Podcast Inglês Online

O podcast de hoje tem expressões que você pode usar para dizer que não entendeu nada ou que está meio perdido.

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? 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.

OK, so today I’ll start off with a nice expression that will sound familiar to you. Go back to when you were in school. Did you do well in mathematics, physics, history? What was your least favorite subject in school? Mathematics is a popular answer to that question, so let’s go with Maths. If you’re one of those people who hate Maths, I’ll go right ahead and make the assumption that you didn’t do very well in Maths. That’s not necessarily true, of course, but in most cases it is. So let’s say you really disliked Maths, and there were times when the teacher was explaining something or writing this complicated equation on the blackboard, and you were like… “Wow, I have no idea what’s going on on that blackboard”. You know what you could have said? This is all Greek to me.

We say the same in Portuguese: Isso pra mim é grego. In English, This is all Greek to me, or This is Greek to me. It’s a very informal expression, OK, very informal. So, were there times in school when you felt like saying “This is Greek to me”?

Here’s another one: go back again to the time you were in school and picture your teacher explaining something. Now this isn’t Mathematics anymore. This is a different subject, a subject that you actually liked. So, you were usually interested in what the teacher was saying but sometimes you couldn’t understand what she meant. Sometimes you would raise your hand and you would say “Excuse me! I’m not following” or “I’m not following you”. So we can use the word follow to mean ‘understand someone’s reasoning’, or ‘understand someone’s logic’. Right? A private investigator follows people around… When someone opens the door and tells you “Follow me”, they mean “Come right after me” or “Walk right behind me and go wherever I’m going”.

But when someone’s telling you a story or explaining something to you and, all of a sudden, you’re lost… You can say “Wait. I’m not following you.” I’m not following you. What you just said isn’t clear to me, it’s not making sense, I am not following you. Sometimes people will ask you “Are you following me?” or “Do you follow me?”. So that’s what they mean. When someone asks you “Are you following me?”, they want to know if you understand what they are saying. They wanna know if you are following their reasoning, their logic.

And here’s one more. Let’s go back to the teacher and the Maths class. You’re listening to the teacher speak and you’re thinking, “This is all Greek to me”. So after class you’re talking to your friend and he says “Can you help me with Maths? That stuff our teacher talked about today… it went way over my head”. It went over my head, or it went way over my head. Imagine something going over your head. Way over your head. That means you have no idea,

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,

O podcast de hoje fala sobre a expressão look up e vários de seus significados.

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.

Today I’m gonna talk about the expression “look up”. “Look up” can mean different things depending on how it’s used, so here is a very popular way to use it: let’s say I’m reading a magazine and all of a sudden I stumble upon the word “maze”. Maze, m-a-z-e. I have no idea what maze means, and I can’t understand what I’m reading. So what am I gonna do now? I am going to look up this word in a dictionary.

So that means that I’m going to grab my dictionary, which is a collection of words and information about these words, right? And then I’m going to find the section that lists all the words beginning with the letter M, and then I’m going to find “maze” and learn about its meaning. I’m going to look up “maze” in a dictionary. By the way, maze is something like a labyrinth.

What’s the last word you looked up in a dictionary? For me, it was “persimmon”. I didn’t look it up in a print dictionary, though. You know? The physical book. I don’t use print dictionaries anymore. I looked up persimmon on a dictionary website, one which I highly recommend. Here it goes: thefreedictionary.com. So I looked up “persimmon” on their website. By the way, if you don’t know what persimmon means, look it up on Google Images. You’ll see pictures of persimmons and you’ll know immediately what it means.

In general, when you have something like a collection of information on many topics, and you want to consult that resource to find information on one particular item, you can say “look up”. I’m gonna look up persimmon in a dictionary. Then, I’m going to look it up on Google Images and see what a persimmon looks like.

How about Wikipedia? Wikipedia is like an encyclopedia, but its articles are written by… just about anyone, so the information on that website is not always accurate, but it’s still useful most of the time. So Wikipedia is a collection of articles about many, many different topics. I look something up on the Wikipedia website almost every day. And here’s one more perfect example: the phone book, the directory of residents and their address and telephone number for a particular city. The last time I looked someone up in the phone book was… a while ago. It’s been a while! Actually, last weekend I looked up the phone number for a restaurant in the Yellow Pages. I looked up a phone number in the Yellow Pages. And the number was there.. I found it.

So here’s another meaning for “look up”: who do you respect and admire? Think of someone in your family, or a friend. Someone who you always listen to. When that person is speaking, you pay attention. Is it your father, your mother, a brother, a sister, an uncle, a friend? Who do you really admire and respect? Who do you look up to? For example, my sister looks up to my father. She respects and admires him very much. You know teen idols? Teenage actors, or young tv hosts, whose public is children? Remember, in Brazil we had Xuxa, Angélica. Many times children look up to them. In movies we often hear someone say “He looks up to you”. “He” is usually a little boy, and the boy’s mother is saying to the boy’s father, for example… “He looks up to you”

So who do you look up to? Maybe there’s a grandfather you look up to. Maybe there’s an old friend you look up to. When you’re in need of some advice,

O podcast de hoje fala sobre a expressão ring up.

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.

Last week I took a little vacation and spent a week in New York City. This was my first time back in New York City after ten years. And, of course I thought of Inglês Online and Inglês Online readers while I was there and… There are gonna be some pretty nice surprises for readers in the next few months. So sit tight, stick around and enjoy the blog in the meantime.

Today I wanna talk about an expression I heard a lot while I was shopping. Guess what it has to do with? It has to do with paying for something at the cash register of a store. I heard it on my first day in New York, when I went to an electronics store to buy an mp3 player.

So the store clerk pointed me to the player I wanted and when I said “I’ll take it”, she said “OK. I’ll get you rung up”. Again, she said “I’ll get you rung up”. So just to recap, here’s a little grammar for you: the word “rung” I just used… that’s the past participle of “ring”, r-i-n-g. So, it’s ring, then the past form is rang, r-a-n-g, and the participle is rung, r-u-n-g.

So the participle is what I’m using… is what the store clerk used when she said “I’ll get you rung up”.

Again: the way she said it, “I’ll get you rung up”, can’t really be translated in a literal way into Portuguese, so I’ll give you a few alternatives that mean the same thing. The store clerk could have said “OK, I’ll ring you up now” or “I’ll ring that up for you”. “that” is the mp3 player, right? “I’ll ring that up for you”.

So, what does that mean… “I’ll ring you up” or “I’ll ring that up for you”? That usually means you and the store clerk will walk over to the cash register, and then the clerk will record the sale, and let you know what the total is, and then you give them the money, or your credit card… And after charging you, the clerk will give you a receipt, which is your proof of purchase. So that’s what “I’ll ring you up” or “I’ll ring that up for you” means.

So you go into a store, and after you’re done selecting the items you wanna buy, you may walk over to a cash register so that a clerk can ring you up. Or maybe the store guy has just helped you find what you were looking for, and he says “I’ll ring you up when you’re ready”. That means he knows that you may want to look at other stuff to buy but, when you’re done, you can just let him know you’re done and he will ring you up.

Like I said before, the clerk may also say “I’ll ring that up for you”. Let’s say the store guy sees you hanging around the store with three mp3 players in your hands. He may ask you “Is that all?” and if you say yes, he may say “I’ll ring those up for you”. By ‘those’, he means ‘those three mp3 players’.

The first time I heard the expression “ring you up” or “ring something up” was on ESL Podcast. Here’s the web address: eslpod.com. Go over to their website and type the word “ring” into the search box and you’ll see a list of all podcasts that include this word. I think there are at least four podcasts with the expression “ring something up”.

So next time you’re in a store or restaurant, and someone says I’ll ring that up for you… you know what they’re talking...

O podcast de hoje fala sobre “Só pode ser… “ e “Não pode ser…”

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? 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.

In this podcast I’m gonna talk about a couple of simple expressions, very simple… And these expressions are somewhat related. So I’m going to make up a little story so that I can use all the expressions in the context of this story. It’s a silly story… It’s very silly, but bear with me.

Imagine this: you are watching a reality show on TV, but it has only one episode, OK? It’s like a game, or a quick competition, and this is how it works: there’s a group of people… Let’s say five people, men and women, and one of them is actually an extra-terrestrial, OK? One of them is not from planet Earth. But no one knows who the extra-terrestrial is, and the first person to figure that out will win a big prize.

So let’s say the contestants’ names are Sara, Mike, Jennifer, Brad and Anna. One of these people is not a human being, and someone has to figure that out in order to win the big prize. The extra-terrestrial looks like a human being, so it’s not that easy to figure out who the ET is.

And these five people are hanging out in this very nice house, and you and your friend are watching them on TV. And, of course, you guys are very curious. The two of you wanna know which one is the creature from outer space. When you start watching the show, you notice that they all look human. You know, they look like regular men and women. However, the host of the show explains that, although they LOOK like regular human beings,  if you pay close attention to their behavior you will be able to identify the extra-terrestrial.

So you and your friend are glued to the TV for hours. You guys are watching these people, trying to notice any strange behaviors, or just anything that would give away who the ET is. And… you start noticing that there’s something unusual about one of the contestants, Jennifer. You think you saw her lifting a cup without touching it. That’s right, she didn’t grab the cup with her hand. She just placed her hand right above the cup, and the cup kinda jumped into her hand! So you say to your friend “I know who the extra-terrestrial is. I definitely know.”

And your friend then says “I know too. It can only be Mike”. So you and your friend disagree, of course. You think it’s Jennifer, but he is sure it’s Mike. He said “It can only be Mike”. That means that your friend thinks there is no other possibility. “It can only be Mike” means Mike is the only possibility. He’s the one. In Portuguese we might say “Só pode ser o Mike”. It can only be Mike.

And you say “I disagree! It can’t be Mike.” It can’t be Mike. You think there’s no way it’s Mike. It can’t be Mike. Mike? That’s not possible! There’s only one ET and you’re almost 100% sure it’s Jennifer. So, it can’t be Mike. In Portuguese, we would say “Não pode ser o Mike!” It can’t be Mike. And your friend continues: “It has to be Mike! He has super powers! He lifted that heavy rock with no one else’s help!” And you say “Well, that makes him Superman, but he’s not the ET. It’s Jennifer! It has to be Jennifer.”

So ‘it can only be’,

O podcast de hoje é sobre a expressão figure out.

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? 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 last week reader Gustavo wrote in and suggested a podcast topic: the expression figure out. He said that every time he’s watching a sitcom or a movie, “figure out” pops up in the dialogue. And

you know what? That’s my experience as well. In all these years having contact with English, I can tell you that “figure out” is probably one of the expressions I hear the most often. So this episode is dedicated to giving you examples of how to use figure out. I’m gonna go for the most common ways I know to use this expression, OK?

OK. So just go ahead and think of something, some machine or piece of equipment that you tried to use. You tried, unsuccessfully. When you tried to get it to do what it was supposed to do, you weren’t able to.

Maybe it was that juicer you saw on that infomercial on TV. You bought it, you paid a lot of money for it and now you’re trying to make some delicious juice at home. But things turn out to be way more complicated than you anticipated. And, you’re surprised! You know, the woman in the infomercial put a whole pineapple into the juicer and out of it came this clear, beautiful pineapple juice! You tried to do the same, but your juice looks like dirty water and your kitchen is a mess. There are pieces of pineapple all over the sink. Clearly, there’s something wrong here.

You’ve read the manual, you’ve rewatched the infomercial on YouTube, but it seems like you’re just not able to make decent pineapple juice. So you can’t figure out how to use this juicer. You can’t figure out how to make the juicer work. You could say “I can’t figure this juicer out”. I can’t figure it out. Slowly: I can’t… figure… it… out. I can’t figure it out. What does that mean? That means I can’t understand how it works, I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, I’ve been trying different things to make it work for a while and nothing seems to work. I can’t figure it out!

What’s your example of something you can’t figure out? There’s always something that other people have repeatedly explained to you, and you still can’t really understand. You get confused when you try to do it, it’s like it doesn’t even make sense! You can’t figure it out. What’s your example?

And the interesting thing is, we can use this expression for people as well. Let’s say there’s someone in your office… a coworker. So one day this person will say hello to you and ask how your weekend was, and then the next day, he will just ignore you and it’s like you don’t even know each other. You can’t figure this guy out. You have no idea why he does that, what his motivations are… You can’t figure him out.

Or, let’s say one of your teachers in school seems to think your answers to her questions in class are very intelligent, she says a lot of nice things about you, so you’re very confident you’re going to do well on the exams. But when you go check your grades, she has given you an F. And she says that your answers weren’t clear and that you need to learn how to express yourself. You can’t figure her out! What does she want?

Hoje temos um podcast que fala sobre algumas expressões comuns relacionadas a enfrentar situações difíceis.

Transcrição

Hey, 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 a few weeks ago inglesonline reader Camilla wrote in with a request. She said “Why don’t you talk about vocabulary related to difficult situations people go through?” I thought it was a good idea, so.. here it is!

First off, let’s use this little phrase that I just said, “difficult situations people go through”. What are some examples of difficult situations that many people go through? Here are a few things that Camilla suggested: falling in public.. you know? Taking a tumble in front of many people. Having your heart broken, getting fired…

And, of course, there are many people who face serious difficulties throughout their lives, one after another. For example, some people are financially poor and have a big family to support, some people lose several family members in a short period of time, others have a serious illness… It’s common to say something like “Sarah has been through a lot”, for example. What does that mean? Sarah has been through a lot. That means Sarah has faced lots of difficulties in her life. She’s still alive, right? So I am not saying “Sarah had difficulties…” in the past, ’cause that would sound like Sarah is dead. I’m speaking in general. She’s still alive so, Sara has had, Sarah has faced lots of difficulties throughout her life. Sarah has been through a lot. She’s been through a lot. And she has probably overcome most of the obstacles or all of the obstacles that she has encountered in her life. So again, we can say “Sarah has been through a lot”. She’s been through a lot.

And here’s something else that you’ll hear a lot: when you’re talking to someone who has been through a lot and, you know, now this person has just received some really good news, or something really great has happened in their life… you could say “You deserve it. You’ve been through so much!”. What are you saying to this person? You’re saying that he or she deserves this great thing that’s going on right now in their life. They deserve it, since they have been through so much. This person has faced so many difficulties, he or she has been through some hard times, it hasn’t been easy. So, now that something wonderful has happened to them, you’re really happy for them and you can say “You deserve this. You really deserve it.. you’ve been through so much!”

Now, well… some things are not that serious, right? Like falling in public. I think it’s safe to say this has happened to everyone at least once. Maybe you’re walking down the street, minding your own business and then you step on a banana peel, and you slip, and you fall. Has that ever happened to you? I’ve never slipped on a banana peel, but… yes, I have fallen in public a few times. So, last time that happened to you, how did you feel and how did you recover?

I did a search on Google and I found a webpage with this  question: Have you ever taken a tumble in public? What hurt most: the fall, or your pride? Tumble kinda sounds like Portuguese, right? We say “tombo”, they say tumble. So the question on that page is “Have you ever  taken a tumble in public? What hurt most: the fall, or your pride?” Now take a look at this image here to the right. Do you see what this guy’s doing? That’s called a somersault, that’s like an acrobatic leap that gymnasts do.

Na semana passada eu publiquei a dica Como digo em inglês: Mas você nem conhece essa mulher!, e eu disse que ia ter um podcast para complementar o post com exemplos em áudio. Aqui vem eles: ouça frases como You don’t even have a car! e as perguntas equivalentes, como Do you even have a car?

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? 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 I’m gonna talk about this little word EVEN. Last week I posted a tip on how to use “even” and this week I follow it up with this podcast. So let’s start out with the examples I used in the post: I told a little story about you and your friend seeing someone famous. A famous actress. Let’s say you guys see her in a store. And then your friend says that he’s gonna ask this actress to have lunch with him.

Now, think about it. This woman is a famous actress, she’s just going about her business, she probably has lots of fans, she gets lots of attention everywhere she goes. So right now she probably

just wants to do some shopping and be left alone. And then your friend says “I’m gonna ask her to have lunch with me!”. And what’s your reaction? You say “What? Are you gonna ask that actress to have lunch with you? That famous actress? Are you insane? You don’t even know her!” Your friend doesn’t even know her. It’s like… at the very least, your friend should know her personally if he wants to ask her out to lunch. But he doesn’t even know her.

And here’s another example that I used: your cousin is fascinated by everything that has to do with China. The people, the country, everything. So you guys go to the beach one day and you see a few Chinese people hanging out at the same beach. You can hear their conversation so you know they’re not speaking Portuguese, or English… it must be Chinese. Your cousin says “I’m gonna go there and introduce myself and just chat with them”. You look at him and say “You don’t even speak Chinese. How are you gonna talk to them?” I mean, at the very least, if you wanna chat with Chinese people you should know a little Chinese. Your cousin wants to chat with those guys but he doesn’t even speak Chinese. He doesn’t even speak Chinese. How’s he gonna do that?

And here’s the other way we can use EVEN with the same meaning as in the examples above: in a question. You said to your friend who wanted to ask that actress out to lunch “You don’t even know her!”. You could have asked your friend “Do you even know her?” Do you even know this woman? Do even know this famous actress?” You’re not thinking about asking someone out to lunch that you don’t even know, right? Do you even know her?

And to your cousin, you said “You don’t even speak Chinese”. You could have said “Do you even speak Chinese?” I mean, you need to at least speak Chinese if you wanna talk to a Chinese person. Do you even speak Chinese?

So let me give you a few more examples of how to use EVEN in this type of question. I’m gonna use the little activity I included at the end of last week’s post. Notice the stress on the verb right after EVEN:

* If someone told you they were going to make a phone call to TV Globo to complain about some soapopera, what would you say? Well, you might ask “Do you even have TV Globo’s phone number?” or “Do you even know their phone number?”

* If someone told you that they were going to buy...

Hoje no podcast eu uso um texto que recebi por email e que talvez muitos de vocês já conheçam. Ele ilustra o uso da palavrinha UP de diversas maneiras. Como o texto já está espalhado pela Internet, achei que ia ser legal gravar o áudio com ele. Enjoy!

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? This is another episode of the Inglesonline podcast and today… instead of talking about two or three expressions I’m going to use a little text that someone sent me this week. So I don’t know who the author of this text is, but this person wrote these paragraphs using UP as often as they could and exemplifying lots of the so-called phrasal verbs. I did a quick search and I found out that this text is all over the place. So it’s pretty well-known, and I thought it would be a good idea to read it out for you guys.

OK! To listen and download previous episodes and transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Inglesonline podcast. So let’s get started:

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is UP. It is listed in the dictionary as an adverb, a preposition, an adjective, a noun or a verb.

It’s easy to understand “UP”, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election. Why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car. At other times this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses… To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special!

And this UP is confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about the word UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary… In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and it can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding  UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, the earth soaks it UP. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on & on, but I’ll wrap this UP for now because my time is UP!

Oh… one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?  U (you)  P (pee) !

Don’t mess UP. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book…  It’s UP to you! Now I think I’ll shut UP.

Alright, that’s it. So tell me:

* When was the last time you dressed up? For me, it was last Christmas.

* Were you in any meetings recently? Which topics came up? I wasn’t in any work meetings but when I talked to a friend last week, the topic of food came up.

* What time do you usually wake up? I wake up at 7:30

* What are you up to today? Me? I’m writing a couple of posts and working on some other stuff.

Leave your answers in the comment area, and tell us which ways of using UP you’re familiar with. Talk to you next time.

Hoje no podcast eu falo sobre being used to something e getting used to something.

Transcrição

Hi, how are you? This is another episode of the Inglesonline podcast. To listen to and download previous episodes and transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Inglesonline podcast.

Ok, so, every once in a while I get an email from a reader with this question: What’s the difference between ‘be used to’ and ‘get used to’? I wrote a short tip about that two years ago, but I thought it would be great to do a podcast with more examples on being used to something, and getting used to something. And, just to clarify, before we begin… I’m not going to talk about I used to do this or that when I was a child… “I used to do this” describes the past; it’s something you did repeatedly at some point in your life.

So today, I’m not gonna talk about stuff I used to do when I was a child, or stuff my friends used to do when they were in school, no. I’m gonna talk about being used to something, or being used to doing something. For example, I’m used to warm weather. I think most of you guys are too. We’re used to warm weather, we’re accustomed to warm weather. Warm weather is familiar to us. Most of us live in a tropical country, so we’re used to warm weather. I’m not very used to really cold weather.

Here’s another example of something I’m used to. Actually, here’s another example of something I’m used to doing: I’m used to working from home now. A few years ago, when I started working from home… It felt strange, you know? I mean, my home was the place where I watched TV, where I slept, where I had dinner…. So it felt strange when I began working from home. But over the years, I got used to working from home. I got used to working from home. What does that mean? I got used to working from home means… Eu me acostumei a trabalhar em casa. I got used to working from home. So nowadays I’m used to working from home. I’m used to working from home – in Portuguese we say Eu tô acostumada a trabalhar em casa.

So here are a few more examples with being used to something and getting used to something:

* My friend Fernando is Brazilian. He grew up in Brazil and he lived here his entire life. Until last year, that is. Last year, he moved to England. The thing is, in Brazil we drive on the right side of the road, right? In England, it’s the opposite: people drive on the left side of the road. Fernando had a hard time with that. He was very careful in the beginning, but after a year driving on the left side, he got used to it. He got used to driving on the left side. Nowadays, he is used to driving on the left side.

* My sister lived in São Paulo all her life, and then a few years ago she moved to Italy. She actually moved to a very small town in Italy. In São Paulo, my sister was used to the traffic, to the noise, to the shopping malls, to the bars and restaurants. So when she moved to this small Italian town, everything changed. People there have a different way of life, there aren’t many places to go, there isn’t a lot to do, and in the beginning, my sister wasn’t used to it. But, over the years, she got used to this new way of life. She made new friends, she found interesting things to do, and she got used to it. So nowadays, she is used to this new way of life.

* And here’s one more example: a new restaurant opened in my neighborhood some time ago. Actually this restaurant is right across the street from my building. And guess what? This restaurant is always busy, always crowded and it stays open until one or two in the morning every ni...