Podcast Inglês Online

Hi everyone!

Se você achava que “What a steal!” tem o significado do nosso “Que roubo!”, ouça esse podcast. A maneira de dizer “Que roubo” é outra, e você também vai saber o que quer dizer “What a steal”. Clique nos links na transcrição para ir para posts relacionados às expressões linkadas.

Transcrição

Hey, everyone! This is the new episode of Inglesonline Podcast. To see the transcript and every episode of this podcast, go to inglesonline.com.br and click ‘Podcast Inglesonline’.

So, let’s say you’re interested in buying a new notebook computer. A simple one. But you don’t know anything about computers, so you visit an online shop and you type in a few keywords like “notebook” and “Windows”, for example. Then, you look at the search results, and you’re astounded. You’re in shock. A simple notebook computer, running on Windows, with not too much memory, costs… let’s say, five thousand reais.

If you were thinking in Portuguese, what thought would you have? Maybe “Que roubo!” Well, be careful! One way to translate “Que roubo” into English is “What a steal!” But “What a steal” means the opposite. It means that you found something that is worth way more than what the seller is asking for. To steal means roubar, but in this case it’s as though you, the buyer, were stealing something because it is so cheap.

Examples: you go shopping for… shirts, and you find these Italian shirts that look amazing, and they’re very high quality, and each one is eight reais. Ok, eight. And they’re not defective or anything, they’re just unbelievably cheap. You could say “They’re a steal!”. Or let’s say you want a new TV and your neighbor is selling his, which originally cost two thousand, for five hundred because he’s… moving to the Himalayas. What a steal! Or you went to an outlet last weekend and bought a brand-name shirt… not a knockoff, but a real, genuine brand-name shirt for twenty reais. You show it to your friend and you say “It was a steal. It was so cheap, it was a real steal”. A weekend on the beach at a very nice hotel for 80 reais? That’s a steal. A great show by an unknown band for fifteen reais? Another steal.

So you can usually find some real steals at outlets. An outlet is a store that sells things from past seasons at discounted prices, or slightly defective items, so… in general, they’re cheaper. Sometimes, if you’re in luck, you can find some real steals when you go to an outlet.

And what about that notebook computer for 5,000 reais? That’s not a steal. You think this little computer isn’t worth 5,000 reais… it’s not even worth 2,000 reais! So your opinion is, this is a rip-off. This store is trying to rip people off… to rip people off. That means that the store is asking for way more than the computer is worth. You could say “What a rip-off! I’m not gonna buy this computer because I don’t wanna be ripped off”.

“Rip off” is kind of a strong expression, OK? I mean, if you say that someone is trying to rip you off, you’re not just saying that what they wanna sell you is simply expensive. It’s almost like you’re saying that they’re intentionally charging way more than that thing is worth. Now, when something is just expensive, but you think it’s worth it, then you are not being ripped off. It’s not a rip-off, you’re just spending a lot of money on something that is ...

Hi everyone!

Hoje eu vou contar uma estorinha, uma coisa meio estranha que aconteceu comigo há um tempo. Eu nem tinha pensado mais nisso, até que na semana passada alguém tuitou que a mesma coisa já aconteceu com ele. E com você – já? Como foi?

E uma dica: nesse podcast eu uso bastante uma estrutura assim (chamada de Past Perfect):

She had told me before about her boyfriend, but I hadn’t met him in person yet

A estória que eu conto se passou uns meses atrás, quando me encontrei com umas amigas pra almoçar. Mas eu também falo de coisas que aconteceram antes desse almoço, ou seja, coisas que já tinham acontecido (ou que ainda não tinham acontecido) quando a gente se encontrou. Então essas são as key expressions de hoje:

* She had told me (ela tinha me dito)

* I had not met him (eu não o tinha conhecido)

* I had seen the picture (eu tinha visto a foto)

* Something had happened (algo tinha acontecido)

 

Transcrição

Hi, everyone! Today is Saturday, the day before Election day. This is Ana and today I wanna tell you a.. kind of a funny/weird story.

So, just hear me out:

A few months ago I met with a group of friends for lunch, OK? We all knew each other from school, we all went to the same school and… that day, at the restaurant, there were, like, four of us. So we got to talking and my friend… let’s call her Daniela. So Daniela told me that her boyfriend was going to join us.

Now, she had told me before about her boyfriend, but I hadn’t met him in person yet. She had told me, for example, that he had two kids from a previous marriage. So that day at the restaurant was the first day I was gonna see him in person.

Now, I wanna mention that my friends and I are all on Facebook. You know Facebook, right? It’s like Orkut, kind of. So we’re all on Facebook and we’re all connected, so we can see each other’s pictures and everything.

So when Daniela told me that her boyfriend was coming, I remembered a picture of her, her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s daughter. Just a few days earlier I had seen this picture with the three of them on her Facebook profile.

But the thing is, the moment I said that, my friend looked at me and said “What? I never posted pictures of me and my boyfriend on Facebook!”

I was so sure that I had seen the picture that I said “Of course you did! You guys were standing in front of a house. You looked like you were gonna go hiking or something”

Right after I said that, her boyfriend arrived. I took one look at him and said “Yeah, that’s him”

My friend just started to laugh. She said “Ana, this is impossible. I’ve never gone hiking, and I’ve never posted a picture of my boyfriend and his daughter anywhere”

So later, of course, I checked her profile again, and guess what? No pictures. None.

OK. For all I know, it was a dream. But I have to say, it was really vivid! And it was kinda weird. You know?

And the reason I remembered this story is that last week this guy posted on Twitter that he couldn’t remember whether something had happened in real life or in a dream. I was kinda relieved, you know? It wasn’t just me. Has this ever happened to you?

Thanks for all the comments and messages and keep sending me your suggestions and requests – they’re very welcome!

Glossary

hear me out = ouça o que vou falar

we knew each other = a gente se conhecia

we got to talking = a gente começou a conversar

he was going to join us = ela ia se juntar a nós

it’s like Orkut, kind of = é como o Orkut, mais ou menos

each other’s pictures = as fotos umas das outras

the thing is = “aí é que tá”, o negócio é que

Hey everyone,

No podcast de hoje , mais palavras e expressões super comuns com a palavra HOPE.

Transcrição

Hey, what’s up? How’s it going? I’m Ana Luiza with another episode of Inglesonline podcast. To read the transcript of this and other episodes, go to inglesonline.com.br and click on Podcasts.

This is part 2 of a 2-part podcast about the word HOPE. So today I’m gonna talk some more about expressions related to the word hope, and hopefully, by the time you’ve finished listening to this episode you’ll have picked up a couple of new words and expressions. So listen to this word again: hopefully. If you have the habit of listening or reading or watching shows in English, it won’t be long before you hear or see the word hopefully again.

I don’t think there’s a word that exactly translates hopefully into Portuguese, or, if there is, we don’t use it much. Sometimes hopefully can be translated as “tomara”, sometimes it means “com um pouco de sorte” and so on.

Hopefully expresses hope, of course, and it usually precedes a wish, or the thing you would like to see happen. For example: Peter cheated on the exam and got caught. Hopefully he’s learned his lesson and won’t try this again.

Mary is throwing a party next Saturday at her apartment, which… isn’t that big. Hopefully it’ll be enough to accomodate everyone.

Or someone asks you: Are you gonna come with us on the trip to Mexico? You wanna go, but you’re not sure. You say “Hopefully” or “Hopefully, yes. I’m trying to talk my boss into letting me take a few days off, so hopefully I am gonna go on the trip”.

What questions would *you* answer with “Hopefully, yes”? Maybe “Are you finally going to graduate in 2010?” Hopefully, yes. I’ll do my best.

“Are you gonna win the lottery this time?” Hopefully. “Has your computer been fixed?” Well, I just got it back from the computer shop after three weeks and 500 dollars, so hopefully, yes. And the same goes if you’re hoping that something will not happen: hopefully not.

And what about this one: when you hear someone say “The situation is hopeless. This is hopeless”. Well, if someone’s said that, you can tell this person has given up hope. They don’t think there’s anything else that can be done to improve or fix whatever situation they’re talking about.

Let’s say you’re driving somewhere with a friend and then you get a flat tire. You have no experience changing tires but you say to your friend “I’ll give it a shot, but don’t get your hopes up… I’ve never done this before”. After forty minutes, you guys have not been successful in changing the tire. Your friend says “OK, this is hopeless. Let’s just try to flag down a car” So your friend thinks the situation is hopeless. The two of you have given it your best shot, but… the flat tire is still there. So, you agree with him. You agree that this is hopeless.

People say that trying to change someone is hopeless. Trying to make a cat bark? Hopeless. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Hopeless.

What are your examples? Can you think of an example in your life where you had this thought “This is hopeless” And hopefully, your example is not “Trying to learn English is hopeless”, ’cause it’s not! Talk to you next time.

 

Key expressions

* hopefully

* hopeless

* give up hope

Glossary

he got caught = ele foi pego (aprontando, fazendo algo errado)

talk my boss into (something) = convencer meu chefe a (fazer alguma coisa)

What’s up?

No podcast de hoje, eu falo sobre algumas expressões super comuns com a palavra HOPE. Hope é a palavra para esperança e/ ou ter esperança. No próximo podcast, tem mais.

Transcrição

Hey, how’s it going? I’m Ana Luiza with a new episode of Inglesonline podcast. To read the transcript of this and other episodes, go to inglesonline.com.br and click on Podcasts.

This is part 1 of a 2-part podcast about expressions related to the word HOPE. Today I’m gonna give you examples of how to use ‘hope for the best’ and ‘don’t get your hopes up’ and in part 2 I’m gonna talk about another two or three expressions.

Here’s a nice expression: hope for the best. Hope for the best, of course, means that you’re hoping for the best possible outcome, the best possible thing to happen. So, in any situation, really, you could say “Well, it doesn’t look good, you know, but we still hope for the best”.

So it’s very common for people to say that when they’re going through a difficult time, or something unexpected has happened, and they’re not really in control of what’s gonna happen next, you know? But they’re trying their best to do whatever they can to solve the problem or improve the situation and these people might say something like “You know, I’m just gonna do what I can and hope for the best”.

Here’s an example: suppose you’re on your way to a very important meeting. Your boss is gonna be there, your biggest clients are gonna be there, and they’re all waiting for you, because you’re supposed to give this big presentation. And what’s more, your boss has been hinting at you that you might get promoted. You know, he’s been dropping a few hints here and there. In other words, this is the meeting of a lifetime, it’s a make-it-or-break-it moment in your career and you don’t wanna mess up.

And here’s what happens. You get two flat tires on your way to the meeting. You grab your cell phone to call for some help and your cell phone is dead. You forgot to recharge the battery and now it’s dead. But thankfully you’re able to think on your feet when you see a bus going in the direction you need to go. You think “Well, I’m just gonna get on this bus and hope for the best”. You know, you’re trying, you’re doing the best you can, given the circumstances, and you hope for the best. You’ve got two flat tires, your cell phone is dead, but you’re on the bus now and you hope for the best.

Or let’s say your friend has to turn in a school report in an hour and she has just dropped the report in a big puddle of water. She’s out of paper, she can’t print another copy, and you tell her “Hey, just use a blow dryer, talk to your professor, explain what happened and hope for the best” Just do whatever you can to improve the situation and hope for the best.

OK, the other expression for today is “don’t get your hopes up”. Don’t get your hopes up, you might end up disappointed. Let’s say you are trying to get a job in a field where you have zero experience. Someone tells you “I wish you luck but don’t get your hopes up. Most companies hire experienced people, so don’t get your hopes up”. Don’t expect too much, you know, things might not work out the way you want them to. Don’t get your hopes up.

Or, your friend is trying to convince you to go with her on a trip to India. You don’t have a lot of money to spend on a trip, you’d rather go to the beach, but on the other hand it would be fun to travel with your friend. So you tell her “Hey, I’m gonna think about it, but don’t get your hopes up”. You know?

Hey, what’s going on?

No podcast de hoje, você ouve como dizer coisas como Esquece, já era. Tarde demais e É melhor você parar com o café se quiser dormir melhor à noite (uma obs.: “já era” pode ser dito de maneiras diferentes em inglês, dependendo da situação).

Transcrição

Hi, this is Ana Luiza with a new episode of Inglesonline podcast. To see the transcript and download the audio for this and other episodes, go to inglesonline.com.br and click on “Podcasts”. OK, so I was reading a discussion forum about that TV show, Friends. Remember Friends? I’ve always been a fan, and I’ve watched all the episodes, like, multiple times. It was about the lives of six friends in New York City.

And you know how they’ve been making lots of movies based on TV shows? So in that forum people were discussing whether a Friends movie was going to be made. And one person said: “Would anyone care if they made a Friends movie? That ship has sailed”.

What does that mean? This person is saying that, by now, people don’t care about Friends anymore. I mean, the show ended in 2004, six years ago. Maybe if they had made a movie in 2005, it would have been a huge hit. But now? It’s too late, the opportunity has passed… that ship has sailed. That ship of opportunity, the “Friends movie” ship? It has sailed, it’s not here anymore.

Here’s another example for this expression “that ship has sailed”: imagine that your friend Jerry broke up with his girlfriend Monica a year ago. So the two of you – you and your friend Jerry – you guys bump into each other at a cafe. And then Jerry tells you, “You know, I’ve been thinking about Monica lately. I think I’m gonna give her a call, maybe we could get back together”.

And you look at him, and you say, “Dude, that ship has sailed. Monica got married last April”. So, the ship of “reconciliation”? The “getting-back-together” ship? It has sailed. It’s too late. That ship has sailed.

I like the expression “That ship has sailed”. I don’t know why, I think it’s funny. And here’s another one that I like, and it is a very informal way of saying “Quit doing this or that”. The expression is “lay off”, or “lay off something”. Companies often lay off employees, especially in difficult times. That means they let employees go. When a company lays someone off, this person no longer works for the company.

This expression “lay off” is also used in a slightly different way, although it’s similar: you can lay off stuff. Example: your friend tells you he’s been gaining weight and you know he eats junk food every day. You can tell him “You should lay off the junk food. Lay off the junk food, and you’ll be back to your regular weight in no time”.

Another friend might say “I can’t believe how much money I spent last month! That’s it, I’m gonna lay off the credit card. I’m never going to use it again”. I’m gonna lay off the credit card means I’m gonna stop using it… No more credit card for me.

Do you drink a lot of coffee at night and then have trouble sleeping? Lay off the coffee!

Do you lift heavy weights every day and then have back pain? Lay off the heavy weights!

Do you wanna make real progress in English? Lay off the excessive grammar study and keep listening to this and other audio programs that you understand – that is, without a doubt, the best use of your time.

Alright, that’s it for today. Tell us about a situation in your life where you could have said “...

Hey… what’s up?

No podcast de hoje, você ouve como dizer coisas assim:

* Estou quase lembrando… tá na ponta da língua!

* Gostou do ………..? Você não viu nada ainda!

Transcrição

Hi, this is Ana Luiza with a new episode of Inglesonline podcast. To see the transcript and download the audio for this and other episodes, go to inglesonline.com.br and click on “Podcasts”. And thanks to everyone who’s been listening and sending me mail, and leaving comments! I love doing this podcast and I really enjoy hearing from you guys and learning how the episodes have helped you.

Alright! So, a few weeks ago I talked about the expression ‘tip someone off’ and today we’re going to, once again, talk about the word tip. A very common meaning of tip is the pointed end or extremity of something. For example, your fingers have tips… they’re called fingertips. Your tongue has a tip, and sometimes an iceberg has a tip too.

The two expressions I’m gonna talk about today are: ‘on the tip of my tongue’ and ‘That’s just the tip of the iceberg’.

So, you know when you almost remember something? Someone asks you, What’s the name of the hotel where you stayed last year? or What’s the name of that actor? or What did that person say about this or that? and you can almost remember, it’s on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t come up with the actual word, or the actual expression you’re trying to remember. It’s on the tip of your tongue but you can’t quite remember it. We have an identical expression in Portuguese, right? I’m not gonna say it.

So here’s an example. My friends and I were playing a game once and there was someone drawing a picture, and we had to guess what the title of a movie was based on the drawing. So, I had no idea what it was, but my friend said she knew it. She had the title of the movie on the tip of her tongue. She kept describing the movie, she remembered the names of the actors in the movie, she even knew what the first letter of the title was. She said it started with a J. It was on the tip of her tongue, but in the end we ran out of time and she couldn’t remember it. And when the other person told us which movie it was, my friend said, “Yes, that’s the title! It was on the tip of my tongue the whole time!” So, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t actually remember it in time to win the game.

And here’s another expression: the tip of the iceberg. You know what an iceberg is, right? When you see a picture of an iceberg, you’re only seeing a small portion of the iceberg, because, well, most of it is underwater. Sometimes you only see the tip of the iceberg.

So, imagine you work in an office… you’ve been working there for a year. Then you go on vacation, a few weeks later you’re back to work and as walk into your office, one of your coworkers, let’s say his name is Bob… So Bob walks up to you and says: “Hey, you’re back! Bad news, unfortunately. The VP of Sales quit three days ago”. And you think, “Wow, that’s really bad”. And then you give your friend Brian a call.

Brian is also a coworker. So you tell him, “Hey, I just heard that the VP of Sales quit. That doesn’t sound good”. And Brian says, “Oh, you think the VP of Sales quitting is bad? That is just the tip of the iceberg, my friend”. And then, Brian goes on to tell you about other stuff that is even worse. The VP of Finance is threatening to quit too, the company is about to declare bankruptcy… So, the VP of Sales quitting? Yeah, that’s bad,

Hey… what’s up?

Se o título do post não fez muito sentido pra você… é que esses dias andei olhando várias das dicas de inglês que eu já escrevi, e daí tive a ideia de fazer um texto que usasse algumas expressões que já foram comentadas em dicas ou podcasts anteriores. O título foi formado com as três primeiras da lista

Bom, a ideia inicial era ser apenas um texto… mas como eu tinha um tempinho livre resolvi gravar o áudio também. Ouça o áudio e leia o texto, mas não pare por aí: clique nos links dentro do texto, e reveja as dicas aqui do Inglês Online que falam sobre a expressão relacionada.Quanto mais exposição você tiver, mais as palavras vão entrando.

Taí: se você está em SP e não ia fazer nada no feriadão, já arrumou o que fazer! Se você não está em SP, que tal ouvir, ler e reler sobre esse vocabulário de inglês no seu horário livre (da meia-noite às 6?)

Transcrição

[Audio intro] Hi, this is Ana Luiza of inglesonline.com.br and this is not my typical podcast. This is the audio for a short text I wrote… where I use expressions that I have already talked about, either in a podcast or in a previous lesson. The title of this post is “Actually, I couldn’t care less that you’re a heavy sleeper: é hora da revisão”. Look it up in the blog to read the text. Also, in the text, you’ll find links to the related lessons in the blog.

So here’s the story:

I have two friends, Teresa and Livia, who live in the city of Campinas. I have a lot of fun with them because, despite being so different from one another, they have this in common: they’re both very funny people.

Despite all their differences, Teresa and Livia are best friends. Livia is a passionate soccer fan; she’s so passionate about supporting her team that she will go anywhere to watch them play. Teresa, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about soccer. She’s been to soccer matches with Livia once or twice, but when I asked her if she had enjoyed the experience, she said “Meh.”

Another thing that sets them apart is that Teresa is a stickler for punctuality. She is almost never late for anything. If you set up an appointment with her, she’ll be there ten minutes early. Guess what? Livia is the opposite. Nine times out of ten, she’ll be late for an appointment. Every once in a while she’ll pull a Teresa and be on time, but don’t count on it!

But she’ll never fail to give you a call and let you know she’s running late. Livia is a thoughtful person, that’s for sure. Actually, that runs in the family: her sister and father are always very thoughtful as well. If you tell them you like watermelon, they’ll make sure to have watermelon next time you visit!

Teresa is a light sleeper whereas Livia is a

Hi, everyone!

O podcast de hoje fala sobre algumas expressões super comuns do inglês que expressam Como você percebeu? ou Como você sabe?

Transcrição

Hey, this is Ana Luiza with a new episode of Inglesonline podcast. To see the transcript and download the audio for this and other episodes, go to ingles online.com.br and click on “Podcasts”.

The word tip, t-i-p, can mean lots of different things. A common meaning is the amount of money that you give someone as a gratuity. So when you go to a restaurant you usually tip the waiter, when you leave your hotel room you may tip the cleaning staff, you may tip the person that filled your tank with gas at the gas station and so on.

And, if you have been reading Inglês Online for a while, that means you’ve been reading lots of English tips. A tip is a useful piece of information, that will help you better understand something or help you figure something out that you weren’t able to figure out before. So Inglês Online is a blog with English tips.

And on that note, since we’re talking about tips as useful pieces of information… Here’s a very cool expression with tip: tip someone off.

Let me give you an example: let’s say there’s someone in your neighborhood who has been stealing cars. And up to this moment, no one has been able to catch this person in the act. And, what’s more, no one has any information on the thief whatsoever, no one knows who he or she is.

So what happens is, a woman calls the local police station and she tells the police she knows who the thief is. She tells them where he is going to be this afternoon around two o’clock. And then, it’s over, and the cops arrest him as a suspect, and then it’s just a matter of time until they’re able to find evidence that this guys is, in fact, responsible for stealing the cars.

So what happened in this story is that the woman tipped off the police. She tipped off the police about where the thief was going to be later that day. In other words, she tipped off the police on the thief’s whereabouts. So, who tipped off the police? A woman. A woman called them and tipped them off. A police officer could say, A woman called the station and tipped us off.

Here’s another example: my friend tipped me off to a great little restaurant in my neighborhood. It has great food, it’s not expensive but not many people know about it. Here, I could have said My friend told me about this restaurant. But I’m using She tipped me off to this restaurant to communicate that this is kind of, you know, a valuable piece of information, something not many people know about, not everyone has access to this information, it’s like, a special tip. So my friend tipped me off about this place or she tipped me off to this place.

Tip someone off can also be used when a thing… not necessarily a person, but a thing, something lets you know that something else is going on. You could ask a pregnant woman What tipped you off that you were

pregnant? What made you realize that you were pregnant? What tipped you off?

For example, let’s say I run into a friend and see that he has a new haircut, and I tell him, I see you have already started your new job! And he says, Yes, I have. What tipped you off? And I say, Well, your new haircut! You told me you were going to get a haircut right before you started. So my friend hasn’t told me anything about starting his new job, but he did tell me that he was going to get a new haircut right before he started, so… his  new haircut tipped me off.

And for this particular use of tipped me off, or tipped someone off… There’s another expression that can be used with the same meaning: His new haircut gave it away, which is the same as his new haircut tipped me off.

Hi, everybody!

O podcast de hoje fala sobre duas expressões em inglês e tem uma participação especial: Keith é um amigo britânico que mora na Califórnia há anos e esteve no Brasil não faz muito tempo. É lógico que eu pedi para ele dar uma canja, e ele acabou falando um pouco sobre as expressões de hoje (e outras que talvez apareçam no futuro). Keith fala na velocidade natural dele – mas, como sempre, você pode acompanhar tudo na transcrição e ouvir meus exemplos também.

Transcrição

Hi, this is Ana with a new episode of inglesonline podcast. To download this podcast or see a transcript of the audio, go to inglesonline.com.br and click the category Podcast Inglesonline on the sidebar.

So my friend Keith… that’s K-e-i-t-h, Keith. Keith dropped by a couple of weeks ago and I asked him to talk about English expressions for our next podcast. Besides being a really nice guy, Keith is a native speaker from England who has been living in California for over ten years, where he works as a firefighter.

So he said yes and in this episode you’ll listen to him explaining the meaning of two expressions. The first one is more like a proverb, or a saying: The squeaky wheel gets the oil. So what is a squeaky wheel? Well, picture a bicycle, which obviously has two wheels… and every once in a while one of the wheels will start making a sound like this (sound of a squeaky wheel)

That’s the sound of a squeaky wheel, probably not a bicycle… but you get the idea. Now if you have ever had a bicycle, you know that a little oil can make that squeaky noise go away.

So here’s the expression again: the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Now listen to Keith as he explains its meaning:

This is a famous expression and… what it really means is, for an example… the person that complains the most usually gets, gets their complaint heard, so… It’s like the squeaky wheel. Really, if you think about it, if you have, like a… A car or a little shopping cart… And the one wheel squeaking, it’s the one you’re gonna look at first and get the oil to.

So just as the wheel making the noise will get the oil fast, the person making the most noise, or complaining the most, will be heard fast. I don’t know if that’s always true, but that’s what the proverb means.

And the second expression is “cut your losses”, so let’s hear what Keith has to say about this one:

Another common saying is “you should cut your losses”. It can be used… You know, things aren’t just working out well for you and you decide that I’m just gonna stop now as opposed to carry on whatever the problem might be. So you say, yeah I’m just gonna cut my losses now.

So let’s say you just bought a used computer for 700 and you’re happy because you didn’t have a lot of money to spend and the computer was cheap. However, on the very same day you turn it on and you try to use it, only to find out it is not working. So you take it back to the computer shop where you bought it, and they tell you that unfortunately you’re gonna have to spend another 300 to get it fixed. You decide to go ahead and pay them to fix it because… 700 + 300 is a thousand and it’s still on the cheap side.

So, after a few days you pick it up at the shop but now when you turn it on, it makes this really loud noise. You take it back to the shop and they tell you that now you have to spend another 250 and then it will definitely be in top condition.

But by now you don’t trust them anymore, and you get the feeling that this is going nowhere and you’re just wasting money. So you say to yourself, I’d better cut my losses now and get rid of this junk!

So, what about you? Can you remember a situation where you decided to cut your losses before t...

Hi, everybody!

O podcast volta hoje com expressões usando TAKE. Ouça como dizer coisas assim:

* pegar ou largar

* não quero tomar partido

* tem certeza que você consegue?

Transcrição

Hello, this is Ana Luiza with another episode of inglesonline podcast. To download this podcast and a transcript, go to inglesonline.com.br, type “pegar ou largar” into the search box and click the title of the podcast.

So, I’ve done a podcast with “take” before. Have you seen it? Or maybe I should say… have you listened to it? It was about “how long it takes to do something”. The word “take” is in so many different expressions and it can be used in so many different ways. Today I want to present three more expressions with take.

The first one is take it or leave it. Take it or leave it, or when I say it faster, take it or leave it. You say that when you are making your final offer to someone. For example, let’s say you are selling your computer for a thousand, and there is a guy who’s interested, but he offers you eight hundred.

You think 800 is not acceptable, your computer is worth more than that. But you would accept 900, and that is the lowest you are willing to go. So you say, 900 is my final offer, take it or leave it. That means you are not going to negotiate any further, and… if he doesn’t want your computer for 900, then, there’s no deal. You would rather not sell the computer, than sell it for less than 900. So you say, take it or leave it. Like we say in Portuguese, é pegar ou largar.

So, here’s another expression with take. What it takes. Do you have what it takes? Let me explain…. for example, in order to climb mount Everest, you need to be in top physical condition… Actually, you need to be in top physical and psychological condition.

So, climbing Mount Everest takes a lot of physical and mental preparation… that’s what it takes. If you tell someone you intend to climb it, they might ask you Do you have what it takes? Or, are you sure you have what it takes to climb Mount Everest?

Here’s another example: a company is looking to hire a person for a sales position. They believe that in order to be a good salesperson, you have to be aggressive and pushy. Let’s say your friend decides to apply for the position, and you ask her: Are you sure? Are you sure you have what it takes to do this job? That means, are you sure you are aggressive enough? Are you sure you can be pushy? Do you have what it takes?

The last expression is “to take sides”. This one is easy, it’s like in Portuguese when two people are fighting, or there are two groups of people having an argument, and you don’t want to take sides… in Portuguese we say stuff like “Não vou me meter, não vou tomar partido”.

Usually we say that when, maybe, we have two friends who are in disagreement about something… Or two family members, for example, parents who got divorced, and… we don’t want to take sides! A person can say, I’m not taking my mother’s side, I’m not taking my father’s side either. I don’t want to take any sides on this one.

So, that’s it for today… Tell us about the last time you took someone’s side, or maybe you chose not to take sides on something. Have you ever said something like “take it or leave it”?

Key expressions

* take it or leave it

* what it takes

* take sides

* I don’t want to take any sides

Glossário

is worth = vale

lowest you are willing to go = é o mínimo que você quer ou faz

there’s no deal = não tem negócio

You would rather not sell = você prefere não vender

pushy = insistente (demais)