Speaker 1: Hey, I see you're right on time for this lesson.
Take your time, get comfortable. I'm not gonna kill too
much time here, because, as you know, time flies.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight seventy five.
Expressions with time in Everyday English. Hey, thanks for tuning
in and welcome back. I'd like to talk about something
that we all think about every single day. Time we
check the time, we spend time, time, we waste time,
we save time. I mean time is everywhere and then
every day English. There are so many expressions with time
that you'll hear native speakers use all the time. So
today I'm going to cover six of the most common ones.
Kill time, run out of time, take your time, right
on time, about time and time flies. Then I'll also
tell you about some proverbs with time and the funny
little paradox that goes along with them. You're gonna want
to listen all the way through to learn about that. Okay,
the first one is kill time, now, don't worry, no
one's actually killing anything. To kill time means to do
something while you're waiting. Like last week, I got to
the dentist's off twenty minutes early. What did I do?
I killed time by scrolling on my phone? Or when
I was in the airport, my flight was delayed, so
I killed time walking around the shops. We use this
phrase when we're not doing anything super important, just something
to keep ourselves busy until the real thing starts. Did
you kill time today? Next up? You can run out
of time. This is one that I think everyone can
relate to. And you don't need your gym clothes to
run out of time, get it. Run out of time
just means the time is finished. Like the other day
I wanted to finish editing a YouTube video, but I
ran out of time. Or in meetings? How often have
you heard this? Sorry everyone, we ran out of time.
Let's continue tomorrow. Hmm. How about you? Have you run
out of time recently? Well? One reason you might just
run out of time is because you take your time.
When you take your time, it means you don't rush,
You just go slowly doing something at your own pace,
like when you're at a restaurant and the server hands
you the menu, they might say, take your time, I'll
be back in a few minutes. Or if your friend
is nervous about giving a presentation, you can say, don't worry,
just take your time. It's a very American way of
saying relax, no pressure, and go ahead, take your time
and listen to the rest of this podcast. English lesson next.
If you're the kind of person who doesn't like to
be late, then you do things or go places right
on time. This one's easy. Right on time means exactly
on the dot, exactly when you're supposed to be there,
like here in Japan, the trains almost always arrive and
depart right on time. Or in the office, if your
team comes exactly at the right time, you can say
something like, hey, thanks for being right on time for
the meeting. I always try to post these podcasts right
on time at the same time each time. Huh, that's
a lot of time. Hey, here's one you've probably heard before.
Time flies. Time flies. This one means that time feels
like it passes really quickly. Actually, I say this all
the time, like, Wow, I can't believe it's already September.
Time flies, or my niece just started high school. Wow,
time flies. It's something we say when we look back
and realize how fast life moves. And I gotta tell you,
it seems the older I get, the more I notice
that time flies. I guess that's part of the aging process.
Now let's move on to it's about time. This one's
a little different. We use it's about time when we've
been waiting for something and it finally happens. Ah, it's
about time. Like if your friend is always late and
they finally show up, you can say, well, it's about
time you got here. Or when the city finally fixes
that pothole on your street, you can say, wow, it's
about time they repaired that road. It's about time has
a kind of sarcastic nuance or feel to it, but
in a kind of friendly sarcastic way, like when you're
hungry and you order pizza delivery and they finally ring
the doorbell. Ah, it's about time. So when I was
writing this lesson, I thought I would share a little
bit about proverbs with time. English has a bunch of them,
Like we say time is money, there's no time. I'm
like the present or time and tide, wait for no man.
All of these are basically telling us, don't waste time.
It's valuable, and in American culture we're often seen as
being obsessed with being on time and making the most
of our time. But here's the paradox. Even with all
these sayings, people are still often late for meetings, for parties,
for events. We talk about time like its gold, but
why do we always treat it that way? Hmmm? I
guess it's one of those funny cultural contradictions. So there
you have it, six everyday expressions with time and a
few proverbs to think about. Let's run through them one
more time. When you kill time, you do something while
you're waiting, And when you run out of time, well
the time is finished. When you take your time, you
do something at your own pace, and when you're right
on time, you're punctual. Well it's about time I finish
this lesson. You know, time flies, So try using one
or two of these phrases today when you speak English,
or share your example with me on social media. I'd
love to hear how you use them, And remember, learning
another language takes time. But the good news is you're
not wasting time when you're studying English, you're investing in it.
Thanks for listening, and hey, if you want to practice
these phrases with me and a group of other awesome learners,
come check out my podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet
once a week and practice the language from these podcast
lessons together. It's a great way to build confidence and
improve your speaking. Just check the link where you are
listening to this podcast right now, or visit Myhappy English
dot com and choose podcast episode eight seventy five for
more information. And remember, learning in other language is not easy,
but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you
on your journey.
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.