Speaker 1: Do you need to pick me up? Now? I'm not
being a show off when I say that our little
online get togethers like this podcast are probably good for
your English. Okay, let's get the ball rolling.
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 nine thirty seven.
Frasal nouns for Daily English Conversation. Hey, thanks for tuning in.
Let me start with a quick question. Have you ever
heard someone say we're having a little get together this
weekend or maybe could really use a pick me up?
You might think, wait a second, isn't get a verb?
Isn't get together a phrasal verb? Yep, But when we
add a hyphen and use it as a noun, it
becomes something totally different. Today, we're gonna look at these
kinds of phrases that native speakers use all the time,
but they don't always show up in grammar books. These
are called phrasal nouns, and for today's lessen, we're going
to see how those verbs become nouns and how we
use them in conversation. So, first things first, what is
a phrasal noun. Basically, it's a noun that comes from
a phrasal verb, and it usually has a hyphen like
sit down, get together, and pick me up. And here's
something in when we say the verb, we stress the
second word sit down, get together, but when we use
the noun, we stress the first word sit down, get together.
Using the right intonation is important to distinguish whether you're
saying a noun or a verb. All right, so now
let's look at some common phrasal nouns and see how
we use them. The first one is get together. A
get together is like a small informal party, nothing fancy,
just some friends or relatives hanging out. Like this weekend,
my friend Jack said, oh hey, we're having a little
get together at my place Saturday night, just pizza and friends.
That's a get together, not a big party, just a
few people getting together to chat and relax. Like last weekend,
some of my students and I had a nice get
together at the karaoke bar. A get together a casual gathering,
like the verb get together, which means spend time with
people we also have a phrasal noun, which means a
more formal gathering, a sit down. When you want to
have a serious conversation with someone, You generally don't do
that standing up, right, you sit down somewhere. Well. As
a noun phrase, a sit down is a serious or
formal conversation, usually face to face. Let's say Jack and
his boss had a misunderstanding at work, would say something like,
we need to have a sit down and talk it out.
That means a meeting, serious talk, not just a quick
chat by the coffee machine. When Anna was having money
problems with her husband, they had a long sit down
and tried to come up with a plan. And speaking
of serious issues, how about this one. A run in
As a verb, if you run into something, it's like
a collision, right, So with this image, a run in
means an argument, disagreement, or a bit of conflict with someone.
Like my sister told me she had a run in
with her neighbor about a parking space at their apartment.
It wasn't a huge fight, but it wasn't pleasant either.
Now Ko said she has a run in with her
boss every day, so they end up having to have
a sit down. To work it out. That's one of
the pleasures of being self employed. No run ins with
the boss or weird coworkers. And if you do have
a stressful day or a long day at work, you
probably need a pick me up. A pick me up
is something that gives you more energy or makes you
feel better. It picks up your mood and emotion. It
could be a coffee, a snack, or even a small gift,
Like after a long day at work yesterday, I said, man,
this iced coffee is just the pick me up I needed.
Peter said that his sister sent him some cookies as
a little pick me up when he was sick. It's
a fun way to describe something that gifts your mood
or energy. Yesterday I needed to pick me up around
three o'clock, so I had some chocolate and finally we
have show off. A show off is a person who
likes to get attention or brag about themselves, you know
the type. Elena and I were watching a guy at
the gym doing backflips between pushups and Elena said, huh,
what a show off? Or when someone always talks about
how much money they make or how amazing their vacation was.
You might say, ugh, he's such a show off. This
happens a lot on social media. People like to post
photos and videos of their exotic adventures. And not all,
but a lot of frasal nouns have the same meaning
as the frasal verb they come from, so if you
hear them, you could probably guess the me like a
bottle of water at Yankee Stadium costs eight bucks, what
a ripoff? Or I'm planning to have a meetup with
some of the fans of this podcast next year, and
a checkup once a year at the dentist is important.
These expressions are super useful and help make your English
sound more natural. They often show up in casual conversation,
news articles, TV shows, and even in the business world. Okay,
let's recap what we talked about today, and again listen
to the intonation. A get together is a small, informal party.
A pick me up is something that boosts your mood
or energy. A sit down is a serious or formal conversation.
A run in is a minor conflict or are you
and A show off is a person who tries to
get attention or brag. And here's your challenge for this week.
Try using one of these expressions in a conversation or
in a sentence. Maybe say something like, oh, we're planning
a get together next week, or that espresso was a
nice pick me up. And Hey, if you want to
practice this kind of English with me and a group
of other awesome English 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 improve your speaking and build confidence and have
a lot of laughs along the way. Just check the
link where you're listening to this podcast right now, or
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast episode nine
thirty seven for more info. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.