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Speaker 1: Game, match, two simple words, right, But then when you

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watch sports in English, you understand the game itself, but

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not always the language. Which one should you use? Sometimes

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I hear people say things like I watched a baseball

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match and yeah, it's understandable, but not so natural. So

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what's the difference. When do you say game and when

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do you say match? And how do native speakers actually

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talk about sports in everyday English? How about win, lose

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and beat? That's what we're going to look at today.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Alright, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here

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from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode Oney twenty one, Win, Lose, Beat,

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How to talk about sports in English. Let's start with

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something that confuses a lot of English learners. That is

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the difference between game and match. In American English, we

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usually use the word game for major sports like baseball, basketball,

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and American football, like you would say, hey, did you

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watch the Yankees game last night? Or the Lakers have

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a game tonight. On the other hand, match is more

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commonly used for sports like tennis, boxing, and European football,

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you know soccer. For example, I watch to tennis match yesterday,

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or that was a great soccer match. So here's the

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key point. In American English, we usually don't say things

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like baseball match or basketball match. We say baseball game

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or basketball game. If you say baseball match, people will

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understand you, but it sounds a little unnatural, like the

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Yankees are about to play Wimbledon. So a simple way

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to remember this is use game for most American sports,

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and use match for sports like tennis, boxing and soccer.

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By the way, I'm not a huge sports expert, but

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I am an English expert. So let's focus on how

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people actually talk, and let's move on to the word play.

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We use play when we talk about two teams or

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players competing. Play doesn't tell us who won. It just

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tells us that the game happened or will happen. For example,

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you might say the Yankees played the Angels last night,

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or in soccer, Barcelona played Real Madrid yesterday, or in basketball,

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the Lakers are playing the Bulls tonight. You can also

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ask questions like who is Barcelona playing this weekend? Or

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who did they play last night? So remember play is neutral.

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It just described the game, not the results. Next up

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is win. We use win when we want to talk

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about the team or player with the better result in

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the game. For example, Barcelona won the game, or the

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Lakers won last night. You could also say Serena Williams

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won the match. If you're talking about tennis, you can

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include the score two. The most natural pattern is to

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say the winning team and then the score, just the numbers,

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for example, Barcelona one three two or the Lakers one

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one oh two to ninety eight. Notice that we usually

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just say the numbers, especially in casual conversation, so you'll

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often hear things like, oh, they won three two, or

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we won five four, or the Yankees beat the Red

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Sox five to three. Keep in mind, when we use win,

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we're talking about the game or the match, not the

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other team. So you can say Barcelona won the game

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or just Barcelona one. But we don't. I don't say

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Barcelona one Real Madrid. That doesn't sound natural. Now let's

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look at lose. Lose is the opposite of win. We

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use lose for the team or player that did not win.

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For example, Real Madrid lost the game or the Bulls

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lost last night. Here too, you can also include the

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score Real Madrid lost to one or the Bulls lost

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one oh two ninety eight. And keep in mind, lose

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is a verb, so you can say the Yankees lost

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the game or just the Yankees lost. But we don't

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say the Yankees was lost the game. That's not natural.

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Just use the verb the Yankees lost. Next, let's look

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at beat. This is one of the most us words

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in sports English. We use beat when we want to

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clearly say who the winner is and who lost in

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one sentence. For example, Barcelona beat Real Madrid, the Lakers

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beat the Bulls, the Yankees beat the Angels five to two.

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So compare these Barcelona one, we don't mention the other team,

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Real Madrid lost. We don't mention the winner. Barcelona beat

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Real Madrid. Here we show both sides. That's why beat

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is so useful. Now let's look at one quick example

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from baseball, just so you can understand the vocabulary. If

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you hear it, you might hear something like the Angels

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got two runs in the third inning. In baseball, runs

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are like points or goals in other sports. We don't

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use points or goals. In baseball, we say runs. You

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might hear something like the pitcher gave up two runs

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or the Yankees got three runs. Even if you don't

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follow baseball, I think it's good to recognize these words.

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So let's recap first. Remember that in American English we

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usually say game for sports like baseball and basketball, and

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match for sports like tennis, boxing and soccer. We use

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play to talk about the game itself. Barcelona played Real Madrid.

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We use win for the team or player with the

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better result. Barcelona won, we use lose for the other side,

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Real Madrid lost, and we use beat to clearly show

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both sides. Barcelona beat Real Madrid. So remember we win

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the game, lose the game, but we beat the other team.

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These are simple words, but they're used all the time

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in everyday English, especially when people talk about sports. So

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here's your challenge this week. If you watch a game

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or even see a score online, try describing it in English.

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You can say things like the Lakers beat the Bulls,

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Manchester City one, Chelsea lost last night. That's how you

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start making this kind of English natural. And keep in

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mind the best way to remember English like this and

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any other word or phrase in English is to take

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that word or phrase write it in a sentence that's

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true for you or true in your world, and then

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memorize your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember learning

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another languge which is not easy, but it's not impossible,

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and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English Leads.

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Visit Myhappy English dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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