Hello, all. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre alguns errinhos comuns de inglês.

Transcrição

How’s it going, everyone? Today we have 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.

Let’s go for some practice today. What kind of practice? I’m gonna talk about a couple of structures that are frequently misused by English learners, especially those learners who haven’t had enough input in English… well, not enough input on those two little structures, anyway.

The first common mistake can be illustrated by this example: “I’m used to wake up late on Saturdays“. That may make sense to our Brazilian ears in the beginning, but it’s really not how English natives speak. So what I’m going to do here is give you several examples so that you get a little more exposure to the correct usage of “used to” to express some activity that is a habit to you.

First of all, when someone says “I’m used to wake up late on Saturdays” – and, remember, this is the incorrect way to say it – this person is trying to communicate a habit; something that he or she does regularly. That’s how he or she usually does things. That’s what this structure communicates. What’s the correct way to say it? We’re gonna use the -ING form here: I’m used to wakING up late on Saturdays. I’m used to waking up late on Saturdays. That means that I usually wake up late on Saturdays. I have this habit of waking up late on Saturdays. I probably like waking up late on Saturdays. I’m used to waking up late on Saturdays.

Like I mentioned before, the incorrect way might make sense to ears that are accustomed to Portuguese. Let’s get that straightened out right away by listening to several examples. Here are a few habits of mine and some people I know as well.

* I’m used to walkING my dog in the evenings.

* I’m used to writING posts in the morning.

* My friend Mariana is used to sleepING late on weekends.

* One of my friends is used to drinkING milk at dinner. She really likes it.

* I’m not used to drivING in Rio de Janeiro, so I would avoid it.

* Sometimes when you start at a new job you have to become familiar with people who are used to doING things a certain way; and that way might not be what you’re used to.

Tell us about your lunch or dinner habits. Examples: “I’m used to having just a salad at dinner. I’m never too hungry at night, so a salad is usually enough”. Or “I would never eat feijoada at night. That’s heavy food and I’m not used to going to bed after eating that much”.

And here’s the second structure for this podcast. It is, yes, a really simple structure and it’s considered very basic. And yet, I hear people say it wrong all the time, including quite a few TV personalities. How do you ask what something, or some word, means? You say “What does that mean?” or “What does it mean?”, or “What does “truck” mean?” Truck means caminhão.

The most common mistakes here are “What means truck?” or “What does mean truck?”. Those are wrong. “Mean” is a verb, and it behaves the same way as… have, go, take and all other verbs. What does “mean” mean? It means “significar”. So let me give you several examples of the correct way to use this. These are all gonna be questions, of course, so if you know the answers… leave a comment!