1
00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,640
Speaker 1: I saw a buddy of mine from high school the

2
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:07,000
other day. It was really nice to catch up with him.

3
00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,759
He said he's planning on selling his house. He said

4
00:00:11,839 --> 00:00:14,960
he wants to buy a sailboat. And then he said

5
00:00:15,039 --> 00:00:22,280
he's gonna sail from California to Indonesia. I said, that's crazy.

6
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

7
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,799
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

8
00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:39,039
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

9
00:00:39,079 --> 00:00:43,679
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

10
00:00:44,119 --> 00:00:49,920
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven eighty six.

11
00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:56,679
How we really use say say is connected to the

12
00:00:56,719 --> 00:01:00,560
words we use, Like when you are not sure of

13
00:01:00,679 --> 00:01:04,640
someone's words, you can ask them what did you say?

14
00:01:06,079 --> 00:01:11,280
What did you say? We also use say to tell

15
00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,680
someone what's written, Like if you go to a cafe

16
00:01:15,879 --> 00:01:19,120
and there's a notice on the door, you can give

17
00:01:19,239 --> 00:01:26,040
that information using say, oh, it says that the shop

18
00:01:26,159 --> 00:01:32,640
is closed this week for vacation. Interesting, isn't it. Even

19
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:38,560
though you're reporting what's written, you can use say it

20
00:01:38,879 --> 00:01:43,840
says that the shop is closed this week for vacation.

21
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,239
We also use say when we tell someone the words

22
00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,519
another person used. You probably heard that this is called

23
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:59,400
reported speech. Like imagine you see your friend David and

24
00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:05,840
the converse goes something like this, Hey dude, what's up. Oh,

25
00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:10,439
check it out. I finally quit my job. I'm gonna

26
00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:15,719
start my own business. So that was the information you

27
00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:20,599
got from David. When you tell another person what David said,

28
00:02:21,199 --> 00:02:27,000
you can use say like I saw David yesterday. He

29
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:32,080
said he quit his job and he's gonna start his

30
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:38,159
own business. Notice the verb tenses there. I used both

31
00:02:38,199 --> 00:02:43,039
the past and the future. He said he quit his job.

32
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,800
I use said here because my conversation with David was

33
00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,919
in the past. He said he quit his job. I

34
00:02:53,039 --> 00:02:57,080
use quit because he left his job before we spoke.

35
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,599
He said he's gonna start his own business. I use

36
00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:07,919
gonna here because the information from David is about what

37
00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:13,960
he is gonna do. Conversationally, when we use say or

38
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,800
said to refer to someone's words, we tend to use

39
00:03:19,039 --> 00:03:23,599
whatever verb tense is true in real life. Let's look

40
00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:30,439
at another example. Conversation, Hey, Jenny, what are you doing here? Oh?

41
00:03:30,719 --> 00:03:35,960
I work in this building. Now, it's really nice. Jenny

42
00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:42,520
said she works in this building. Now. Jenny said she works.

43
00:03:43,639 --> 00:03:48,439
It's true in real life David said he quit his job.

44
00:03:49,039 --> 00:03:54,159
He said he's gonna start his own business. All true

45
00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,400
in real life. Now, you probably learned in school that

46
00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:04,039
when you do you say for reported speech, the verbs

47
00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,639
need to go in the past tense, like Jenny said

48
00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:14,639
she worked in this building. David said he was gonna

49
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,839
start his own business. Keeping all the verbs in the

50
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:26,240
past is generally done in written English, but in conversational English,

51
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:32,519
we like to keep things real otherwise facts can be confusing.

52
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:40,199
Imagine you see a friend Paul, and you have this conversation, Hey, Paul,

53
00:04:40,759 --> 00:04:48,279
what's up. Still living in Jersey notnmore? I live in Brooklyn. Now,

54
00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,439
then today you see another friend, how would you tell

55
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:59,319
them about Paul. Hey, I saw Paul today. He said

56
00:04:59,439 --> 00:05:04,000
he live lived in Brooklyn. Listen to that again, he

57
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:10,040
said he lived in Brooklyn. He said he lived. That

58
00:05:10,199 --> 00:05:13,600
makes me feel like he used to live in Brooklyn.

59
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,720
And you would probably write that in a letter. But

60
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:22,720
let's be honest, who writes letters these days? The best

61
00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,839
way to tell your friend about Paul is using grammar

62
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,839
that's true in real life. Like, hey, I saw Paul today,

63
00:05:32,399 --> 00:05:39,360
he said he lives in Brooklyn. That's true. Okay, let's review.

64
00:05:40,639 --> 00:05:46,560
David said he quit his job. That was yesterday. David

65
00:05:46,639 --> 00:05:50,480
said he's going to start his own business. This is

66
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:56,079
gonna happen soon. Jenny said she works in this building. Now,

67
00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,360
this is true. Now. Paul said he he lives in Brooklyn.

68
00:06:02,079 --> 00:06:07,439
This is also true. Now. When you use say to

69
00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:13,439
conversationally mention another person's words, remember to keep the verb

70
00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:19,160
in whatever tense is true in real life. And keep

71
00:06:19,199 --> 00:06:22,480
in mind the best way to remember English like this

72
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,000
and any other word or phrase in English, is to

73
00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,480
take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence

74
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,279
that's true for you or true in your world, and

75
00:06:33,319 --> 00:06:38,000
then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know you can

76
00:06:38,079 --> 00:06:41,000
get more practice using your English when you join my

77
00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:46,319
podcast Learner's study group. There you can make new friends,

78
00:06:46,879 --> 00:06:50,519
join us for live group lessons every week where we

79
00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:55,759
practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to

80
00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:00,839
the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy podcast

81
00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,920
in the past and in the future. And on top

82
00:07:03,959 --> 00:07:08,319
of that, each episode has exercises where you can practice

83
00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,120
this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.

84
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,560
To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and

85
00:07:16,639 --> 00:07:22,759
choose podcast lesson seven eighty six remember learning another language

86
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,279
is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here

87
00:07:26,319 --> 00:07:29,360
to help you on your journey.

88
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

89
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,560
visit myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

90
00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,360
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy

91
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:55,480
Happy English.