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Speaker 1: Do you remember the last song you listened to? When

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was that last night? And how long did it last?

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I'll bet this is the last thing you thought i'd

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ask you. Well, at last, we're going to get this

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English lesson off the ground.

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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: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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This is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight twenty nine. How

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we use Last? Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining me

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for another episode of the Happy English Podcast. I'm your

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English teacher Michael, and I'm glad you're here for today's

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podcast English lesson. We're going to talk about a really

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small word that's used in a lot of big ways. Last.

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This word pops up all the time in English, and

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it's not just for talking about the final thing. There's

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actually a handful of common ways to use last, and

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today we're going to explore five of them with natural

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examples and stories. As we usually do here, Let's start

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with the most common use last as an adjective. You

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probably already know this one. We use last to mean

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the final one, in a group or in a sequence,

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like even though I worked late, I was able to

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catch the last bus home. And you know what. Here

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in Japan the public transportation system is great, but unlike

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New York, the last train is around midnight. Miss that,

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and good luck getting back home. Here's one more. At

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the wedding, they played the last dance by ten thirty

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and then everyone went home. So anytime you want to

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talk about the final something, a meeting, a class, a cookie,

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last is your word. All right, Now, here's the next one.

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We also use last to talk about time, specifically a

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time in the past, you know, like last week, last night,

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or last summer. We use last followed by a time

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word to talk about when something happened. Last followed by

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a time word means the one before now, like I

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had dinner with my sister last Sunday, or I haven't

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seen Steve since last April. Here's another example. Even though

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I bought that cologne last year, there's still some left

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in the bottle. That stuff lasts forever. Hey, And speaking

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of lasting, here comes our third usage. Did you catch it? Yep?

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We use last as a verb. When we say something lasts,

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we mean it continues. Or exists for a certain period

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of time, like the CEO's speech lasted for almost two hours.

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Everyone who was falling asleep. And you know what, a

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big jar of mayo doesn't last long. In my house,

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we use it on everything. Hey, by the way, did

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you catch my pronunciation of mayo? You know, mayonnaise. It's mayo,

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like the month of May. Last month, mayo mayo. Okay,

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one more. My friend just bought a new car and

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asked me how long does a tank of gas last

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in your suv? And I said, ah, not long enough.

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Now here's a fun one you might hear in movies

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or when someone's super relieved. At last, that's a phrase

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we used to mean finally, usually after waiting a long time,

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like Mick lost his job two years ago, but at

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last he finally found something new. And you know, but

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I've been searching for a good coffee shop in this

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neighborhood and at last I found one that makes really

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good coffee. Yeah, at last, we can move on to

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the last one. And this one's really useful. We often

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say that someone or something is the last person or

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the last thing we expected. It means we're really surprised,

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like when one of my buddies dragged me to a

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football game. We met up with another friend who when

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he saw me said, Wow, you're the last person I

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expected to see here. What a surprise. Believe me, I

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was surprised too. And then last week and my cousin

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was trying to talk to me about her investment strategies.

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She's the last one who should be giving advice about money.

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She's always broke. So what's the last thing you remember

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learning in English? Hopefully it was fun and hopefully this

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will stick with you too. By the way, the best

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way to remember English like this and any other word

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or phrase in English, is to take that word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true for you or

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true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. And

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did you know You can get more practice using your

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English when you join my podcast Learner's Study Group. There

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you can make new friends, join us for live group

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lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.

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Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio

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download for every Happy English podcast in the past and

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in the future. And on top of that, each episode

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has exercises where you can practice this English point with

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speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, we'll

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just visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson

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eight twenty nine. Remember, learning another language is not easy,

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but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you

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on your journey.

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

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visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy,

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Happy English.