Como falo em inglês: Vou fazer o que você quer, mas com uma condição

What's up, everyone?  Hoje eu falo sobre como dizer as expressões "passar no farol vermelho" e "com uma condição" em inglês.

Transcrição

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So let me present you this week with a couple of idioms that are, as always, very common and... I heard both of them this week, I don't remember where. Probably on some TV show or a podcast. And the reason they stuck with me is, we say the exact same thing in Brazil, but with slightly different words. So if we haven't heard or read these expressions enough and internalised them, guess what... It's our instinct to kind of translate the words we use in Brazil directly into English, which will basically sound a little off.

So first up we have an expression related to driving, traffic, cars or motorcycles, or other vehicles. It's a traffic infraction: run a red light. Listen again: someone ran a red light. You know what we're supposed to do as drivers when we come across a red light: we're supposed to stop. So when you run a red light, obviously you could cause an accident. And you could get a traffic ticket.

I have run a red light a couple of times in my life, I guess, but I haven't had a car in a while now so if I were to start driving regularly again I would probably be very careful to not run any red lights. Now, are you a driver? Do you drive every day? Be honest with me: when's the last time you ran a red light? Did anyone see it? Did you get caught? Did you get a ticket?

Now listen to this: you ask your brother to borrow his car for the afternoon. Your brother says "You can have my car for the afternoon on one condition: return it to me with a full tank of gas." Did you catch the phrase 'on one condition'? Notice that in Brazil we say something like "with one condition"... So, forget that and listen again: You can have my car for the afternoon on one condition: return it to me with a full tank of gas.

If you have a daughter, for example, and she asks if she can go to a slumber party at her friend's house, you could say "You can go on one condition: do your homework first." And here's another example: your friend Joe has just done you a big favor. It doesn't matter what it was; let's just say he basically made your life a whole lot easier. Joe then gives you a call and invites you to lunch. You say "I'll go on one condition: this one is my treat." Listen again: I will go on one condition: it's my treat.

What are your examples? Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

* on one condition

* run a red light

Vocabulary

(something) sounds a little off = (algo) soa meio estranho

if I were to do something = se eu fosse fazer algo

Did you get a ticket? = Você foi multado/a?

a slumber party = quando várias amigas dormem na casa de uma delas

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