O podcast de hoje é sobre como dizer coisas como Foi sem querer, Ele não fez de propósito e Eu não quis dizer isso em inglês.

Transcrição

Hi, what’s up? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So today we have another episode suggested by a reader: Guilherme wrote in and asked for examples of how to say things like Foi sem querer or Foi de propósito in English. So let’s take a look at a very popular way to express Não tive intenção or Não foi de propósito. Picture this: you are euphoric because you have been accepted into a great college. You want to celebrate, and you start planning a party for June 16th. The thing is, you completely forget that June 16th is also the birthday of one of your closest friends. Let’s say her name is Valerie. So when Valerie finds out that you’re planning your party for the sixteenth of June, she’s hurt! I mean, why would you do that? You know it’s her birthday!

So she calls you on it, and you are, like, mortified! Why? Because when you set the date for your celebration, it didn’t even cross your mind that it was the same date as your friend’s birthday! So you tell her, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for that to happen! I didn’t do it on purpose!

I didn’t mean for that to happen. What is “that”? “That” is, setting your date on the same day as her birthday. You didn’t mean for that to happen. You had no intention of having your party on her birthday. It wasn’t on purpose! You didn’t do it on purpose. You didn’t mean for that to happen.

Or, you know when in a movie one spouse cheats on the other one, and then when the other one finds out, the cheating spouse says “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for it to happen! It was an accident. I didn’t do it on purpose!”. What else… Think of an example yourself: something you planned, something you worked on, and then, all of a sudden, someone lets you know that whatever you are doing is hurting or just annoying them in some way. And you say…  I’m really sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose! I’m not doing it on purpose. I didn’t mean for that to happen! I didn’t mean to harm you. I didn’t mean to annoy you. I didn’t mean for that to happen.

Now, here’s another one that happens a lot: when you say something, and people don’t really get what you’re saying… they misinterpret it. And then, someone gets offended, or someone gets upset because of what you said… and, you didn’t mean it that way! The way they understood it, you didn’t mean it ‘that’ way! You meant something else. They misunderstood you. They thought you meant one thing, but you really meant something else.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been misunderstood? It’s happened to me before, yes. And it has also happened that I misunderstood the other person. I thought they meant one thing, and in reality they meant something else entirely, or they were just joking… So when you say something, when you joke with someone, and they look hurt, or they say something like “Ouch! That hurt”… and you realize they have misinterpreted what you said, you can say I didn’t mean it that way. Here’s what I meant. And then you can explain what you really meant.

So, when was the last time you said something, and then the other person didn’t like it, and then you said something like “I didn’t mean it that way”? I didn’t mean it that way. Mine was… a few weeks ago, with my sister. I said “I didn’t mean it that way”. So, when was yours?

OK,