different meaning. You could say, I’m going to find out where my pen got lost. You’re looking for a specific piece of information, but if we want to use figure out, I’m going to figure out why my pen got lost. You’re going to try to learn what was the process that happened. Did I leave it on the counter, and then I was thinking about something else, and I forgot about it?

You’re going to figure out that process. If you want to use either phrasal verb there’s a slightly nuance, and in a lot of these situations we can use either phrasal verb, but it means something slightly different. That process compared to information. [inaudible 00:19:55] says, “I’m going to find out what is the best way to improve English.” Great. You’re looking for that information. I’m going to find out what is the best way to improve my English. Hopefully, it will be a way that’s enjoyable to you, and useful, and efficient. Efficiency is important. Don’t waste your time.

Lee, has a question, Lee says, “I’m originally from Korea, what kind of food are you going to eat?” I want to eat all Korean food, right now. There’s 30 or 40 Korean restaurants near Atlanta in the US, and my friend lives near Atlanta, so we’re going to try to figure out which restaurant everyone can agree on, and thankfully my friend doesn’t know that much about Korean food or Korean restaurants, so that means we get to pick, so we’re going to be able to have a lot of the foods that remind us of those great memories. I can’t wait. Lucas, has a good question.

He says, “Vanessa, can I say, that Columbus found out America? He wasn’t expecting it, he found out.” If we use one of these phrasal verbs, we need to add something, something afterwards. If we’re going to add something afterwards, let’s change this sentence a little bit. Columbus, the European who supposedly was one of the first people to come to the US from Europe, Columbus found out, this is the past tense, found out where America is. We’re adding another word, he found out, he got an answer, he found out where America is. Columbus was trying to figure out where America is, and he found out.

He found out. He was trying the process to figure it out, and he successfully found out. Beautiful way to use both of these. I hope that for you, if you’re uncertain about which phrasal verb you should use, I recommend remembering this, figure out how to do something, and find out what to do. Finding out what to do, and figuring out how to do it. If you have any questions about these two phrasal verbs, feel free to write them in the comments, I’ll try my best to give you some feedback.

Usually in these live lessons we only talk about one phrasal verb, so today we’re kind of pushing two together, and it seems like we could take a lot of time, three hours, and talk about it, give sample sentences, and really go over these phrasal verbs. I recommend reviewing what we talked about today, and if you have any questions write them in the comments, that’s why I’m here.

I’ll try my best to give you some positive, useful feedback, and help you use it correctly. That’s the goal. I want to help you figure out how to use these phrasal verbs correctly, and when you find out how to use them, you’re going to be super excited. Let’s say one sentence together. A wonderful sentence about English using both of these phrasal verbs. Let’s see. Oh, let’s talk about a process. I’m going to, actually I think I’m going to write this down, because it might be a little long.

We’re going to try to say the sentence all together. You got it. Let’s say, I was trying to figure out how to improve my English, and I found out, so we’re using this in the past tense, I found out that a good solution, oh, if I can write correctly early in the morning, solution is with Vanessa. I hope so. I hope it’s useful for you. All right. Let’s practice both of these phrasal verbs in this sentence, and it’s kind of long, so I’m going to write it out, here, and you can take a look at it and read it.

Okay. You can change this as much as you want to say a sentence that’s true for you. Let’s say this all together. Let’s practice reading this out loud, if you can, if you’re in a quiet or private place. I was trying to figure out how to improve my English, and I found out that a good solution is with Vanessa.

I hope that this is true. I hope that these lessons are useful for you. I found out a solution. A specific piece of information. I was trying to figure out how to improve my English, and I found out that a good solution is with Vanessa. I hope you can say this out loud. Repeat it clearly and use both of these in the same sentence. Amal, is repeating this.

Great. Lee, thank you for repeating this. Excellent. I was trying to figure out how to improve my English, and I found out that a good solution is with Vanessa. It’s not the only solution. There are plenty of ways you can improve your English, but one solution I hope that’s useful for you is these live lessons. If you are thinking, oh, Vanessa, I would love to learn a lot more, because this is just the beginning, just two phrasal verbs, if you would like to continue to learn English with me, I have some good news.

First of all, there are plenty of other videos on my YouTube channel that will help you with phrasal verbs like today, expressions, learning tips, and this is really going to help you fill in the places where you have some questions, and if you would like to join like I mentioned before, my email group, where I’ll send you free email lessons, you can download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.

This is going to help you learn five steps, and each one will have some resources, each one will give you an idea about what you can do to feel more comfortable, feel more natural, and be on the right path for learning English, because there are I’m sure you know a lot of options for improving your English.

I want to help you figure out how to improve your English, and I want to help you find out what is the best method. Feel free to enjoy the other videos on this channel, and also read, and download, print it out, put it on the wall, put it under your pillow, download my free ebook, and the link is in the description below this video, or on the screen at the end of this lesson. Thanks so much everyone.

Thanks for learning with me. I hope that this lesson helped you to start to figure out how to use these phrasal verbs. If you have any questions, or sample sentences, write them in the comments, and I’ll see you the next time. Bye, everyone. Have a wonderful day. See you later.