Learn the English Phrases "just happen to" and "It happens to the best of us!"

5,586 views ・ 2023-07-14

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “just happen to”.
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This is something you say if you just happen to have something.
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I'm having trouble thinking about how to describe this term without using this term.
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Let me give you some examples and that might help.
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Let's say you said, hey, I need to open this box.
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Do you have a knife?
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I could say, hey,
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I just happen to have one, reach into my pocket and pull out a small jackknife.
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Let's say that you were walking and it started to rain
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and you said, Oh, no, we're going to get wet.
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I could say, Oh, don't worry, I just happen to have an umbrella.
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So anyways, when you use this phrase, it's like kind of you need something
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and it's a surprise that you have it or someone else happens to have it.
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You just happen to have what somebody needs.
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00:47
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is: “It happens to the best of us.”
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So when something bad happens to someone, let's say someone twists their ankle
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and they feel dumb because it was their own fault,
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they they turned really fast while walking.
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In order to make them feel better about it you might say, Hey,
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it happens to the best of us.
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Basically saying, you're not silly.
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It's not a dumb thing that happened to you.
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It could have happened to anybody.
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It happens to the best of us.
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So to review, when you just happen to have something or you just happen to...
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Yeah.
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When you just happen to have something, it's
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like someone needed something and you're like, Hey, I just happen to have one right here.
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And when you say, “It happens to the best of us”, you're simply saying that
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if something
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silly or bad or dumb happens to you, don't don't worry about it.
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Don't feel bad.
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It happens to everybody.
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It's just something that's normal when you're a human being.
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But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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This comment is from Tara or Tara.
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I have never thought that grapes can be grown in Canada.
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I thought the climate is too cold out there.
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Beautiful scenery.
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It reminds me of Crimea with all the vineyards.
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02:00
Thanks for the lesson.
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And my response: There are three places in Canada where you can grow grapes.
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I just happen to live close to one of them.
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So thank you, Tara, for that comment.
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Yeah, there's another grape growing area out in the province of British Columbia,
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and there is a grape growing area in eastern Canada, I think in the province of Nova Scotia.
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And there's one in Ontario, and I just happen to live close to it.
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Anyways, I'm in a small Ontario town right now.
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I'm actually parked in the parking lot of
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what's the grocery store in this town.
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It's called No Frills.
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It's the kind of grocery store where the food is really cheap.
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When you say no frills in English, it means that there's nothing
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extra, there's nothing special.
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They don't have.
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I think you even have to, like, put a quarter into the handle of the shopping cart
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in order to use a shopping cart so that you make sure you remember to bring it back.
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What else is here?
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Just a couple of small stores, a little cafe.
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03:01
Across the road, though.
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There's a small bakery and those...
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that bakery makes really good donuts.
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Sorry, I was already starting the sentence.
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Those donuts from that bakery are amazing.
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They're very, very tasty.
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They make them in an old, traditional Dutch way.
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I think the people who started the bakery were originally from Holland,
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so it is a really nice place to get donuts.
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In fact, I think I might get donuts there to celebrate my birthday.
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Or maybe I already did get donuts there to celebrate my birthday.
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I'm still keeping that a mystery.
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So anyways, I'm just out here on a Thursday morning.
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You'll be watching this on a Friday, hanging out in a small Canadian town,
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just teaching a little bit of English
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and no one's looking at me strangely, so that's good.
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Anyways, have a good day.
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I'll see you in a few days with another short English lesson. Bye.
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