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Por favor mándanos tus preguntas sobre el inglés y tus comentarios sobre los podcasts usando el formulario de contacto en la página web

What’s the difference between GOOD and WELL? (Mara from Valencia)

He’s a good footballer (adjective)
There are meny goods produced in Valencia (noun)

Would you like some more coffee? – No thank you, I’m good (Am. English), No thank you, I’m fine (Br. English)

Well (adjective) How are you? – I’m well. / Do you feel well?

Well (adverb) – He runs well. She works well

He’s a good swimmer. He swims well.

Well (noun) = un pozo It has that meaning as well (también)
Juan Carlos (Barcelona) asks: “Vale la pena tener el IELTS?”

IELTS tests your level of English. You cannot pass or fail IELTS. It is used as an acceptance requirement in many universities.
It can also be needed if you apply for a visa to certain countries or if you wish to emigrate to certain countries.
IELTS is only valid for 2 years.

Learn more about IELTS here
Gramática: More gerunds and infinitives

decide (decidir) – Reza decided to go out for the day
avoid (evitar) – I avoided studying for the IELTS exam
finish (terminar) – Reza finished eating and left the restaurant.
feel like (tener ganas hacer algo) – Reza feels like sleeping
forget (olvidarse) – If you have forgotten ‘forget’, listen again to episode 14.
promise (prometer) – I promise to help you
agree (estar de acuerdo) – We agreed to stop fighting and become friends. (¡OJO! – We agreed ON doing something)
enjoy (disfrutar) – Reza enjoys doing these podcasts. – I enjoyed myself at the party.
fancy (apetecer) – What do you fancy doing tonight? Reza fancies having a gin and tonic.
refuse (rechazar) – I refuse to give you the money.
offer (ofrecer) – He offered to help me.
hope / expect (esperar) – I hope to pass my exams (you want it to happen) – I expect to pass my exams (you think it is going to happen)
mind (importar) – Do you mind waiting? – I mind waiting for someone to come. – Do you mind if I smoke? – Would you mind if I sat here?
miss (echar de menos) – I miss seeing my friends. – Reza misses drinking Guinness.
suggest (proponer/sugerir) – I suggest seeing your doctor. – I suggest you see the doctor.
seem (parecer) – He seems to be happy.

Puedes estudiar más gerundios y infinitivos aquí.

Vocabulary Corner: Valentines Day

to meet / to know / to get to know someone = conocer a alguien

I’ve known John for a long time. I met him five years ago. Tonight I’m going to meet him at the pub.

to go out with someone = salir con alguien

I’m going out with a girl/boy.

to fall in love = enamorarse – to love someone, to be in love with someone, to fall out of love with someone.

to be crazy/mad about someone = estar chiflado por alguien – to be head over heels on love.

to have a row = reñir(se) I had a row with my neighbour

to get on well = llevarse bien

to fancy someone = sentirse atraído por alguien (to find someone atractive)

to have an affair (with) = tener una aventura

to kiss = besar(se)

Estudiar más vocabularo aquí

Phrasal verb: to look after (cuidarse ó cuidar a alguien)

Los phrasal verbs, o ‘multi-word verbs’ (verbos de dos o más palabras) están formados por un verbo y pequeñas palabras (preposiciónes o partículas adverbiales).

A veces el significado del verbo cambia a un significado completamente diferente “Look(mirar) + after(después) = cuidarse”!!!

Los phrasal verbs se usan mucho en el inglés informal.

Algunos phrasal verbs tienen más de un significado. (take off – Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig – 14)

En algunos phrasal verbs podemos insertar el complemento entre el verbo y la partícula, o ponerlo después.

Pero cuando el complemento es un pronombre, siempre va entre el verbo y la partícula.

I took my clothes off. (I took them off) X I took off them X
… o bien
“I took off my clothes.”

Normalmente un phrasal verb se corresponde a un solo verbo en español. “go away” “go in” “go out” “go back”

El uso de los ‘phrasal verbs’ es más frecuente en el lenguaje común. En el lenguaje escrito, suelen emplearse verbos equivalentes cuando es posible.

“Take the cover off and put the key in” “Remove the cover and insert the key”

Study phrasal verbs with the CD “Get ahead with Phrasal Verbs” by Mike Hardinge

Send us an email, or a sound file (mensaje de voz en mp3) with a comment or question to [email protected] or contact Reza at: [email protected].

Por favor darnos estrellas y una reseña en iTunes.

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called See You Later – licensed by creative commons under a by-nc license at ccmixter.org.

FULL TRANSCRIPTION (lovingly created and kindly contributed by Patricia Alonso) 

C: Hello and welcome to another episode of “Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig”, episode 15.

R: Yes, episode 15, wow, we’re doing well!

C: We are. How are you?

R: I’m fine and you?

C: Have you had a good week?

R: I have, lovely week.

C: Good.

R: Lots of nice things have happened.

C: Good. I have some news for our listeners. We now have a website home for our podcasts, it’s inglespodcast.com. If you go there you can listen to our podcasts on your computer, on your mobile phone, your tablet device, whatever, and you can see the shownotes and all the links, los enlaces, that we put to useful material.

R: There’s only one drawback with that page, Craig.

C: Your photograph, jaja.

R: Our photographs. I warn readers to use extreme caution, you may be visually offended, you may be visually offended.

C: Wear your sunglasses before you look at the page.

We have a review from itunes from Marlene80, who says “Me encanta tanto para principiantes como para avanzados. Es muy Bueno el contenido” and Marlene gives us 5 stars, 5 estrellas, thank you very much.

R: Thank you.

C: And we have a question from Mara from Valencia, who asks for the difference between good and well. Can you explain that?

R: Yes, pretty much, although not 100%, as you will see in a minute. Good is generally an adjective, isn’t it Craig?

C: Yes.

R: Although it can be a noun.

C: He’s a good footballer.

R: Yeah, he’s a good footballer., she’s a good student, it’s a good day. But good’s also a noun, isn’t it? Like “In Valencia they produce many goods like turron, oranges…”.

C: So, bienes.

R: Bienes, that’s also good, isn’t it? A good. There are many goods produced in Valencia including oranges. The orange is an important good produced in Valencia. A good means a product, doesn’t it?

C: Yeah, and Americans use it sometimes as an adjective in the sense of I’m ok, I’m fine. “DO you want some more coffee? No, I’m good”:

Was that the doorbell?

R: Oh, Craig, that’s the doorbell.

C: Do you know who it is?

R: No.

C: It’s the good’s delivery man.

R: What? Really?

C: Jaja, that’s a coincidence?

R: We were just talking about goods.

C: We were.

R: Are you expecting a delivery?

C: NO, but I can’t see who it is.

R: Hold on, how do you know it’s the good’s delivery man then?

C: Jaja.

R: You gotta say you’re expecting a delivery.

C: Yeah, I’m expecting a delivery.

R: Alright, is it for you?

C: No, it’s for someone else, some goods for somebody else.

R: Aha.

C: But how do you use well? Well is an adjective. I’m well, are you well… But usually it’s used to speak about health.

R: Yeah.

C: Do you feel well.

R: Yeah.

C: And as an adverb?

R: He runs well, she works well, he studies well, as an adverb, as well. Couldn’t resist that, listeners.

C: I think Spanish speakers often make mistakes mixing up good the adjective and well the adverb. So, it’s important to know the difference between “He’s a good swimmer”, “He swims well”.

R: Yeah. I think if you’re a Spanish speaker that shouldn’t be a huge problem because Spanish say “Es un nadador Bueno”, they don’t say “Es un bien nadador”.

C: Es un buen.

R: Buen, yeah, but not bien.

C: Well, I would, cause I make a lot of mistakes.

R: Buen can be good, or bueno.

C: So, I hope that clears up good and well for you Mara.

R: Just one more thing Craig.

C: Yes, go ahead.

R: What about a well, un pozo?

C: A well, yeah, as a noun.

R: Yeah, a place under the ground where water is stored, a well, un pozo.

C: Well, well.

R: Well. It has that meaning as well, as well, Tambien.

C: Yeah, another meaning of well, another use of well.

Juan Carlos from Barcelona asks “¿Vale la pena tener el IELS, el examen IELTS?” Now, you’ve worked, you’ve got some experience with IELTS, would you recommend our listeners to look at this exam as a possible qualification to have? Can you explain what IELTS is?

R: Ok, well, I used to work at Queen’s University and the University of Ulster in Ireland and at universities they’re very interested in IELTS. The IELTS is the International Language Teaching System. It’s not an exam, it’s a test, there’s no pass or fail. Your English is tested and you’re given a mark for a reading, writing, speaking and listening and then an overall mark, and that’s your level of English.

C: So, it’s not like the Cambridge FCE, CAE and CPE exams, that you can pass or fail them, you’re given a number and that number is your level of English.

R: That’s right, from 0 to 9, 9 is the highest, 0 is the lowest.

C: And does every university have a different number that they require a student to have?

R: Well, not only that but every course can have a different number, For example, imagine you’re going to University X, let’s call it, University X, and at that University X they say “If you’re a foreigner we will accept you into our course to study engineering if you have IELTS 6.5”, whereas at the same university, University X they say “if you want to study law you must have 8.5 IELTS”.

C: I see, so every course has its requirements.

R: Yes, and the university sets them, there’s no minimum by law. However, there is a minimum by law to acquire a visa from the British government. If you wish to study at a British university and you are not from the European Union you are required by law to have a certain minimum IELTS level of English, I can’t remember what it is and they change it from time to time but you got to have a minimum and only then will you get a visa to study at university from the British government, otherwise they can’t give you a visa.

C: I see. Is it expensive to take this exam?

R: I’m not sure, I think it varies from country to country, so it’s best for each listener to check that for themselves. However, one thing, it’s only valid for 2 years so there’s no point doing an IELTS exam until you know you are going to need it quite soon. So, it’s particularly good, Juan Carlos, it’s particularly good if you’re thinking of studying abroad, in an English speaking country, could be UK or it could be America or it could be Australia, Ireland etc. However, there is another type of person who sometimes needs and IELTS score and that is someone who wants to emigrate. Recently, in Valencia, I taught someone who had never been to university before in his life, he didn’t complete his from at school but he was doing an IELTS because he anted to emigrate to Canada and the Canadian government required him to have a certain score in IELTS to give him a visa. So also for emigration purposes.

C: Well, that’s useful to know. OK, so basically you should know that it lasts for 2 years, the grading lasts for 2 years, and you should find out from the country you want to emigrate to or the university you want to study at what requirement they have, what level you need to get from the exam when you take it.

R: That’s right. If you’re Spanish for example, that’s the European Union, there’s no level requirement to have an IELTS test to go and study into a British university. However, the university will probably ask you to prove that you have a certain level of English and that will mean either have a specific IELTS score or in some cases they will accept instead Cambridge exams like First Certificate, Advanced, Proficiency, so either Cambridge or IELTS. To be honest these days they prefer IELYS at universities.

C: Well, I will put the links in the shownotes to the IELTS website where you can find more information and if you have a specific question about IELTS, let us know because Reza is an expert and has worked with IELTS. So, write to us, send us an email to [email protected] or [email protected] and we’ll put those email addresses in the shownotes.

C: Moving on, gramática, this week we could speak some more about gerunds and infinitives because last week we started speaking about them and as we saw it’s quite a complicated area. Did we speak about decide and avoid last week? I can’t remember.

R: I don’t think we did.

C: We didn’t, did we?

R: We didn’t mention those verbs.

C: So decide, decidir, and avoid, evitar, gerund or infinitive?

R: I decided to go out for the day, I decided to go out, infinitive.

You can’t say decided going?

R: No.

C: Infinitive. I decided to take the IELTS exam.

R: Exactly. What about avoid? Can you think about a sentence with avoid?

C: I avoided studying for the IELTS exam, so that’s gerund.

R: Gerund, with avoid.

C: Avoid with gerund. Let me test you. I’m going to tell you Reza, the English verb, you tell me the Spanish meaning of the verb and give me an example in gerund or infinitive.

R: Ok.

C: Finish.

R: Spanish terminar.

C: Very good.

R: And a sentence, I finished eating and left the restaurant. Finished eating, so gerund.

C: Can you use the infinitive, I finished to eat?

R: No.

C: You can’t.

R: Only gerund.

C: Only gerund. Feel like.

R: Tener ganas de hacer algo, o…

C: What do you feel like doing after this podcast?

R: I feel like sleeping.

C: Jaja.

R: So it’s gerund.

C: Yes. U feel like going out this evening. Forget.

R: Olvidarse.

C: Now this, we did speak about it last week because we spoke about forget and remember.

R: Yeah, and the fact that they can be followed by the gerund or infinitive, but with different meanings.

C: SO, if you need to revise that go back and listen to episode 14.

R: Yeah, for forget and remember.

C: If you’ve forgotten how to use it, go back and listen to episode 14. Promise.

R: Prometer. I promise to help you, infinitive.

C: Do you agree that verbs which speak about the future usually take the infinitive?

R: I wouldn’t quite put it like that, Craig. I think I know what you mean but I would say…

C: Let me give you some examples. Promise you usually would promise to do something in the future, intend, I intend to go, plan, I plan to do…

R: Yeah, well, you say the future? Yeah, the future if the verb’s present but what if it’s past? I promised to help her and I did, the action’s all over, that’s not future.

C: Right, but it’s still taking the infinitive.

R: Yeah, because as you say, the verb which goes afterwards, the infinitive, is an action which happens after, for example I promised to help you, first I promise and then later I help you.

C: Ok, yeah.

R: But it could have happened in the past, it doesn’t have to be in the future time, but yes, I see what you mean, the action happens after. So, if I promise to do something, first I promise, then I do it.  If I intend to do something, first I intended, then later I do it.

C: Hope.

R: Hope to do, first you hope it, later you do it. That’s a good way to remember.

C: What about agree?

R: Agree plus infinitive, yeah, which is estar de acuerdo. We agreed to stop fighting and became friends.

C: Yeah.

R: However, don’t be confused listeners with agree on. If you agree on doing something, that would be followed by a gerund, but that’s logical, it shouldn’t cause you any problems, because on is a preposition, agree on, and after a preposition all verbs are ing, so agree on doing something is a different matter, but agree plus infinitive to do something.

C: That’s a very important piece of advice, I’m going to repeat that. If there’s a preposition after the verb, after prepositions you use a gerund. I think always?

R: Always.

C: Always.

R: No exceptions.

C: Yeah. Enjoy.

R: Enjoy what, Craig?

C: Dsifrutar, jaja.

R: Ah, oh, you’re asking me.

C: Gerund or infinitive.

R: I enjoy doing this podcast, it’s gerund.

C: I was going to ask you, do you enjoy doing these podcasts? Gerund, yeah.

R; Can I just point something out for Spanish speakers? A very common mistake I come across with enjoy. Spanish, disfrutar. Correct me listeners, by email or anywhere you like if I’m wrong, but I believe in Spanish you say for example “Disfruto de mi vida”, Spanish say “de”, I’m very sure, disfruto de mi vida. But in English there’s no preposition there, we just say I enjoy my life or I enjoy, disfruto de ayudar a la gente, I enjoy helping people, there’s no of, no from, no preposition in English. I often forget to put in “de” in Spanish.

C; Me too, me too.

R: Disfruto de.

C: And Spanish people often forget that it can be reflexive, you can say I enjoy myself, I really enjoyed myself at the party, did you enjoy yourself, we enjoyed ourselves. What about fancy?

R: Fancy as a verb, apetecer, for example, I fancy walking along the beach.

C: Gerund. What do you fancy doing tonight?

R; I fancy having a gin&tonic.

C: Only one?

R; Just the one. I’ve just thought that fancy is more or less a synonym for feel like which we mentioned earlier.

C: Yeah.

R; I feel like having a gin&tonic, I fancy having a gin&tonic.

C: Both are gerund, both are followed by a gerund.

R; Yeah, and the meaning is the same, pretty much.

C: Refuse.

R: Rechazar. I refuse to give you the money. Refuse plus infinitive.

C: Offer.

R: Ofrecer. He offered to help me, so that’s infinitive.

C: And there are two that we said before if they are speaking about the future or they, if they have a future connotation, we would tend to use the infinitive, for example hope and expect, esperar and esperar.

R: Yeah, but there’s a difference in meaning in English Craig, isn’t it?

C: Between hope and expect?

R: Yeah. I hope to pass my exams. I expect to pass my exams. Not the same sentences and I’m sure those two sentences are very relevant for a lot of our listeners who are probably students. We all hope to pass our exams.

C: But not all of us expect, jaja.

R: Exactly. So, hope means you wanted to happen, and expect means you think it’s going to happen.

C: Absolutely, that’s an important difference.

R: What about “Estoy esperando al autobús”? How would you say that in Spanish?

C: I’m waiting for the bus.

R: Waiting for, that esperar is neither hope nor expect but wait for. Wait for just means you’re passing time physically. I don’t, well, I do actually hope the bus will come, I was gonna say I don’t hope the bus will come but I do, but… and I expected to, this is true, I’m not focusing on that, I’m focusing on the fact that I have to spend time waiting for the bus.

C: You’re waiting for the bus. What about next one, mind?

R: Mind as a verb, right?

C: Yes.

R: Importar.

C: Do you mind.

R: Not as a noun which is mente, yeah? Mind importer.

C: Mind as a verb. Do you mind, gerund or infinitive?

R: Do you mind waiting a long time for the bus? Do you mind waiting, so it’s gerund.

C: Yeah. I mind waiting for someone to come, as a silly example.

R: No, it’s a good example, I know you Craig, you’re a punctual person, you don’t like to be kept waiting.

C: I really really mind waiting for people.

R: Can we just point out the listeners there’s another common pattern which follows mind, it is very common after mind. Do you mind if I smoke? Do you mind if I set my bike there? Mind plus an if clause is very common as well.

C: And you can also say would you mind, do you mind or would you mind if I sat here. Miss, to miss.

R: Miss can mean…

C: Echar de menos.

R: eEhar de menos or it can mean perder.

C: Miss the bus.

R: That’s perder.

C: Yeah.

R: But I miss my friends in Ireland, that’s echar de menos.

C: So now put a verb there, I miss seeing my friends, gerund.

R: Exactly.

C: I miss going to the pub, I miss drinking Guiness, do you miss drinking Guiness?

R: I do.

C: It’s not the same, is it? Outside Ireland.

R; It’s not the same outside Ireland.

C: You miss drinking, I miss drinking English ale, English beer,

R: Oh, me too.

C: Suggest.

R: Suggest, sugerir, proponer.

C: Gerund or infinitive.

R: Well, given the choice between gerund or infinitive, gerund.

C: That doesn’t sound very sure.

R: No, I’m sure, it’s just that there are other constructions with suggest. I suggest seeing the doctor if you have a constant headache, I suggest seeing the doctor. However, there are other possibilities with suggest, you could say I suggest you see the doctor.

C: Yeah, putting the object before the verb. I suggest you see the doctor.

R: That see is infinitive without to.

C: I suggest you go to get professional help.

R: Yeah, you go, so we got the object you and then we got infinitive go without to, but that’s infinitive.

C: And finally seem.

R: Seem, parecer.

C: Example?

R: He seems to be happy.

C: Infinitive?

R: Yeah.

C: It seems to be a lovely day today.

R: You’re right, it does, doesn’t it?

C: Yeah, it’s sunny. Ok, that wraps up the gerunds and infinitives for this episode.

C: Vocabulary corner. I thought because, Reza, it’s near St. Valentine’s Day, that we could speak a little about vocabulary connected to love and relationships. For example, one problem my students have with conocer in English, there are two verbs in English that mean conocer, to meet and to know. How would you explain… Do you have this sometimes, do you have this problem with some of your students you have to explain the difference between to meet and to know?

R: Yeah, and I would add a third verb there, a third expression sorry, a third expression, to get to know.

C: Right.

R: I would distinguish between to know and to get to know as well, they’re not the same, so…

C: Sorry to stop you, let me give an example for the listeners. When did I meet you for the first time?

R: 1998.

C: We met at the British Council, 1998.

R: 1998, sorry, did I say 1999?

C: I don’t… No, it was 99, you’re right?

R: No, it wasn’t, it was 98.

C: Was it 98?

R; Yeah, when I came to Valencia, it was 1998.

C: So we met in 1998?

R: Yeah.

C: So how long have we known each other?

R: Ah, we have known each other for a long time…

C: Jaja, we’re not mathematics teachers.

R: 15! 15 years?

C: 15 years.

R: We’ve known each other for 15 years.

C: So, perhaps those two examples explain the difference. When you meet somebody is the time when you actually meet them for the first time and the time that you’ve known someone is from that first moment until the present time.

R: Yes, you’re right about meet. However, of course, there’s another meaning of meet. You can meet someone that you already know.

C: Oh, yes, that’s true.

R: There’s the second meaning of meet, for example. I’ve known John for a long time, I first meet him five years ago, but tonight I’m going to meet him at the pub. Not the first time, but una quedada, someone that I already know, you can also say to meet. Two meanings of to meet.

C: Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that before. So, to get to know someone is the process of gradually knowing them.

R: That’s right, although I believe in Spanish it’s just the same verb conocer for to know and to get to know, but in English you must distinguish. For example, if you go to a foreign country to study, you will get to know new friends. Not you will know, that’s incorrect listeners, you will get to know.

C: Over time.

R: Over time, yeah, and then five years later you will know them, but at the beginning you have to get to know them.

C: And if you get to know someone that you’re attracted to from the opposite sex, then maybe you will go out with them, which has the meaning in British English of salir con alguien, a romantic… Well, it’s not always romantic, is it? You can go out with a girl or going out with a boy on a regular basis, the idea is there is a romantic attachment to it. And if you go out for a long time, you have a good relationship, you could fall in love, enamorarse.

R: Can I ask you a classic question?

C: Ask away.

R: This question, listeners, has no clear answer, people disagree about this, but we are interested in English. Craig, what is the difference between to fall in love, to be in love and to love someone? Let’s take first of all… To fall in love, you more or less explained that you get to know someone and gradually you really like them, you fall in love, yeah?

C: Yeah.

R: But what about to love someone and to be in love with someone? Some people insist they’re different, would you say they’re different?

C: Well, to love someone… There is a difference because loving is not always romantic love. You can have the love for a brother, you can have family love, you can have love for your country which is a patriotic love, you can have love for God which is a religious love, so love isn’t always romantic. But to be in love is often a romantic connotation, a romantic idea, being in love with someone. And to fall in love is… I don’t know, to fall in love is more the instant realization of… I don’t know, I’m not sure.

R: To fall in love, could that be the idea of realizing that you love someone?

C: The realization of…

R: Oh, this person has become important to me, I’m falling in love…

C: Could be, yeah, I think you’re right.

R: People these days in modern English use the opposite, they say to fall out of love, have you heard that expression?

C: Yeah, to stop loving someone, to fall out of love.

R: And you might get some people, for example some older couples who’ve known each other for a long time, sometimes they can say “Oh, my husband or my wife says that he or she loves me but I know they’ve fallen out of love with me”, so they still love me but they’ve fallen out of love, have you heard that?

C: Yeah, that’s quite common, to fall out of love with someone, fall in love and fall out of love. How would you say in English estar chiflado por alguien?

R: TO be crazy about someone.

C: To be mad or crazy about someone.

R: To be head over heels about someone.

C: Head over heels? Cabeza sobre los tacones.

R: Better not have said that. It just means estás loco por alguien.

C: Estar loco. An English colloquial expression, to have a row.

R: To have a row, oh, come on, you’ve ruined St. Valentine’s Day already, come on! Let people fall in love first, then the row.

C: That’s quite common, if you fall out of love with someone you probably have a few rows. Rows are arguments and to raw is a verb and a noun is reñir.

R: Can you spell row, Craig?

C: ROW.

R: And can you pronounce it?

C: Row.

R; And can you spell the verb to row?

C: ROW.

R: Hold on, this sounds like “déjà vu” but something’s gone wrong, what’s this?

C: Those are homophones?

R: Not homophones, different pronunciation. Homonyms.

C: Homonym, it’s a homonym.

R: But different pronunciation.

C: Different pronunciation, same spelling. There are many.

R: So how would you describe to row?

C: When you’re in a boat and you have oars, you row the boat.

R: And to row…

C: Remar.

R: Remar, yeah, is to row. And to row.

C: Tener bronca, reñir. I had a row with my neighbour, I’m always rowing with my wife.

R: So, row you just use it first as a noun, then as a verb, it can be both, yeah?

C: It can be both.

R: A row, to row.

C: And it means an argument, to have an argument, in British English. But, because it’s St. Valentine’s Day, we want to llevarse bien with our partners which is to get on well. How would you say sentirse atraido por alguien?

R: You could say to fancy.

C: To fancy someone.

R: Or to find someone attractive.

C: Yeah.

R: For example, John finds Mary attractive, John fancies Mary.

C: He fancies her. And finally, tener una aventura.

R: Ok.

C: Which could or could not happen around St. Valentine’s Day.

R: In the romantic sense that would mean to have an affair.

C: To have an affair, to have a relationship or sex outside of your steady relationship, to have an affair with someone.

R: Craig, did you not miss one verb there that we should have mentioned?

C: Which one?

R: Can I demonstrate for you? Muakkk.

C: Besar, besarse, they know it, our listeners know how to say that, to kiss, to kiss someone.

R: Yeah, noun or verb, a kiss, to kiss.

C: Moving on to our phrasal verb, this week is to look after, cuidarse o cuidar a alguien and I thought maybe this week using look after is an example we could have a kind of an introduction to phrasal verbs and give our listeners some background on what phrasal verbs are. So, los phrasal verbs, as multi-word verbs, y ahora estoy leyendo de la página web de La Mansión del Inglés, son verbos de dos o más palabras. Do you agree with that?

R: Yeah.

C: Están formados por un verbo y pequeñas palabras, preposiciones o artículos adverbiales. Is that ok so far?

R: So far so good.

C: A veces el significado del verbo cambia a un significado completamente diferente. For example, look after, look mirar, and after después, the phrasal verb means cuidarse. So, you can have completely different meanings from the words in the phrasal verb. Los phrasal verbs se usan mucho en el inglés informal, do you agree with that?

R: Yeah.

C: That’s right. Algunos phrasal verbs tienen más de un significado and we’ve seen this before with take off for example and you can study take off in Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig episodio 14, last episode we spoke about the different uses of the phrasal verb take off, the literal meaning and the idiomatic meanings. En algunos phrasal verbs Podemos insertar el complemento entre el verbo y la partícula o ponerlo después. Yeah? Pero cuando el complement es un pronombre siempre va entre el verbo y la partícula.

R: Can you give us a few examples Craig?

C: I took my clothes off, I took them off, because I can’t say, no puedo decir, I took off them, I took off my clothes.

R: The pronoun then goes between the verb took and the preposition off, it goes in the middle, took them off.

C: Exactly.

R: But you can say I took my clothes off or I took off my clothes, the order with a noun, my clothes, is flexible, right?

C: Right, absolutely.

R; You can put it before or after the preposition. If it’s a noun, I took my clothes off equals I took off my clothes.

C: Confusing.

R: And just to confuse people even more, we just said that an object pronoun always goes between the verb and the preposition. Always, always, always? Not always.

C: Usually, it usually does.

R: There’s always an exception, listeners, isn’t it? There’s always an exception.

C: That’s my mistake because as a teacher I should know never to say always.

R: I make that mistake myself. Craig, didn’t you give earlier as an example of phrasal verb, you said, look after, cuidarse?

C: Yes.

R: And didn’t you just say now, and I agree with you, that an object pronoun usually goes between the verb and the preposition?

C: Mmm

R: So, can you say for me in English, please, el libro, esto, cuídalo.

C: Look after it.

R: Ah, look after it, right, and where have you put the pronoun?

C: At the end.

R: Ah.

C: Cause I can’t say look it after.

R: So, there are exceptions to what we just said.

C: Yes, because look after is a prepositional verb but not a phrasal verb.

R: That’s it, a prepositional verb, yeah, so what’s the difference, listeners, between a prepositional verb and a phrasal verb? The answer is I don’t really know. However, someone who does know is Mike Herdinge. We consulted him on this because he is as far as I know the global expert in phrasal verbs.

C: Hs is the go-to-man for phrasal verbs, so if you’re having problems with your phrasal verbs we strongly recommend you look at Mike Herdinge’s CD called Get ahead with phrasal verbs and you can find it by going to mansioningles.com and clicking the product icon on the right side of the homepage.

DO you agree with this, Reza? Normalmente un phrasal verb se corresponde a un solo verbo en español.

R: Yeah.

C: For example, go away, what’s the Spanish verb for go away?

R: Lárguese.

C: Lárguese? Yeah.

R: Bueno, largarse, I should use the infinitive. Largarse.

C: Go in.

R: Entrar.

C: Go out.

R: Salir.

C: Go back.

R: Volver.

C: That’s true. El uso de los phrasal verbs es más frecuente en el lenguaje común. En el lenguaje escrito suelen emplearse verbos equivalentes cuando es possible. For example, with phrasal verb take the cover off and put the key in. This would be quitar la tapa e inserter la llave. Take the cover off, take off is the phrasal verb and put the key in, put in, is the phrasal verb. But in more formal or maybe written English you would say remove the cover and insert the key.

Puedes estudiar más vocabulario en mansioningles.com y no olvides el CD de Mike Herdinge que puedes encontrar en mansioningles.com haciendo click en el icono en la página principal.

Well, I think that’s it for this episode. Shall we wrap this up?

R: Let’s wrap it up.

C: It’s a wrap.

R: We’re off!

C: remember, you can contact us by sending us an email or a sound file, mensaje de voz en mp3, with a comment or question about this podcast, or anything related to English, and send your ameils to [email protected] or contact Reza at [email protected]. And don’t forget pkease, puedes darnos estrellas y una reseña en itunes if you like this podcast.