If you are a new listener to this podcast, welcome! I’m Craig. This is Reza, and we are going to help you take it to the next level.
With over 40 years of teaching between us, we’ll help you improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

In this episode: your questions; could – would, come – go and we speak about getting old

Thanks to Lara Arlem who donated $3 per month to our Patreon program. – There will be news soon about the transcriptions.

Listener Feedback: Rafael

“Muy interesante este capítulo de los FALSE FRIENDS   www.inglespodcast.com/64
ahora se me ocurre un false friend POLICY no es POLICIA (policy = política, regla, norma – póliza – insurance policy).

Una duda que tengo desde que empecé a coger libros de inglés es, si en el inglés no hay reglas (fijas), para leerlo, como se leería una palabra que la ves escrita por primera vez y que no la has oido pronunciar con anterioridad,
(es lo que nos pasa a los españoles cuando cogemos un libro en inglés) que no sabemos como pronunciar muchas palabras del libro.”

There are not many pronunciation rules that help you, Rafael. Some of the rules will confuse you more than help you.

We suggest that you learn and use the phonemic script. A good dictionary will have the word in the script so that you can pronounce it properly. Here are some links to pages in the Mánsion Inglés intermediate course where you can learn all of the symbols:

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 1

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 2

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 3

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 4

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 5

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 6

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 7

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 8

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 9

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 10

Pronunciation – Phonetic Script 11

Rafael también dice, “Reza sabe un montón de español!”

Voice message from Javier Trimin from Barcelona living in Fort William, Scotland who has a ‘Because of my English…’ story to tell us.

Claudia – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello how are You? I have been listening You for the last three months. I had a Hangout with Craig once.
I really like the way you introduce the different subjects, develop and explain them. I am 57 years old. I learned English at school, as You can see It passed some time since I left school! (It’s been a long time since….)
I would like to ask you when the word “come” must be used. For example “I am coming to your home” or “I am going to your home”?

come = venir / go = ir. Come is also llegar (arrive) What time are they coming? – ¿A qué hora llegan?

‘Come ‘ is used with ‘here’. – “I’m waiting in my house for Paul. I wonder what time he’s going to come (here)?”

“How did you come to be an accountant?” – ¿Cómo llegaste a ser un contable? Reza, how did you come to be a teacher?

“Go” can mean ‘become’ when It’s used with an adjective – “I think I’m going crazy.” – “Creo que me estoy volviendo loco.”

I have got a question. Would you mind help me with this?
I was listening to the podcast AIRC40 – www.inglespodcast/40  where you spoke about ‘Could’ and ‘Would’.

Could is related to Can. Could is the past of can and the conditional. You also used the following examples:

I could see him = Yo podía verlo (for the past)

I could see him = Yo podría verlo (for the conditional)

Podía is not exactly the past of the verb ‘Poder’ in Spanish, it is the ‘Pretérito imperfecto‘. The past of the verb ‘Poder’ in Spanish is ‘Pude’.

Yo pude (Pretérito)
Yo podía (Pretérito imperfecto)

But my English teacher told me that it’s not common to use ‘could’ to express (or to convey) an action in the past.

“When I was a child I could run really fast, but I can’t now.” (general ability)

When you’re talking about a specific situation, ‘could’ is not possible: “I fell from a great height and broke my leg, but I was able to get up.” No se dice X“I could get up.“X

Use ‘could’ for general ability and not for specific situations.

In the negative, you can use ‘could’ in both circumstances: “I broke my leg and I couldn’t get up.” / “When I was a child I couldn’t play the piano.” (Use the negative ‘couldn’t’ (could not) for general ability and for specific situations.

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Elisa from Finland
The phrase ‘I’m getting old’. When does it start and when does it stop? When do you start getting old? Are there any advantages in getting old? Definitely not 😉

Reza: Began to feel old quite suddenly a month ago. Reza will soon need bifocal glasses.

Craig: dislikes modern pop music, walks into the bathroom with the dirty dinner plates. Walks into a room and forgets why!

Advantages of getting old – Your confidence increases, you care less about stuff, appreciating life’s small pleasures, having wisdom. Feeling less nervous, anxious and up tight.

On next week’s episode: More of your questions!

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’