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hi everybody my name is Alisha and today

we’re gonna be talking about 15

questions that you should know so these

are 15 questions that not necessarily

you need to know how to ask them perhaps

you know some of the questions already

but you will probably also hear these

questions as well so we’ll practice a

few different answers for these

questions too so let’s get started do

you like American food the first

question is do you like American food

you will probably be asked this question

do you like American food you can either

say yes or no or you can give a specific

example someone says do you like

American food yes I love Philly

cheesesteaks I would recommend saying

yes or a little or or or you can just

say I don’t know what do you recommend

have you been to the United States

the next question is have you been to

the United States have you been to the

United States so someone asks you have

you been to the United States you should

reply with either yes I have or no I

haven’t or maybe no I haven’t yet but I

want to when you want to ask someone

this question you can say have you been

to Japan have you been to Egypt have you

been to China whatever you can use your

own country when you ask this question

how are you how are you when someone

asks how are you don’t say I’m fine

thank you and you please don’t say that

please say something more natural like

good great I’m good how are you

something like that is much better than

I’m fine thank you and you be a little

more genuine in your reply also when you

ask this question maybe one point to

help you sound a little more natural

when you ask someone else don’t like

trying to say how are you how are you

instead of how are you or and make sure

your intonation is correct I’ve had a

few people ask me how are you like a

little - moon yeah with this question or

like how are you but how are you should

be the intonation with this how are you

how are you it’s a little bit more

natural how long have you been studying

English how long have you been studying

English how long have you

studying English great question to know

the answer to your answer should be I

have been studying English for

blah-blah-blah years or bla bla bla

month several more weeks but if that’s

too much for you you can just use the

time how long have you been studying

English six years how long have you been

studying English two months so just pick

the time if the whole sentence is quite

long for you how old are you

we don’t really go around asking people

how old they are like just the first

time you meet them necessarily

especially if they’re older much older

than you like in particular it’s

sometimes considered rude to ask

especially women how old they are so

just be careful with this question but

if you’re about the same age group you

know maybe you’re at an event or a party

or something and you just want to check

how old the other person is you can use

this phrase when you reply to this just

say I’m plus the number to make a really

simple response so how old are you I’m

15 how old are you I’m 42 whatever the

answer is just stick five in front of it

not i but i’m i am but use the

contracted form to sound more natural

i’m number if you want to make a full

sentence you can say i’m number years

old don’t forget that s in years i’m a

million years old what did you say

what did you say if you couldn’t quite

hear something that someone else said

you can use this question to confirm

sorry what did you say it’s a little

nicer than just saying what what did you

say or what did you just say sorry what

did you say I couldn’t hear you what’s

this what’s this when you don’t know

what something is what’s this when

you’re out for dinner you’re out for

lunch or something and you find a new

food or you just you’re curious just say

what’s this to reply to this question

just say it’s bla bla bla

what’s your name what’s your name of

course you should know how to ask this

question and how to answer this question

what’s your name is a little more

natural than what is your name again

contracted form will help you sound much

more natural so what’s your name someone

asks you you can just give your name

Alicia that’s fine you can say Alicia

you can say I’m Alicia that’s fine too

you could say my name is or my name’s

Alicia either any of those are fine in

more formal situation a business

situation I would I would use my name is

Pablo and while I shake hands or

something what’s your phone number

the next one is what’s your phone number

I would not ask this question right away

like maybe you’ve met the person a few

times but you would like to contact them

whether it’s because you’re romantically

interested in them or because you want

to be better friends with them but just

that if you meet someone for the first

time and you’re like what’s your phone

number like a little it’s a little too

much so use this question after you’ve

met the person a few times and you know

you want to become better friends when

you want to give your phone number just

say it’s and the number that’s fine just

it’s blah blah blah or my phone number

is blah blah blah with the number 5 5 5

1 million and 5 to 6 when is your

birthday so maybe you want to plan a

birthday party for example or it’s just

another fun question the first time you

meet someone when did your birthday so

when you want to tell someone your

birthday just give the month and the

date mmm

January 15th August 42nd that’s a real

day if you want to make a full sentence

you can say my birthday is month date

where are you from

the next word the next question is where

are you from this can refer to your

country or your city mmm but I feel like

prop more stuff and it refers to your

country so where are you from

your answer should be I’m from places

I’m from China I’m from Japan I’m from

Vietnam I’m from America

whatever I’m from where did you learn

English the next question is where did

you learn English where did you learn

English if you’re speaking great English

you can say I learned English at English

class 101.com yes you did cuz you’re

watching no anyway where did you learn

English in this case in the case of like

these videos I learned English online or

I learned English from and then the

school name or the program name so I

learned English from English class

101.com for example if you studied

English at university you can say I

learned English at university or I

learned English from my friends perhaps

where do you live where do you live

depending on the situation where you’re

asked is this can mean your country like

I live in America I

in China sometimes it’s about the place

in the city where you live sometimes

it’s about the country where you live so

you can kind of feel I think which

question which type of question is being

asked where do you work where do you

work is talking about your job you can

use the pattern I work at company name

or I work for company name either is

fine I work at ABC company I work for

ABC company either is okay but you know

if if you have answered with the wrong

information the other person will just

ask you like oh I mean where is your

office or oh I mean which company do you

work for use the force for this one

where is the bathroom where is the

bathroom very important question where

is the bathroom in American English

where is the bathroom or where is the

restroom is more common than where is

the toilet using the word toilet is a

little bit too direct in American

English so I recommend bathroom or

restroom so those are 15 questions that

you should definitely know know how to

ask these questions and know how to

answer these questions they are very

useful and very important for everyday

conversation thanks very much for

joining us thank you very much for

subscribing if you haven’t subscribed

yet please be sure to do so so that you

can check our fun stuff every week with

that we will see you again next time bye

if you are a baby watching this video

please contact us because you are

amazing

really yeah

Thunderdome in my stomach that’s going

at the end of my videos I’m sure steak

hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

to know your verbs in this episode we’re

going to talk about the verb see so

let’s get started

so the basic definition of C is to

perceive with your eyes so this really

means to use your eyes to get

information you use your eyes to look at

things to maybe understand things to

gain knowledge by looking at things by

using your eyes focusing your eyes on

things you can learn things or gain

information gain knowledge so this is to

perceive but the basic the basic

definition though is just to perceive

with your eyes to use your eyes to

perceive to gain information to gain

knowledge okay let’s see the

conjugations for the verb C C C’s saw

seen seeing

let’s talk about a few additional

meanings of the verb see first one to

form a mental picture of to form a

mental picture of means to use your mind

to create an image so see has the

meaning of creating an image in your

mind for example I can see my childhood

home clearly it was one story and had a

big yard what do you see when you close

your eyes

so in these example sentences we’re not

actually using our eyes to see something

in this use of the word see we are

imagining it and in our minds we are

making a picture so we’re not actually

using our eyes to see these items

instead maybe there are things we saw in

the past and we are imagining them

mentally we are creating a mental image

of something so when I say I can see my

house clearly my childhood house it

means in my mind I can form a clear

image of the house in my mind in the

question what do you see it means when

you close your eyes what’s the mental

image that appears in your mind so see

is used to create mental images to refer

to creating mental images here next is

to examine or to watch so in this use of

the verb see there’s sort of the nuance

of an expectation we want to use our

eyes to watch something as it changes or

to examine a change as it happens to

examine a behavior let’s see how the

team does in today’s match I can’t wait

to see what the neighbors do when they

realize we bought a pool in the example

of let’s see how the team does in

today’s match we are talking about using

our eyes our actual eyes perhaps if we

are actually watching the match if we go

to the game where we see the match on TV

perhaps we are using our eyes however if

we don’t go to the match and we read the

score from the game or we hear on the

radio something about the game where we

hear the results of the game we can

still use the verb

si si has this nuance of examining

something so we’re expecting some

results so let’s see in this case

doesn’t only mean using your eyes to

examine it can mean to examine maybe the

results of an hour are the results of

something to examine the outcome of

something in the second example sentence

let’s see how the neighbors react we see

the same thing so it’s the same it’s the

same sort of nuance we are expecting a

reaction we are going to watch for a

reaction from the neighbors when they

realize we bought a pool so we want to

examine their reaction we want to

examine an outcome we can use the verb

si though maybe we use our ears like if

the neighbor says oh my gosh they bought

a pool that’s sort of examining your

you’re waiting for a reaction there we

can still use the verb let’s see the

expression let’s see to talk about that

so let’s see what happens next for

example next one to make sure to make

sure please see that this task is

finished he saw that all the

arrangements had been made in these

sentences the verb si is used to mean

make sure or to confirm something to

ensure something in the first one please

see that this task is finished we could

replace the verb C with make sure please

make sure that this task is finished so

that’s a very clear sentence please see

is just a shortened way of saying make

sure please see that this task is

finished please ensure that this task is

finished we can replace the verb here

the second example sentence is the same

he saw that all the arrangements had

been made so he made sure that all the

arrangements had been made and in these

example sentences si is replacing the

expression make sure or ensure so we can

use C to mean the same thing it’s just a

shorter way of

make sure next to find acceptable or

attractive what do you see in him what

do you see in her I don’t understand

what you see in this restaurant

it’s terrible what are the qualities you

perceive in that person or the qualities

that you can detect in that situation

what are the good points you identify

there we can use the word see to sort of

communicate that quickly and easily so

what do you see in him what do you see

in her is a much shorter way of saying

what do you find attractive about him or

her what do you find appealing about him

or her or what characteristics of that

person attract you to that person saying

what do you see in him what do you see

in her is a much shorter way of saying

what qualities do you find attractive in

that person the same thing in the

restaurant example I don’t understand

what you see in this restaurant means I

don’t understand what it is that you

like about this restaurant I think it’s

bad so instead we shorten it to I don’t

understand what you see in this

restaurant so see means finding

something attractive or interesting or

appealing in some way

now let’s talk about some variations so

some slight changes or some additions to

the verb see that changed the meaning

first is see-through see-through

see-through means to understand the true

nature of something to understand the

real characteristics of something he saw

through my attempts to work with him and

asked me on a date my boss saw through

my lie and scolded me for faking

sickness so here we see the use in the

past tense in the first example sentence

he saw through my attempts to work with

him meaning he saw the true nature of

what I was doing so he saw through my

attempts to work with him and asked me

on a date so in the situation maybe the

person the speaker was trying to spend

time with the he in this situation and

was asking maybe to work together a lot

but he in the situation saw through saw

to the true nature of the speaker’s

request saw the true characteristics or

the actual desire there and asked the

speaker on a date so in this sentence we

understand that there was a different

motivation so something below the

surface of the of the initial action

that was happening so the the other

person in the situation understood the

other motivation the motivation below

the surface motivation and so we use saw

through or see through to communicate

that so I he saw through my attempts to

work with him and he understood there

was something else I wanted to do in the

second example sentence my boss saw

through my lie and scolded me for faking

sickness so again we see in past tense

my boss saw through my lie so saw that I

was lying in other words saw through my

lie so saw the true character of my lie

saw the true nature of my statement and

scolded me so my boss understood I lied

and scolded me for faking sickness so I

got in trouble

because I was faking an illness faking

sickness my boss saw through my behavior

saw the true character understood the

true nature of my of my statement next

is see eye to eye see eye to eye this

means to have a common viewpoint or to

agree we don’t see eye to eye most of

the time I’m glad we see eye to eye

about this so maybe this one is an easy

one to visualize so to see eye to eye

with someone else means you agree with

them you share a viewpoint with them so

you can kind of imagine maybe two people

standing across from one another and if

they see eye to eye

maybe they match their line of sight

matches much in the way that their

viewpoints or their opinions match

exactly exactly so they have kind of the

same viewpoint they can see eye to eye

so they’re there their eyesight maybe

matches their opinions match so to see

eye to eye and we can say I’m glad we

see eye to eye about this meaning I’m

happy we agree about this or in a

negative we don’t see eye to eye most of

the time means we don’t agree most of

the time or we have different opinions

most of the time all right so I hope

that this video helped you level up your

knowledge of the verb see a little bit

if you have any questions or comments or

if you know another way of using the

verb see let us know in the comments

section below the video thanks very much

for watching please make sure to like

the video subscribe to the channel and

check us out at English class 101.com

for more good stuff thanks for watching

this episode of know your verbs and

we’ll see you again soon bye

we’ll see you again soon we end every

video on this channel almost with see

you again soon but of course I don’t

actually see you you see me we imagine

you we have we form mental images in our

minds of all of you watching in the

camera there all those hundreds of

thousands of you guys that’s kind of

terrifying see that was fun want to

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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this

lesson we’re going to talk about some

expressions you can use to talk about

your abilities so I’m going to introduce

some expressions you can use for the

past for the present and for the future

these are just a few examples of some

ways you can talk about the things you

can could and will be able to do so

let’s take a look with a few examples of

each pattern okay

let’s start with the first one I can

plus a verb so here the subject in the

sample pattern is I but we can replace I

with for example he or she or it or they

the same is true for all of the other

patterns I’m going to introduce in this

lesson so we use I can plus a verb as

sort of the basic most simple way to

express something we are able to do so

example sentences I can speak English

my verb here is speak in this case so

this could be something many of you can

use another example here I’ve changed

the subject to she she so she can my

verb is run she can run 5k 5k beating

five kilometres in 30 minutes so these

are just some simple very basic ways to

express something we can do we are able

to do of course we can use the negative

for this I can’t speak English I can’t

speak Chinese for example or she can’t

run 5k in 30 minutes we can make the

negative with this pattern too so this

is maybe the most basic way to express

something you can do you are able to do

let’s look at another one this

expression is I know how to plus a verb

I know how to do something so we can use

the same verbs we used in the first

pattern in this pattern if you like for

example I know how to speak English is

fine however we

you know how to do something for

something that requires like study or

something that requires maybe a process

there are rules for that thing so a

sentence like I know how to run 5k it’s

not quite so natural because running

isn’t really necessarily a topic of

study running requires practice yes but

it’s not really something we study so we

use know how to do something for

something we have learned how to do so

not necessarily physical practice of

something but we have learned this thing

so some examples I know how to use

Photoshop so Photoshop is a piece of

software something we can study

something we learn how to use another

example he knows how to bake cookies so

here this is something we need to study

in other words so there’s a process to

baking cookies he knows how to bake

cookies so please keep in mind as we see

in this example when we change the

subject from I 2 for example he she or

it the following verb no needs to change

we need to modify the verb so it has an

S at the end he knows how to bake

cookies so don’t forget this s however

this verb does not change he knows how

to bake cookies so we don’t need to

modify this verb we’ll only modify the

first one which is attached to the

subject okay so this is for a process

something we study to become able to do

now let’s talk about a couple of past

tense examples so these two are maybe

present tense expressions let’s talk

about some past tense example sentences

the first one when I was a kid I could

and our verb so here I’ve said when I

was a kid you can change this of course

when I was a student when I was an

elementary school student when I lived

in a different City

for example so this part can change to a

different time

in your life however here I’m using the

past tense could I could so this implies

this suggests that maybe this action is

not possible for you now let’s look at

some examples so when I was a kid I

could swim all day long so this sentence

sounds like now I can’t really it’s it’s

just a simple expression with past tense

I could I could

so maybe the speaker is going to share

some more information about their

current ability but here I’ve used when

I was a kid again you can change this to

like when I was in swimming club for

example I could swim all day long so

there are a lot of different variations

you can use with this pattern anyway

let’s look at another example when you

were a kid so maybe if a parent wants to

talk to their son or daughter about

their childhood they can use this

expression so when you were a kid you

could sleep for 12 hours straight so

it’s 12 hours straight means 12 hours

non-stop so you is my subject here when

you therefore was in my example pattern

changes to were when you were a kid you

could sleep for 12 hours straight so

again this is a past tense expression

let’s look at one more past tense

expression maybe you’re familiar with

used to used to so I used to be able to

do something so where the action is a

verb here so here we have used to so

maybe you know I used to followed by

just a simple verb so like I used to

cook every day or I used to exercise

every day here we introduced I used to

be able to this expression allows us to

explain an ability we had in the past so

let’s look at some examples I used to be

able to speak Spanish here’s my verb to

speak Spanish

used to shows a long time ago in the

past I had this ability but now I do not

so remember the nuance of used to is

that something was true in the past and

it is not true

now I used to also please consider the

pronunciation here so not used to but

native speakers connect the D and the T

sound at the end of used and - so it’s

not used to but used to used to there’s

just one sound there used to so think of

it as dropping the D used to I used to

do something one more example she used

to be able to babysit meaning her

schedule maybe has changed now she

cannot babysit so here we have some

expressions with used to to a talk about

a past ability okay

finally let’s end with one example a

pattern that you can use to talk about

future possibilities or future abilities

so you can use this when you want to

make a guess about the future so

something you think you might be able to

do in the future so the base pattern is

in the future will be able to verb so

here I have we in my example we will so

wheel is the contracted form of we will

and I’ve used we in this case we means

all people all people all members of

society we together so some examples of

this in the future we’ll be able to use

AI technology AI so artificial

intelligence AI technology in the future

we’ll be able to use AI technology so

you might wonder why am I using will

here instead of like going to for

example we use will when we’re making a

guess about the future that we can’t

really see so we can’t see what’s going

to happen in the future

and maybe we don’t have such a strong

level of confidence we don’t have a suit

for high level of confidence about our

guests in those cases we can use will so

these are nice to talk about

capabilities things we are able to do or

in this case things we might be able to

do in the future

so this is the sentence you can use to

make a prediction to make a guess let’s

look at one more example said this okay

in the future we’ll be able to travel to

space so here again I’m making a guess

about space travel so I don’t have a

high level of confidence because I don’t

know very much about space travel but I

want to make a guess in the future we’ll

be able to travel to space if you want

to decrease the level of confidence of

your guests you can include I think for

example in the future I think we’ll be

able to travel in space so you can

change the level of your confidence of

your guests by introducing some other

phrases like I think or maybe alright so

these are a few ways that you can

express your abilities in the past the

present and in the future these are just

a couple of different patterns to do

that but please be careful some things

that I’ve noticed are that often

students will mix up the present tense

can and past tense good so make sure to

use a past tense when you’re talking

about your abilities in the past and

make sure to use present tense for the

things you are able to do now so please

keep that in mind okay

so that’s all for this lesson I hope

that it was helpful for you if you have

any questions or if you want to try

making a sentence with one of these

expressions please feel free to do so in

the comment section below this video if

you liked the video please make sure to

give it a thumbs up subscribe to the

channel and check us out at English

class 101.com for some other good study

resources thanks very much for watching

this lesson and I will see you again

soon bye bye

when learning a new language it’s easy

to think I don’t think I’m making any

progress what if I never reach my goals

we all get these thoughts from time to

time but are they worth being scared of

what are the fears language learners

tend

have the most and how can you learn to

overcome them here are the top floor

language learning fears according to our

users number one I’m not good enough to

start speaking it this is a pretty

common fear or misconception that most

learners have here’s how you overcome it

the best way to get good at speaking is

to start speaking from day one you need

to open your mouth and just start

talking if you think you’re not good

enough just focus on the lines you want

to say number two I’m afraid I’ll never

be fluent you’ve got to set small

specific goals make daily goals like

having just a five-minute conversation

as these small goals add up we’ll be

speaking more comfortably number three

I’m not making any progress there are

two things you can do right now use the

dashboard to track your progress our

dashboard shows how much you’ve

accomplished or try a harder lesson on

our website the lessons come with line

by line translations and the hosts

explain everything now you can

understand something you didn’t minutes

ago number four I’m afraid of not

understanding anything I hear this fear

can occur when you hear advanced grammar

and vocabulary and it just goes

completely over your head to beat this

simply read along with our line by line

tool it’s the best way to instantly

understand advanced conversations

translations and scripts are right in

front of you for real-life situations

learn useful phrases such as can you say

it more slowly I don’t understand

there’s nothing wrong with saying that

you didn’t understand something so these

are the top 4 fears and how to overcome

them luckily we also have the perfect

tools available to help you conquer your

fears sign up for your free lifetime

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don’t let your fears stop you start

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hi everybody and welcome back to top

words my name is Alisha and today we’re

going to be talking about ten ways to

ask for help help me help me ask for

help

let’s go can you can you blah blah blah

so can you give me that pen can you turn

off the fan can you give me a sandwich

for lunch

I forgot mine in this sentence can you

send me your email address so very

simple requests you can use can you blah

blah blah with them could you give me a

hand with the next expression is could

you give me a hand with blah blah blah

meaning I need you like I need

physically I need your hands to help me

maybe or I need something I need you to

help me with something could you give me

a hand with this computer could you give

me a hand with this furniture so it’s

you can use it to talk about like moving

something heavy or you can also use it

for like a task like could you give me a

hand with this report I don’t know this

information so you can use it for your

physical tasks or for mental tasks too

could you give me a hand with something

in this sentence could you give me a

hand moving this sofa can you show me

how to the next expression is can you

show me how to can you show me how to

bla bla bla this means please teach me

something so can you please show me how

to use this computer can you show me how

to use this software can you show me how

to book a ticket so these are all ways

to ask for help with how to do something

this is a very useful expression I think

can you help me out with the next

expression is can you help me out with

can you help me out with something

so before we talked about can you give

me a hand

with this is very similar can you help

me out with some tasks you can use it

for physical activities or mental

activities here so can you help me out

with this project can you help me out

with cleaning this house I don’t know in

this sentence can you help me out with

my homework I need help

the next expression is I need help

bla bla bla so you can use the

expression I need help

that’s fine but if you want to be

specific which I recommend I need help

bla bla bla I need help with my homework

I need help doing the dishes I need help

cleaning the yard I need help

something something something very clear

very direct it’s a little bit casual I

suppose but yet you can use this in most

situation where you need help

this sentence I need help making dinner

tonight could you the next expression is

could you so the first expression we saw

in this lesson was can you you can also

use could you to me

could you sounds a little bit more

formal than can you so can you love wha

is it’s a good kind of neutral everyday

way to ask for help could you sounds

just a little bit more polite a little

bit more formal so could you please send

me that file could you please stop

smoking here in this expression could

you send me the project files will you

so the next expression is will you so

this is used kind of for light maybe you

just thought of something you just

thought of something you need help with

so it’s probably a small task or a small

favor that you need so for example will

you get some milk at the store on your

way home it’s like something you just

thought of for the future so will you

help me with my homework will you give

me a moment of your time it’s something

very small very quick so in this

sentence will you let me know when

you’re free how do I the next expression

is how do i how do I

is somewhat similar to the earlier

expression we talked about can you show

me how to love love law but this one is

how do I and how do I get to the beach

from here how do I get to the station

how do I turn on this computer how do I

make new friends how do I study English

all of these are ways to ask for help or

ask for advice ask for directions

this is a very nice and easy to remember

way to ask for help how do I something

help the next expression is just help

so I’ve here sometimes students say

please help me or just help and I want

to point out that these expressions are

usually used in emergency situations for

example there’s an accident or there’s a

dangerous person near you or maybe

you’re injured or hurt some emergency so

please help me alone

sounds to a native speaker maybe like a

serious situation or an emergency

situation help is similar to so of

course if you’re an emergency situation

absolutely you should use the words help

and please help me or just help me as

well too but be careful because they

sound very serious I don’t recommend

using them for like light casual

everyday situations where you need help

instead please use one of the other

expressions we talked about in this

lesson so help is great for emergencies

but maybe only for emergencies so yeah

in a sentence maybe for example in the

kitchen there’s there you have a small

accident in the kitchen you can shout to

your roommate or your family member help

me and they’ll come running if something

to check and see if you’re okay I need

your help with

the next expression is I need your help

with blah blah blah the expression I

need your help with sounds like you are

required for this task I need you maybe

you have special knowledge or special

experience with this thing or you are

better equipped like you can do a better

job than I can with this task so I need

you for some reason so I need your help

preparing this information I need your

help

reaching that tall glass like that’s

really what I like I’m short so if I

need something up high I might say to a

tall person I need your help reaching

that glass up there you can use this yes

someone is better at doing something

than you are you can say I need your

help with both above in this sentence I

need your help with this project that’s

the end so those are 10 words and 10

phrases really that you can use to ask

for help if you have any other ways

you’d like to ask for help or if you

have any questions about this video or

ways to ask for help please leave it in

a comment and let us know about it if

you liked this video please make sure to

hit the thumbs up button and also

subscribe to our channel if you haven’t

subscribed already thanks very much for

watching this episode of top words and

we will see you again soon bye wanna

speak real English from your first

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account at English class 101 calm

hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

back to English class 101 comms YouTube

channel today I’m going to talk about

the difference between speak and talk to

commonly confused verbs so let’s get

started okay the first verb I want to

talk about is the verb talk we use talk

in casual speech in everyday

conversations if you want to talk about

a simple topic or a casual discussion

with friends or you just want to report

a conversation that happened or a

discussion that happened you can use

talk to explain this simply and casually

in most everyday conversations I use

talk you’ll hear talk a lot when you are

listening to conversations about

discussions on the phone we use it to

explain phone conversations a lot we use

it to explain simple meetings with

people friendly interactions over coffee

for example talk is used in most

everyday situations so if you’re

reporting on something that’s pretty

casual you should use the word talk to

explain that also if the person you are

talking to is not someone who you have a

professional relationship with it’s

pretty good to use talk in that case if

you use speak you might sound a little

too formal we’re going to talk about

this in just a moment though so please

try to keep in mind that talk should be

used in everyday conversations to report

everyday conversations and in more

casual situations okay we can also use

talk the verb talk with to or with by

this I mean we can say I want to talk to

someone or I want to talk with someone

these are for me very very similar we

use them in very similar ways if you

want to be extremely specific I would

say that perhaps there is a small nuance

of a difference between talking to talk

to and talk with if I say I want to talk

to someone maybe it could be a more

one-sided conversation like I want to

talk to

my friend I expect my friend is going to

talk to me as well but I feel like that

has a little more of a one-sided

conversation feel then using talked with

if I say I want to talk with my friend I

want to talk with you about it with to

me sounds a little bit more like doing

something together with someone else so

again this is a very very small

difference and perhaps this is just my

style and how I like to use these words

but for the most part we can use them

interchangeably we can use them in the

same way and you’re not going to really

have any communication problems

depending on the words you choose but

just for your information this is how I

sometimes use too and with with the verb

talk and with speak to as I’ll explain

later okay finally about conjugations

for the verb talk to make the past tense

of the verb talk talk is in Eric I’m

sorry start again okay finally about

conjugations with the verb talk to

conjugate the verb talk into the past

tense and the past participle we simply

add edy to the end of the verb so talk

becomes talked

this makes past tense and past

participle so a very easy conjugation

for the verb talk so we’re going to use

this in some example sentences later

let’s take a look though at the verb

speak okay so we talked about we talked

about how the verb talk is used in more

casual situations everyday conversations

everyday discussions speak however is

used in more formal situations if you

want to create a more formal nuance or

to have a more formal tone when you

speak with someone use the verb speak so

I just used the verb speak to sound a

little bit more formal in this

explanation for example if you would

like to sound a little more formal try

using the verb speak instead of the verb

talk this is really useful in business

situations at work you can use this in

business emails as well or in any kind

of writing where you would

to sound a little more formal this is

more polite than talk as you might have

guessed so talk has a more casual nuance

speak has a more formal nuance about it

as with talk we can use this with - or

with so speak to someone or speak with

someone I want to speak to my boss I

want to speak with my boss like I talked

about with talk we can use the - pretty

much in the same way very very similarly

I would say there’s a very small nuance

again talk - might sound a little bit

more one-sided one person is reporting

information perhaps and with perhaps

sounds more like an exchange of

information but again this is a very

small difference and perhaps just a way

that I think about how to use - and with

with these verbs but you can use them

essentially in the same way speak to or

speak with someone finally there’s one

other key difference between speak and

talk and that is about languages when

you are explaining your language ability

for example I speak English I speak

Japanese I don’t speak Chinese

we should always use the verb speak

please don’t use the verb talk to

explain your language abilities so a

sentence like I talk French is not

correct please use I speak French speak

is the correct verb to talk about your

language abilities or to talk about your

inability as well so please be careful

there lastly a couple conjugation points

about this verb then so speak in the

past tense speak is an irregular verb

speak becomes spoke in the past tense

spoke so please be careful here also to

make the past participle form speak

becomes spoken have you spoken to

someone I’ve never spoken with someone

so there are two conjugations we need to

consider for today’s practice spoke and

spoke in past tense and past participle

tense okay so now that we reviewed a

couple points about the difference

between talk

speak let’s take a look at a few example

sentences and maybe we can decide which

verb is a better choice in each of these

okay first one he’s something something

to his manager our hint word here is the

word manager this implies it’s a work

situation so it’s probably a good idea

to sound a little more formal let’s use

spoke past tense he spoke to his manager

of course you could say he speaks to his

manager but we don’t have much other

information here so maybe a simple

sentence he spoke to his manager he’s

nice

let’s see the next one you should ba ba

ba to your parents

so here we have parents and also you

should this this kind of gives us the

feeling that this sentence is maybe a

casual advice situation so how about

talk it sounds more casual so talk

sounds better you should talk to your

parents again

talk with your parents is also okay here

alright let’s look at the next sentence

haven’t they blah blah blah to you about

this so here we have haven’t have not a

negative form here haven’t they blah

blah blah to you about this in this

sentence there’s no clear hint word is

it a casual situation is it a formal

situation so in a sentence like this

because we don’t have enough information

about the situation both talk and speak

are actually okay but we do need to

conjugate the verb correctly so that it

matches this haven’t at the beginning of

the sentence so we can say haven’t they

talked to you or haven’t they spoken to

you about this both are correct in this

case haven’t they talked to you haven’t

they spoken to you it just changes the

level of formality of the sentence okay

let’s take a look at the next one I

really wanted to something something to

you again it’s a little bit difficult to

determine is this a formal situation or

a casual situation I would guess I’ve

included the word really here typically

really is only used in casual situations

or it’s better to use a word like

really in less formal situation so I

think that talk is a better choice here

I really wanted to talk to you hmm nice

all right next one she is something

something with clients at the moment so

here the hint is clients indicating it’s

a business situation or a more formal

situation and here we have the grammar

she is she is this implies progressive

or a continuous grammar sentence so

she’s something something clients gives

us the hint it’s more formal let’s use

speak but again to change it to the

progressive form she’s speaking with

clients at the moment sounds nice

okay let’s look at the next sentence

then what were they blah blah blah with

that guy about okay so here I’ve used

with again we can use to or with but

I’ve included guy as a hint word here

guy sounds a little bit more casual we

use guy in may be more casual

discussions everyday discussions so we

probably want to use talk in this case a

more casual choice here we have we see

it’s past

what were they something something with

that guy about but we know this should

be a past progressive tense sentence to

what were they just indicates something

continuing what were they talking with

that guy about what were they talking

with that guy about great alright next

one you guys should have blah blah blah

about it last week again we see this you

guys you guys implying something more

casual you guys should have so again

this is probably a sentence where we

need to use the verb talk because it’s a

more casual situation we could use the

verb speak if you like but again it’s

going to sound a little more formal here

we have you guys which sounds casual so

mixing casual and formal might sound a

little strange so here for to match our

grammar you guys should have

about it last week is the nice sentence

here okay let’s look at the last one

then she’s never blah blah blah to me so

she’s this is an interesting contraction

be careful it’s not she is never never

is a big hint here yeah we know that

never we use never a lot in present

perfect tense sentences so she’s here

does not mean she is instead this is the

contracted form of she has so here she

has never something something to me in

this sentence we don’t know if it’s a

casual or a formal expression so we can

choose either verb so she has never

talked to me is correct or she has never

spoken to me she’s never talked to me

she’s never spoken to me both are

correct just depending on the situation

and depending on the nuance you would

like to communicate you can choose the

better form or the better verb

accordingly

so these are a few cases where speak and

talk it might be a good idea to choose

one or the other but I would recommend

just keep in mind if you want to sound

more formal please choose the verb speak

if you want to sound a little more

casual use the verb talk in most cases

we will use the verb talk but maybe at

work it’s a good idea to use speak

instead also don’t forget to use speak

to talk about your language abilities

too okay so those are a few points about

when to use speak and talk if you have

any questions or if you want to try to

make an example sentence give it a try

in the comment section below this video

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for more stuff like this thanks very

much for watching this episode and we

will see you again soon bye

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