Episode 0131

And my name is Catherine. So, Marco, today we've got a little bit of an unusual lesson because we're talking about hypothetical situations.

Right. We're talking about a unreal situation or something that may happen or may not happen.

Okay, so you're gonna hear all about this in today's dialogue. We're gonna hear it a couple of times. When we come back, we'll be breaking it down for you so you know all about these great phrases and how to talk about not real situations with your friends.

Okay, next question. If Eric asked you out on a date, what would you say?

Okay, my turn. What would you do if you won the lottery?

My dad would freak out if I even mentioned a trip like that.

All right, this is a good one. What would your mom say if you told her that you're going to get married?

If I told her that, she would faint and have me committed.

All right, so I think that was clear and well, a very common situation to teenage girls talking to each other about, you know, boys and what would you do and. Yeah.

Guys do this too, so don't just put this on the girls, okay?

I don't think we do it like this though.

No, but it's actually a very popular game in the car to play. The what if game.

The what if game. Exactly. And that's exactly the topic that we want to talk about today is the structure what if, which is actually called a conditional.

All right, so conditional because the results, the uh the thing that happens depends on something else.

Exactly.

So let's uh let's actually take a look at the words in today's language takeaway before we talk about all this grammar stuff.

Okay, so we'll start out with some basic words. Um well, you know, they were talking about guys and she said if Eric asked you out.

Uh-huh.

Right? So to ask somebody out.

Okay, so this might be a little bit strange because you think, okay, to ask is to ask a question. But to ask out, it's a fixed phrase. It's something you say these two words go together, right?

So I want to ask someone out, it means I want to invite someone on a date.

On a romantic date usually.

So, yeah, I want to ask him out to dinner or he asked me out to the movies.

Now, if I didn't want to ask somebody out on a romantic date, what would what verb would you use?

I'd say you could invite someone out, uh but then again, it's always a little bit, uh well, you can say invite for someone if you're gonna ask them on a date too. So I'd say to ask out is always romantic.

And to invite can be romantic or just friends.

Okay.

So to ask somebody out. Now, uh they were talking about other situations, maybe they would go on a trip or something, and she said my dad would freak out.

The word freak out?

Freak out. So the verb to freak out means to be really angry or upset or you know, it could be a good thing or a bad thing, but usually when we're talking about our parents, it's a bad thing.

It's a bad thing. So they get angry, they start yelling at you.

Yeah, so freak out means like overreact.

All right. And the last word that we have on language takeaway today is a committed.

Well, let's look at the whole phrase. He says, she would have me committed. So this is actually being done to someone.

Now, we did look at this word before, but basically for for marriage, right? To to commit to somebody to promise.

Yeah, but to have someone committed means that you're going to send them away to maybe a mental institution.

Exactly. So this means they have psychological problems and someone else sends them to the hospital because they can't send themselves.

Exactly.

So it's always used to have someone committed, right?

Right, because it's it's being done to them. They don't want it to happen. It's involuntary.

Okay. So she had him committed.

My mom's gonna have me committed if I keep working 20 hours a day.

Exactly. So that's the way you use it and so now you have another way of using this verb. But now I think we should listen to this dialogue again. We're going to slow it down a little bit, and then we'll come back and look at this grammar focus that we want to talk about.

Okay, next question. If Eric asked you out on a date, what would you say?

Okay, my turn. What would you do if you won the lottery?

My dad would freak out if I even mention a trip like that.

All right. This is a good one. What would your mom say if you told her you're going to get married?

If I told her that, she would faint and have me committed.

All right, so uh we understood all the vocab now. Now let's take a look at these unreal situations and what we were saying the 'what if' game.

Right, so I think it's important to push these into two different categories, right? We have one kind where it's very unrealistic, it's probably not going to happen, that kind of situation. And the other one is a situation that could very well happen, something that's probably very common.

Okay, so the first one we're gonna talk about is very unrealistic situations, things that probably won't happen.

Okay.

Okay, so let's take a look at an example that we found in the dialogue. The most common one and I think everybody gets asked this question is if you won the lottery, what would you do?

Okay, if you won the lottery. So this is a situation that's very uncommon, right? Not many people win the lottery. So we have to say if you won the lottery, so we use this this this verb in the past tense. If you won the lottery, if this happened, what would you do?

Right. So Catherine, if you won the lottery, what would you do?

All right. So another example, again, using the same structure, right? The verb in the simple past tense, we would say, if you were stuck on an island with one other person, who would that be?

All right, so if you were stuck on a desert island with one person, who would that person be? So Marco, I'm gonna ask you, who would it be?

Uh I think it would be an engineer or a scientist that could probably get me off the island.

Well, you know, that's the point if I can get to her quicker.

Okay. Uh I would say maybe kind of romantic. So that's the first situation. We've got these situations like being stuck on an island, winning the lottery. These are very unlikely. But what about the other kind?

Uh but before we move on to that, uh you notice that we used the verb was, we didn't say if I was on an island, I said if I were, right? Or if you were. So this is the way that you use it in these conditionals. If I were you, or if you were president of the United States.

Yeah, this is a rule. So this is a grammar rule. We're not gonna describe why it happens because it's very, very complicated and you can look it up on our site, but we're gonna describe how to use it. That's the most important. So we can say, for example, Marco, if I were you, I would dye my hair red.

Why?

I don't know, I think it would look cool.

I don't think so.

So if I were you, I would. Or if you were me, what would you do?

Exactly. So we always use it like this, right? If you're gonna use this conditional, always use 'were' for the subject, never 'was'.

Right. So you can tell, this is a very, very big grammar issue. A lot of English speakers make this mistake.

Yes. Very many. So but now you know that you shouldn't make this mistake and you can speak properly.

All right. So now that we've seen these uh semi-unreal situations, let's move on to something that's a little bit more probable, that it may happen.

Right, so we've got these uh these situations that are common or likely. Um for example, in this lesson we hear, I will go with you for sure. So this is, if you buy me a ticket to travel, of course I will go with you.

So if you buy, this is in the present tense. If you buy, then I will.

Right.

So now you notice the difference. The verb is in the present and then we use instead of 'would', we use 'will'. So again, I can say, if it rains tomorrow, I will stay home and watch TV all day.

Okay, so think about this. We before we talked about going to desert islands, now we're talking about rain and the weather, they're very, very different. The rain is is, you know, is very common. So we can say, if it rains tomorrow, I will need an umbrella.

What about this? If we have lunch tomorrow, what will we eat?

Okay.

So we have lunch pretty much every day, right?

Yeah, pretty much.

So again, it's a it's a situation that is very probable. So if uh we have lunch tomorrow, uh we will probably eat, I don't know, pasta, I think. I'm feeling like pasta tomorrow.

Pasta? Some noodles?

Yeah.

Right, so Marco, let's take another listen to some of these phrases and try and figure out while you're listening which kind of conditional it is, first or the second.

If it's sunny today, we will go to the park.

I would get a divorce if I were you.

We wouldn't be so late if Nick drove faster.

Very good. So we heard different examples and the first conditional is the one that we mentioned is very probable and the second conditional is the one that's not so probable. So they're very easy to distinguish. You don't really need to know the names, just know how to use them, right?

Exactly. And so just remember, if you were me, what would you do? We've got these kind of pairs, these words that go together. And the other one is more common. It's if we, if it rains tomorrow, I will bring an umbrella.

Perfect. So why don't we listen to this uh dialogue for the last time just to kind of reinforce everything and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more.

Okay, next question. If Eric asked you out on a date, what would you say?

Okay, my turn. What would you do if you won the lottery?

My dad would freak out if I even mentioned a trip like that.

All right, this is a good one. What would your mom say if you told her that you're going to get married?

If I told her that, she would faint and have me committed.

So Marco, if we talk anymore about grammar, someone's gonna have to have me committed.

It is a little bit difficult to talk about grammar, especially on a podcast, cuz it's such a difficult topic and it's also kind of heavy, right?

It is. But I'll tell you this, these are very, very common phrases. People use these all the time. We talk do we talk in hypotheticals very often? So, um if you're asking for advice, for example, or if you're just playing a game in the car, uh you're gonna encounter these and it's very important to be able to know how to use them.

Mhm.

Exactly. And if you have questions about the stuff that we've been talking about, you're not really clear on some things, just ask us because we're happy to answer your questions and give more examples on the website.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

To be in the place of someone.

Be in your shoes.

To lose one's nerve, become suddenly anxious.

Freak out.

An instance of spending the night as a guest at another's home.

Sleep over.

To request a date.

Ask someone out.

Suppositional, uncertain.

Hypothetical.

Put in a mental hospital.

Commit.

Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational or intimate nature.

Gossip.

To join in marriage.

Get married.

To have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake.

Daydream.

A romantic meeting.

Date.

Let's try that faster.

Suppositional, uncertain.

Hypothetical.

To join in marriage.

Get married.

Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational or intimate nature.

Gossip.

To have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake.

Daydream.

To be in the place of someone.

Be in your shoes.

Put in a mental hospital.

Commit.

A romantic meeting.

Date.

An instance of spending the night as a guest at another's home.

Sleep over.

To request a date.

Ask someone out.

To lose one's nerve, become suddenly anxious.

Freak out.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Ask someone out.

When asking someone out, choose your moment carefully and practice what you might say in advance so that you don't appear tongue-tied.

Ask someone out.

I heard you asked your new neighbor out on a date.

Ask someone out.

I really want to ask Jeff out, but what if he says no?

Freak out.

Freak out.

Why did you freak out when I told you I'd be late for dinner?

Freak out.

Don't freak out. We can solve this problem in five minutes.

Commit.

The judge had him committed to a mental institution.

Commit.

If you get committed to an asylum, can you eventually get out?

Commit.

He was committed to 50 hours of community service for his crimes.

If I won a million dollars, I would buy you a diamond ring.

We wouldn't be so late if Nick drove faster.

I would get a divorce if I were you.

If it's sunny today, we will go to the park.

If you study hard, you will pass the test.