Podcast Inglês Online

Hello, what’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre as palavras fortunate, fortunately e happily.

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

OK, so the title of this podcast is “Como falo ‘felizes para sempre’ em inglês?” I know that many listeners and readers of this blog already know the answer to this question. After all, this is sort of a famous little expression, isn’t it? It’s part of the ending of pretty much every fairy tale that involves a prince and a princess: and they lived happily ever after…

Actually, though, this podcast doesn’t center around the expression “happily ever after”. Nope! That was just an easy way to introduce the topic. Today I’m going to focus on the difference between happily and fortunately, and also happy and fortunate. Let me start off with an actual example of how the word fortunate can be used. Once, a classmate of mine said “I feel very fortunate to be here”. What did she mean by that? “I feel very fortunate to be here”. That means, I feel lucky to be here, I feel blessed to be here. She felt fortunate to be there, to be a student at that school. She had the good fortune to be a student at that school. “Fortune”, in the expression “good fortune”, doesn’t mean a large amount of money. Fortune here means something like a happy outcome, a lucky fate.

And let me just bring your attention to the correct way to pronounce “fortunate” – yep, it’s the way I just said it, fortunate and not “fortuneite“. It’s just like the pronunciation of chocolate: fortunate. I feel very fortunate to live in a world where there is chocolate. Already, back to what my classmate said: I feel very fortunate to be here”. What would be different if she said “I feel very happy to be here”? If she had said  “I feel very happy to be here”, that would mean that she had a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness. So, to recap: “I feel fortunate” means “I feel lucky, I feel blessed”; whereas “I feel happy” means… well, “I have a feeling of happiness or joy”; I’m cheerful, I feel happy.

Here’s a popular way to use the word “fortunate”: you will very often hear someone say that what happened was a fortunate coincidence. It was a lucky coincidente; it was a fortunate coincidence. Example: it was a fortunate coincidence that my friend and I spotted each other at the concert since both of us had left our cell phones at home. So it was a fortunate coincidence that we spotted each other in the crowd.

So here’s another interesting tidbit of information: sometimes, the word happily is incorrectly translated as “felizmente” in Portuguese. Think about it – what does “felizmente” mean? It means that something turned out well; that luckily this thing or that thing happened. “Felizmente, tudo acabou bem”. Fortunately, all ended well. We had the good fortune of finding a nice place to stay. Fortunately, we found a nice place to stay.

Hi, how are you? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre duas expressões com think  e thought.

Transcrição

Hello. What’s up? Nothing much? Well, today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Everyone, today I’d like to talk about two very common constructions that use the word “think”. Actually, one of them uses “think” and the other one uses the past participle form of ‘think’, which is “thought”. Remember the other day when I did an episode on the word ‘thorough’? And I said “Do not confuse thorough with through”…? Well, today we have an expression with ‘thought’, which isn’t ‘thorough’ and it isn’t ‘through’ either. ‘Thought’, again, is the past participle form – and also the past form – of the verb ‘to think’.

The first phrase of today is “Who would have thought?”, which is actually a question; and the other one is “You’d think!”, which is a contraction of “you would think”, and these two set phrases are pretty frequent in everyday conversation. Let’s dive right in: listen to the first phrase. Who would have thought? Slowing it down a little… Who would have thought? If we translated that literally into Portuguese, we’d have something like “Quem teria imaginado?” I think in Brazil, at least where I live, we say stuff like “Quem ia imaginar? ” or “Quem podia imaginar?”.

So as you’ve probably realized, people say “Who would have thought?” when they’re expressing their surprise at… something. It’s like saying “I would never have guessed that this thing could happen”. And, just notice that this is a question, right? Who would have thought? It is a question, but it isn’t really supposed to be answered.  It’s more like an expression of amazement. For example, let’s say there was a kid… let’s call him Timmy – so there was this kid from your neighborhood who never liked to study, was always skipping class, got kicked out from a couple of schools… Some people even said he would never amount to anything. But that was twenty years ago, and this morning you were talking to an old neighbor, and she gave you an update on Timmy.

She said “Remember little Timmy? Get this: he got into Harvard University, graduated from Law School and is now a highly successful lawyer”. You are amazed. You can hardly believe what you just heard. Little Timmy? That kid was impossible! You thought little Timmy was hopeless… but apparently not! Who would have thought? And that’s what you say to your neighbor: Who would have thought? Who would have ever thought that little Timmy, that little devil, would turn out to be a successful lawyer, a Harvard graduate?

So now think of the last time something in your life turned out in an unexpected way. You were definitely not expecting that to happen, and when it did it took you by surprise, and you were amazed, and you could have said “Who would have thought?”

Now the second set phrase I want to give you examples for is “You’d think!” Like I said before, “you’d think” is a contraction for “you would think”. People will almost always say the contraction; “You’d think!”. And, the intonation here is really important, ok? You’d think! Let me start with an example for this one. Imagine your sister tells you that a guy bumped into he...

Hey, what’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre as palavras ours, theirs, yours, etc.

Transcrição

Hi, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

So this week I wrote a tip on the blog about using the words ours and theirs. This is the second time actually that I’ve written on this topic, so if you haven’t read these articles yet… I suggest you do so! Here’s tip #1 and then tip #2. OK, now that you’re all caught up I think you’re ready for this podcast. Like I said on this week’s article, I think the words mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs aren’t nearly as well known by Brazilians as they could be. This set of words is usually presented once in class… and then students do a few exercises, you know, fill-in-the-blanks, and these words then start showing in dialogues that students will only hear a couple of times, in general. So, of course, there usually isn’t enough exposure to ours, or theirs, or hers… and quite frankly it’s pretty rare that I hear people in Brazil, on any English level, use these words.

So for today’s podcast I thought I’d use them again in several examples and maybe inspire you guys to notice how often words like mine, yours, theirs, hers and ours are used in everyday conversation. So let’s start with a pretty simple example: imagine you’re playing a silly little game with a six or seven-year-old kid. You say “My shirt is white. What color is yours?” And the kid replies “Mine is yellow.” Mine is yellow. That means “My shirt is yellow”. Instead of saying “My shirt is yellow”, the kid says “Mine is yellow”, since you both know you’re talking about the kid’s shirt. This kid could also say “This yellow shirt is mine“. And he or she could look at you and say “You are a friend of mine“. So the examples I just gave using the word “mine” are very common ways in which not only mine, but also yours, his, hers, ours and theirs are used.

So let’s say you just checked into a hotel room with your family and the cleaning lady has just finished tidying it up for the new guests – that is, you and your family. So just as you and your family are sort of stepping into the room and checking out your surroundings you start to notice a few objects laying around, and they’re definitely not yours. These are not your objects. They are definitely not yours. So you say to the cleaning lady “Excuse me, this mp3 player isn’t ours“. She replies that there was a family staying in this room and they left just a couple of hours ago. So you say “I see. So the player is probably theirs“. And then your son finds a stack of books under the bed, and he says “Look, a stack of books! These aren’t ours. They must be theirs“.

What is your son saying? These books aren’t ours. They don’t belong to us. These are not our books. These aren’t ours. They must belong to the people who stayed in this room before us. These books must be theirs, ’cause they aren’t ours. So, the mp3 player? Not ours. It’s probably theirs. The books? Not ours. They must be theirs.

Here’s a different situation: you’re discussing your next vacation with a friend of yours. Yeah, one of your friends. Jennifer, a friend of yours.

Hey, what’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre uma situação interessante que começou em Nápoles.

Transcrição

Hello, all. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

So I registered on this website, quora.com, but I haven’t really used it for anything so far. Well… that is, until today. Have you heard of Quora? Are you a frequent user, or participant? For those of you who’ve never heard of it, I’m gonna give you a very basic explanation: Quora is a place where you can ask a question and get answers from people all over the world, so it’s a place with lots of discussions being generated every day on pretty much every topic you can imagine. Anyway, I signed up a while ago and I probably checked the box for weekly digests… Oh, here’s an update: I just looked at the Email preferences page and it doesn’t seem like I opted into any kind of newsletter, so I guess they’re sending this to me without my permission.

Anyway, today that’s a good thing ’cause through reading their newsletter I found the story that inspired today’s podcast. So, just listen:

“We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we’re approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter:

‘Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended’ They pay for their order, take the two and leave.

I ask my friend: “What are those ‘suspended’ coffees?”

My friend: “Wait for it and you will see.”

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers – three for them and four ‘suspended’. While I still wonder what’s the deal with those ‘suspended’ coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks

‘Do you have a suspended coffee ?’

It’s simple – people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal.

OK, so here’s a recap of the story: in the city of Naples, in Italy, there’s a café… probably more than one, where certain clients will pay not only for what they are ordering for themselves, but they will also pay in advance for people who don’t have enough money to be buying their coffee. In other words, some clients will pay in advance for beverages for people who can’t afford to buy them.

I think most people will agree this is a nice story. What’s your personal opinion about it? Like I said, I think most people will agree this is a nice story, a nice thing to do – that’s actually my personal opinion. So if you disagree, if you think that these people shouldn’t be paying for other people’s coffees, let us know what you think in the comments! And let me give you a few more examples with the expression “I can afford” or “they can’t afford”, “he can afford” and so on. Are you familiar with this? That means simply “I have or don’t have enough money to pay for this”. For example, I can afford my dog’s food but if I owned a thousand dogs then I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to afford all the necessary dog food. When people go out househunting, they have an idea of what kinds of houses they can afford. They usually go to neighborhoods where they can afford to buy a ...

Hey, what’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre o assunto “atendimento ao cliente” em inglês.

Transcrição

Hi, everyone. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

So the other day I came across a pretty interesting article about Customer Service. You know, customer service? I found the following definition on a dictionary: Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation*. In other words, customer service is what happens every time you have a simple question or a major problem, and you then call the “Atendimento ao Cliente” number, if you’re in Brazil.

If you’re like most Brazilians, you have at least once had to deal with Tim, Claro, Vivo, Oi or some other phone service provider. All of these providers, with no exception, have a bad reputation when it comes to customer service. I mean, I’ve had bad experiences with Vivo and Tim and I’ve heard people complain a lot about every single phone carrier under the sun.

Have you ever had to call your carrier’s customer service number only to be put on hold for several minutes, before being transferred to three different departments? And when you finally got to speak to a human being, that person wasn’t able to solve your problem?  I mean, phone carriers in Brazil are a legend… So that’s why this article caught my attention. I mean, check this out: the article is titled “The 10 Magic Phrases of Customer Service”. The author defends that there are certain “magic words” that customers want to hear when they have a problem and call your company for help.

Here are a few things that, according to author, customers would love to hear from the rep at the other end of the line: I can solve that problem. I will take responsibility. I will deliver on time. And  It will be just what you ordered. I mean, can you imagine the next time you call a company’s customer service number… Let’s make this even more fantastic: imagine you’re calling the “Atendimento ao cliente” of your local phone carrier. Then the customer rep listens to your complaint and says “I can solve that problem” without a hint of irony. Then you say that, the last time you called, the company promised to fix the problem but they didn’t. And the rep replies “I will take responsibility”. I mean, to me that would be so unexpected that it would probably crack me up. Wouldn’t we all love to hear those words next time a service provider screws up?

Of course, saying those words and not following up with actions would be even worse, I think. I guess most people are tired of empty promises and that is why companies that not only talk the talk but walk the walk stand out from the crowd so much. So, tell us: do you have any interesting customer service stories? Do you work in customer service – are you a rep? Have you ever come across a company that provides outstanding service, and keeps their promises? Let us know in the comments and talk to you next time!

*Jamier L. Scott. (2002)

The 10 Magic Phrases of Customer Service (article)

 

Glossary

phone carrier = empresa de telefonia que presta serviços de voz (ou dados) como Vivo, Tim, etc.

under the sun = do mundo, no mundo inteiro (neste caso, usado com um pouco de exagero já que estou falando apenas do Brasil)

are a legend = são “lendárias”,

How’s it going? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre coisinhas que nos irritam.

Transcrição

Hello, all. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

So today let’s talk about pet peeves. What is a pet peeve? Well, a peeve is something that irritates you, that annoys you, that maybe aggravates you. What about a pet peeve, though? A pet peeve is like… your favorite peeve. It’s that thing that frequently annoys you or that annoys you the most. You know, some things kinda irritate you once in a while, depending on your mood… But your pet peeve: every time that one happens in front of you, you get irritated. It really annoys you, every time, without fail.

So do you have a pet peeve? Let’s take a look at a few things people said online. Here’s what one girl tweeted: “My biggest pet peeve is when people don’t answer their phone”. Well, I have to say… sometimes, that’s me. I don’t always answer my cell phone. And that happens because I often go out without my cell phone. Yep, sometimes I leave it home… the horror! I’ve had friends get mad at me for not answering the phone. Too bad. So, is that a pet peeve of yours? Are you annoyed when someone doesn’t answer their phone?

Here’s what someone else said: “My biggest pet peeve? Judgemental people“. If you’ve been listening to our podcasts for a while then you’re familiar with the word judgemental. Or maybe you’re familiar with it because you listen to English on a regular basis and the word judgemental is such a common word. Judgemental people criticize a lot, they judge other people a lot and that honestly can be really annoying. So this guy said that judgemental people are his pet peeve.

And here’s an interesting one… This guy said “My biggest pet peeve is when I’m watching a movie with someone and they’re asking me what’s going on. We’re watching the same thing”. Does that sound familiar? You and a friend, or girlfriend, or boyfriend are watching a movie together and the other person keeps asking “Why did he do that?” or “Wait… where are they?” or “Who’s that? I don’t remember him”. You know, people get distracted and maybe they think some parts of the movie are boring… so they end up missing an important dialogue or scene and when they go back to paying attention – they’re lost. I totally understand how that can be annoying to people who are super focused on the story though. So is that a pet peeve of yours?

Me… A pet peeve of mine is people who talk in the movie theater. I find that a little annoying. What else…? People who take up the entire space of the aisle in the supermarket – you know? They kinda block other people’s way with the shopping cart and it’s like they don’t even realize there are other people shopping… That’s a pet peeve of mine.

It’s your turn now. What is your pet peeve? Come on, tell us in the comments and talk to you next time!

 

Key Expressions

* Pet peeve

 

Glossary

depending on your mood = dependendo do seu humor

without fail = sem falta (no sentido de algo que sempre acontece)

 

[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/podcast_ingls_online/www.inglesonline.com.br/mp3/podcast-petpeeve.mp3]

What’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre algumas maneiras de dar uma má notícia.

Transcrição

Hi, everyone. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Last week our podcast centered around the word thorough and today we have an equally nice word! Today’s word is straight – s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t, straight. So listen to this: Just give it to me straight. Come on, give it to me straight. I know you got bad news for me and bad news is never easy to deliver. I wanna hear the news anyway; I wanna know what happened. Just give it to me straight.

Did you get the meaning of “Just give it to me straight”? You know when you gotta give someone the bad news… it’s never pleasant. Have you ever had to fire someone? Have you ever had to assess someone’s performance and then tell them that they had been underperforming? Or maybe you had to tell someone that they’re sick, or that they didn’t pass the Vestibular, or that they’ve lost money or something…

This is all bad news, right? Many people tend to beat around the bush when trying do deliver unpleasant news. And if you are the recipient of bad news, you might appreciate that… Although we usually can tell when someone has something unpleasant to say, can’t we? We can tell by their body language and also by the verbal clues: someone who’s trying to deliver bad news will often hesitate, stutter, fidget a little…

Anyway, many people would rather learn the news as soon as possible, without any sugarcoating. They can tell the other person is trying to be gentle or just hesitating. And sometimes these people will say “Just give it to me straight. What happened?”. Or they’ll say “I know it’s bad. Just give it to me straight. I can take it. How bad is it?”

I think I’m one of those people. If I notice someone trying to tell me unpleasant news, I’ll say “C’mon, just give it to me straight”. How about you? Here’s what someone wrote on a tweet: “Don’t sugarcoat anything with me. I respect honesty because I’m definitely going to give it to anybody straight . ” Do you get what “sugarcoat” means? Imagine covering the truth with a layer of sugar, in order to try to make it more palatable. That’s what sugarcoating something means. So this girl is saying that she’d rather just hear the truth. She’s asking everyone to not sugarcoat anything when talking to her. She wants people to give it to her straight. Just tell her everything at once, don’t sugarcoat it.

So what would you prefer? What’s your style? When receiving bad news, would you rather the other person gave it to you straight? Or do you think a little sugarcoating could help soften the blow? What would you do if you had to deliver unpleasant news to someone? Would you give it to them straight, or would you sugarcoat it a little?

Talk to you next time!

 

Key Expressions

* Give it to me straight

* Don’t sugarcoat the truth

 

Glossary

we can tell = dá pra (gente) saber

verbal clues = as pistas que a pessoa dá verbalmente (através do que ela fala)

stutter = gaguejar

fidget = se mexer de maneira desconfortável (na cadeira, por exemplo, quando a pessoa não está se sentindo à vontade)

I can take it = eu aguento

palatable = com gosto bom

What’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre a palavra thorough.

Transcrição

Hi, everybody. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Let me talk today about one particular word. That word is THOROUGH. Are you familiar with it? Hear it again: thorough. Thorough is an adjective and it is the quality of something that is done or executed completely, perfectly, in a very accurate and detailed way. For example, when someone writes a thorough review of a book, that means they covered every important aspect of the book in their review. This person reviewed the book from every angle: they analyzed the quality of the story, the characters, they compared it to other books in the same genre, they made comments on different passages of the book… They were very thorough in their review. Their review was extensive, comprehensive, and it covered every aspect of the book. It was a thorough review. This person was very thorough in their review.

So let’s say John did some research about vegetation in the desert, and he was very thorough in his research. He interviewed several different experts, he read up on the subject, he searched Google on this topic, he visited several Universities, and so on. John was really thorough in his research. He wanted to know everything about vegetation in the desert. He even visited the desert so that he could learn all about the vegetation. John was very thorough in his research.

Did you notice that thorough can be used to qualify John as well as John’s research? Listen again: John was very thorough in his research. Who was very thorough? John was. Now, check this out: John did a thorough research about vegetation in the desert. What was thorough here? The research John did. Mary spent three months searching her long-lost sister in the south of… Germany. Mary was very thorough in her search. She went door-to-door asking about her sister, she asked the local authorities to help her in the search, she visited fifteen different towns and talked to hundreds of people, all to try and find her long-lost sister. She was very thorough in her search. Mary conducted a thorough search for her sister in the south of Germany. Here’s one more: Jake is an economist and he analyzed the current economical situation in his country. He was very thorough in his analysis. He spoke for one hour and a half. He did a very thorough analysis of the economic situation. So now I’ll ask you again: did you notice how a person can be thorough, and an analysis, a research study, a search or a review can also be thorough?

Now, the adverb form of thorough is also very popular. Let’s go back to our examples: John researched the topic “vegetation in the desert” thoroughly. What does that mean? He researched it extensively, deeply, completely. Now, here are a couple of other common ways the adverb thoroughly is used: I thoroughly enjoyed this film. My friend thoroughly enjoyed the play. That’s right, thoroughly and the verb enjoy are a frequent combination. When you thoroughly enjoy something, that means you really like it, you love it, you had a great time with it, you can’t think of anything that’s wrong with that thing.

Can you remember the last film you saw that you thoroughly enjoyed? You were enthralled by the film; before you knew it, ninety minutes had gone by and you didn’t even notice; you only have good things to say about this film. I’ll be honest with you – I can’t remember the last film I thoroughly enjoyed… honest to God. I remember movies I simply enjoyed, or movies that I liked… let’s say, fifty percent of what I saw. A movie that I thoroughly enjoyed, though? I can’t remember.

What’s up? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu respondo a dúvida do leitor Tom Ballardini sobre algumas maneiras de se dizer “faz tanto tempo” e “falta um mês para” em inglês.

Transcrição

Hi, everybody. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

Last week I got an email from an Inglês Online reader and he asked me about a few expressions in Portuguese, such as “Faz muito tempo que não estudo inglês” and “Falta um mês para o congresso”. So today let’s take a look at how we can say these things in English.

How can we say “Falta um mês”, for example? There are a few different ways to do that. So let’s say we’re telling a friend about this conference we’re going to attend, and let’s say you’ve got to put together five different presentations for that conference. You’ve started to work on the first one but you have a long way to go before your work is done. So you say to your friend “One month to the conference and I’ve only just begun work on my five presentations”. You could also say “One month before the conference and I still have to create five presentations from beginning to end”. You will notice, as you read or listen to English more and more, that most of the time when someone uses one of the expressions above, they’ll usually say something along the lines “I haven’t prepared yet” or “I haven’t done everything I needed to do to prepare for that event”. A couple more examples: “Two days to our trip to Jamaica and I haven’t even begun to think what I’m gonna pack”. “Three weeks to go before school starts and I feel I haven’t rested at all”; or we could simply say “Three weeks before school starts and I feel I haven’t rested at all”.

Here’s another way: that conference is just a month away, and I’ve yet to prepare and produce five different presentations. The championship final is just eight days away. Spring is nine weeks away. So, tell me: is there some big event in your life that’s just around the corner… and you still gotta prepare for it? Maybe it’s a trip, maybe a presentation, maybe it’s your wedding! I’ll give you an example that’s true for me: Two months to my trip and I still have so much stuff to take care of. What’s your example?

Alright, now on to “faz muito tempo” or “faz tanto tempo”. Let’s say that your example is “Faz muito tempo que eu parei de tomar refrigerante”. You could say “A long time ago I quit drinking soda”. A more literal translation to “a long time ago” is “muito tempo atrás”, but it works here. It communicates what you mean. A long time ago I quit drinking soda.

Now, here’s one thing I wanna bring to your attention. In Portuguese we say “faz tanto tempo que eu não vejo TV” or “faz tanto tempo que eu não vou ao cinema”, or, to go back to our previous example, “faz tanto tempo que eu não tomo refrigerante”. That’s a very common thing to say, right? All of them have a negative: não vejo, não vou, não tomo. Now, just notice that we don’t need a negative to say that in English. Listen: “It’s been so long since I watched TV”. What does that mean? That means that it’s been so long since the last time I watched TV. It was… three year ago, long time! No negatives there, right?  It’s been so long since I went to the movies. Last time was months ago. It’s been so long;  “faz tanto tempo”.

How’s it going? Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre uma das maneiras mais populares de se dizer “Você se incomoda?” em inglês.

Transcrição

Hi, everybody. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app.

So today I’d like to focus on a very useful expression with the word “mind”. You know, mind, m-i-n-d. This is a very nice term because  it’s a very popular way to ask permission to do something. Here’s what I’m talking about: Do you mind if I open the window? Simple question, huh? That’s kinda like our “Tudo bem se eu abrir a janela”, or, more literally, “Você se importa se eu abrir a janela?”. This is a more natural way to ask permission to do stuff like, opening a window, shutting the door, sitting down, than… let’s say, “Can I open the window?” Just say “Do you mind if I open the window?” or “Is it ok if I open the window?” Or even “Is it ok to open the window?”

So let’s say you’re in a restaurant, any restaurant, in São Paulo. Nowadays, if you ask the waiter “Is it ok if I smoke?” the answer will be “No”. People can’t smoke in closed spaces anymore. If you’re at the US Consulate to get your Visa, for example, and you ask the officer “Do you mind if I take a picture?” his answer will be “You can’t take a picture”. Well, actually you might have your camera temporarily confiscated. On the other hand, though, if you were at a friend’s house and asked them “Do you mind if sit down?” they would probably say “Sure, of course!”.

And that doesn’t mean “Sure, of course I do mind if you sit down” meaning “I don’t want you to sit down”. Usually when you ask someone “Do you mind if I do this or that?” and that person answers “Sure” or “Of course”, what they’re saying is “Go ahead, I don’t mind”. Do you mind if I shut the door? Sure, go ahead and shut the door. Do you mind if I sit on the floor? No problem, sit on the floor if you want to.

Now here’s a way to say all that that would be considered just a bit more polite… It’s a bit more gentle: Would you mind if…? Would you mind if I shut the door? Would you mind if I smoke? Would you mind if I open the window? Did you notice that all the verbs look like they’re in the present form? Shut (although the past tense of shut is also shut); smoke; open. Would you mind if I take notes while you speak? Would you mind if I post this on Facebook?

So here a way that’s a bit more formal: Would you mind if I opened the window? That’s the same word as the past tense, right? It’s actually a Subjunctive form. Would you mind if I opened the window? In Portuguese, we’d say that as  ‘Você se importaria se eu abrisse a janela?’ That’s a very literal translation. Would you mind if I opened the window? Would you mind if I smoked? Would you mind if I posted this on Facebook? Would you mind if I took notes while you speak?

Many natives can’t really tell the difference, though.. Many people say that they can’t tell the difference between “Would you mind if I take notes….?” and “Would you mind if I took notes…?”.  But we can still say that the more informal way is “Do you mind if I take notes?” or “Is it ok if I take notes?”; then we can turn that into a more polite version and say “Would you mind if I take notes?”; and we can even turn that into what would be generally considered the most polite vers...