Speaker 1: I worked a lot this week. I think I was
at work like sixty five hours altogether. So when I
was done last night, I was like so tired. I
fell asleep on the sofa with my clothes on, and
when I woke up, it was like already light outside
and the birds were singing. Even though it was like
five am. I was wide awake. Welcome to another Happy
English podcast, coming to you from New York City, and
here's your English teacher, Michael al Rye. Thank you, Jan,
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 twenty conversational like hello and welcome,
thanks for joining me for another episode of the Happy
English Podcast. I'm your English teacher Michael, and I'm so
glad you've decided to tune in and check it out.
Today we're gonna look at another common word in English,
and that word is like now, you're probably thinking, oh,
that's a basic word. I already know that, and I'm
sure you do. You probably like listening to this podcast,
which means you like to learn English. You know, like
talks about your preferences, but in casual conversational English, like
is used in a number of interesting ways, and I'd
like to show you that today. Using like in these
ways will make your English conversation sound more natural. Okay,
First of all, you can use like to mean around
or about when you mention a number like someone's age, time, distance,
and so on. You can say things like I think
the new boss is like fifty years old. And you'll
notice how I said that. I put a pause between
like and the number. The new boss is like fifty
years old. It's like twenty two degrees outside today, what
a nice day. When I went to the vet this week,
I found out that max weighs like thirteen kilograms. So
like modifies a number, and like also modifies words such
as a little so or two in an adjective phrase
to emphasize and draw the listener's attention to that phrase.
For example, you can say I was like so tired
last night that I fell asleep with my clothes on.
Notice here, too, there's a pause after like, hey is
tom okay? He seems like a little quiet today. That
pause is essential for the meaning to be understood. And
in a similar way, we use like before a verb
to emphasize and draw the listener's attention to that verb.
This like is also usually followed by a brief pause.
Here are some examples. Don't you like love the pizza here?
It's so good? Ugh, I'm tired. I think I'm gonna
like go home and taken now up before dinner. You
know what, It's just my opinion, but I think the
new salesman in the company like talks too much. And
again remember the pause after like next up. I'm sure
that you've learned to use the verb say when you
report what someone has said. For example, the boss said
Jack was late for work, And I'm also sure that
you learned to use the verb ask when you report
another person's question, like the boss asked Jack why he
was late. Well, in conversational American English, we use the
phrase was like to mean said or asked when we
tell someone about a conversation we had and we want
to quote that conversation. This is a casual way to
talk to someone about what was said in another conversation.
When I saw my friend Paul yesterday, it looked like
he was in a hurry. I was like, where are
you going? And he was like, I'm late for a meeting.
So I was like what happened? And he was like
I'd overslept, and then I was like, good luck, man.
That guy is always late for everything. He'll probably be
late for his own funeral someday. Keep in mind the
best way to remember English like this and any other
word or phrase in English, is to take that word
or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for
you or true in your world, and then memory your
sentences and remember this. You can get more practice using
your English when you join my podcast Learner's study group.
There you can make new friends, join us for live
group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.
Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio
download for every Happy English podcast in the past and
in the future. And on top of that, each episode
has exercises where you can practice this English point with
speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight twenty.
Remember learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey. If
podcasts to you by Happy English, please visit Myhappy English
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