Everyday English Conversation Practice | 30 Minutes English Listening

Hello my amazing students a lot of you have told me that

you struggle to understand native speakers well

don't worry because today you're going to improve your listening skills

and you're going to learn natural expressions Welcome back to JForrest English,

of course, I'm Jennifer now let's get started!

today you're going to improve your listening skills

by testing your listening skills I'm going to say a sentence three times

and you need to write down exactly what you hear

in the comments and this task will progress from beginner

A1 to more advanced C1 let's get started I'll say it three times I got a lot on my

plate I got a lot on my plate

I got a lot on my plate did you get this one I said I got a lot on

my plate now got a native speakers pronounce this as

gotta gotta I gotta I got a lot on my plate

the expression is to have a lot on one's plate have you heard this it's very common

when you have a lot on your plate it means you're very busy

you have many different tasks to complete now notice in my spoken expression I used

got I got a lot on my plate I got a lot on my

plate because native speakers commonly replace have

with got in spoken English in a casual

informal way but in written English or more formal

professional English it's best to use have so let's see some examples

I could say give the project to Isabel Amar already has a lot on his plate

now of course our verb is has

so you need to conjugate it with the subject and time reference in this case Amar

third person singular Amar has in the present simple

and notice Amar has a lot on his plate because the expression requires a possessive

his plate we also use this expression to talk about

a time we were busy in the past

so you have to conjugate that verb we had a lot on our plate because the subject

is we so now I need our plate

and then you can use a past simple time reference last week with the conference

I got a lot of my plate right now which got a lot of my plate

hey I got a lot of my plate let's try this again I'll say it three times

I'm thinking of taking up sewing I'm thinking of taking up sewing

I'm thinking of taking up sewing how did you do I said I'm thinking of taking

up sewing take up is our phrasal verb

and notice I pronounced it as one taking up taking up

because the proposition belongs to the verb native speakers may drop that taking

that g sound and it sounds more like taken taken

but then you have to connect the proposition taken up taken up

I'm thinking of taking up sewing you may hear that and did you get sewing

because of course the pronunciation is the same as

so there's no sowing though adding an I in G so sowing is the activity

but the pronunciation is the same as the word so let's talk about this phrasal verb

when you take up an activity or a hobby it simply means start

and this is one of the reasons that students you don't understand native speakers

because our vocabularies are filled with phrasal verbs

idioms and expressions like this one so remember our last expression

I have a lot on my plate let's combine these together

I'd love to take up sewing but I already have so much on my plate at

work of course take is a verb

so you need to conjugate it I could say Max took up guitar last year

and he's already amazing what about you are you thinking of taking up

notice you need that gerrant thinking of taking up

are you thinking of taking up a new activity or hobby

share that in the comments below we'll take up yoga or jogging

you know we'll be organized taking up just making

yeah I am well this be and I did take up synchronized

swimming let's try a more advanced test

I'll say it three times have you nailed down the dates yet

have you nailed down the dates yet have you nailed down the dates yet

I said have you nailed down the dates yet and the reason why this is more advanced

is because I'm using an expression you may not be familiar with

for pronunciation I said have you but a lot of native speakers reduce you to

just a ya ya have ya have ya

have you nailed so you might hear that now nailed

notice in the past simple that Ed is a very soft d

nailed nailed but we have nailed down

so because I have a d SoundOn down and these two go together

I'll pronounce it as one and you'll only hear one d sound nailed down

nail down so it's pronounced exactly the same as nail

down but if you say it together

that d is used for both same with dates yet notice how that blends into the year for yet

dates yet and it sounds like one word dates yet dates yet

the phrasal verb here is to nail something down

and that's when you firmly establish or confirm something

so just think of it as 100% confirmed I could say I'm not signing the contract

until we nail down the terms once the terms are nailed down

they're 100% confirmed so you can think of them as official

so then I'm comfortable signing the contract in a more everyday context

you might say let's nail down our vacation plans

by the end of the week and once your plans are nailed down there

100% confirm so you can get excited about your vacation

now notice my question have you nailed down the dates yet

what vertance is on it's the present perfect

and I'm using the present perfect because this is an unfinished timeline

if the person says no it's still possible for them to nail down

the dates to confirm the dates because it's unfinished

to reply you can say no not yet because we use yet with the present

perfect no I haven't nailed down the dates yet

or you could say yes I nailed down the dates

past simple to show a completed pass action or you could say yes

I have nailed down the dates this is the present perfect

is a completed pass action with a result in the present once we nail down our mission

I'm just nailing down the specifics I'll nail it down this week

let's do one more even more advanced I'll say it three times

you can't dodge his calls forever you can't dodge his calls forever

you can't dodge his calls forever did you get this one

I said you can't dodge his calls forever now notice can in spoken English

I'm not going to pronounce that hard can't with the t you can't can't

can't dodge notice here the d is silent the middle d Dodge Dodge

Dodge his calls forever now what does Dodge mean to dodge

this is when you purposely avoid or ignore so he's calling but I'm not answering

I'm purposely ignoring it I'm dodging his call so to you

I might say you can't dodge speaking in public forever

you can't purposely avoid it or ignore the activity

at some point you just have to do it now notice I use Dodge speaking

because you can dodge something his call or you can dodge doing something

so the verb and ing dodge speaking we sometimes use this in a more positive way

I might say great job dodging that question so maybe you were asked an inappropriate question

in an interview or a meeting but then

you strategically avoided answering that question so I might say great job dodging that question

she's dodging calls for why have you been dodging my calls

she's dodging my phone calls now let's do an imitation exercise

I'm going to say each sentence again three times

but I'm going to leave enough time for you to repeat the sentence out loud

and imitate my pronunciation let's do that now I got a lot on my plate

I got a lot on my plate I got a lot on my plate

I'm thinking of taking up sewing I'm thinking of taking up sewing

I'm thinking of taking up sewing have you nailed down the dates yet

have you nailed down the dates yet have you nailed down the dates yet

you can't dodge his calls forever you can't dodge his calls forever

you can't dodge his calls forever are you all set

are you all set are you all set

I said are you all set notice that the you becomes more of an unstressed

yeah or yeah so it's a very subtle difference

oh ah yeah yeah native speakers will use both Aria Aria

are you all set and notice I don't push out that tea

so set all set now

what does this mean to be all set this simply means to be ready

so you can use this all the time in your daily speech

so I can ask you are you ready for your presentation tomorrow

and you can reply back with those two words all set all set

the full form would be I am all set and then you can just reduce that to all set

which means I'm ready I'm ready for my presentation tomorrow

we commonly use this to confirm that someone is ready

to leave leave a house leave a restaurant leave any location

are you ready to go and you can reply back with those two words

all set which means I'm ready to go

all set all set

all set let's try this again a little more challenging

I'll say it three times my weeks off to a rocky start

my weeks off to a rocky start my weeks off to a rocky start

did you get this one I said my weeks off to a rocky start

notice that contraction weeks that is week is my week is my weeks

my weeks off and instead of saying to all I can combine those together with a to

so I use that to glide to to my weeks off to a rocky start

the reason why this is more difficult is because you may not know the expression

the expression is to be off to a and then adjective start and in this example

my adjective is rocky my weeks off to a rocky start

Rocky means difficult or uncertain he and I got off to a rocky start

are you sure tonight got off to a weird rocky start

we often use this adjective rocky to describe relationships

it could be a romantic relationship a relationship with family or friends

or a relationship with your boss or coworker your friend might come to you upset and say

our relationship is a little rocky right now and she wants your advice

but remember you can use any adjective with this expression

so hopefully you'll use a positive one my weeks off to an amazing start

and notice because my adjective starts with a vowel

my article becomes an an amazing start off to a great start

so we're off to a good start and you can use this expression as a reply

to how's your week going

so why don't you practice this right now how's your week going

and I want you to put in the comments my weeks off to a adjective start

and you choose the adjective put that in the comments

and hopefully it's a positive adjective let's try this again I'll say it three times

what do you have on the go today what do you have on the go today

what do you have on the go today did you get this one I said

what do you have on the go today have you heard that

native speakers pronounce what do you as what do you what do you

we combine all those sounds together what do you

an alternative is whatcha whatcha and I use both of them equally

so it's important that you know both of them as well

and this question is how a native speaker will commonly ask

what are you doing today so the expression is have on the go

what do you have on the go today what are you doing today now instead of have

on the go native speakers will also say

what do you have going on so on the go is one option

going on is another option what do you have going on today

hey girl what you got going on today so to answer maybe you could say

today I'm studying J 4th English lessons is that what you have going on today

let's try this one more time I'll say it three times

did you not off in the presentation 2 did you not off in the presentation 2

did you not off in the presentation two did you get this one I said

did you nod off in the presentation two native speakers will combine did you and say

did you did you so you hear a just sound did you

or we can reduce that to did ya or did ya so that uh or ah so all three options are

common nod off is a phrasal verb

so we'll pronounce it as one word nod off so notice I'll take that d sound

and I'll connect it on the off but I have to combine it together

nod off nod off nod off to nod off

this means that you fall asleep accidentally when you're not supposed to

like during a presentation so hopefully

you're not nodding off during this lesson right now

or maybe you nodded off on the bus I nodded off on the bus and missed my stop

has that ever happened to you or maybe you see one of your co workers nodding

off I think Sarah nodded off

someone should wake her up before her boss sees her

you just nod off I nodded off so I nodded off a little

nodded off Ross you were snoring now

let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation

I'm going to say each sentence again and I want you to repeat the sentence aloud

and imitate my pronunciation are you all set are you all set

are you all set my weeks off to a rocky start

my weeks off to a rocky start my weeks off to a rocky start

what do you have on the go today what do you have on the go today

what do you have on the go today did you not often the presentation 2

did you not often the presentation 2 did you not often the presentation two

is Tuesday doable is Tuesday doable

is Tuesday doable did you get this one I said

is Tuesday doable only three words but maybe you didn't hear that last word

or maybe you heard it but you don't understand what this means

so let's talk about it first for pronunciation some native speakers pronounce Tuesday as

Chu Tuesday with a Chu sound Tuesday

this is not standard pronunciation in American English

in American English standard pronunciation is Tuesday

Tuesday but you may hear Tuesday so don't be confused but I recommend you use

Tuesday let's talk about to be doable

if something is doable it means it's achievable so you are able to do it it's doable

this expression is commonly used in the negative for example

finishing the project with three people wasn't doable

so we hired two more it's not doable in this example

notice wasn't this is the verb to be to be doable is conjugated in the past

simple with the subject and it's in the negative of course

you can also use this expression in the positive you could say

becoming a confident English speaker is doable it's achievable right

you agree with that so put that's doable that's doable

that's doable put it in the comment and I certainly hope these lessons help you

do just that so of course make sure you subscribe

and share these lessons with your friends that sounds doable doable

totally doable let's try this again I'll say it three times dinner's ready

let's dig in dinner's ready let's dig in dinner's ready

let's dig in did you get this one I said Dinner's ready

you probably heard that one let's dig in again maybe you heard the words

but you're not really sure what this means so let's talk about that first

notice dinner's ready dinner is and then as a contraction

dinners dinner is ready let's this is a contraction

let us let's dig in dig in is a phrasal verb so native speakers will link those sounds

together will take that g sound

and will transfer it to the next word dig in

gin gin so you hear that g in front of in

but you have to say them as one word dig in dig in let's dig in dig in has a simple meeting

it means to begin eating a meal someone might say the foods getting cold

please dig in please start eating or someone might say

before we dig in let's take a moment to appreciate this beautiful

meal keep in mind this phrasal verb

let's dig in it's only used with meals but is very commonly used

and you eat at maybe three times a day so you can get a lot of use out of this one

expression dig in let's dig in

dig in let's try this again I'll say it three times Mark my words

I'll get it done Mark my words I'll get it done

Mark my words I'll get it done how do you do with this one

I said Mark my words I'll get it done

so again pronunciation perhaps easy to understand the words

but what does this mean first for pronunciation notice all all

that's our contraction I will all I'll get it get it

because we have a t and it's between two vowels so we'll pronounce that t as a soft d

but you have to connect the sounds together get it get it

get it done native speakers do something a little weird

sometimes we change the word it to her

but we pronounce it as er so it will sound like get her

get her done get her done I'll get her done can you get her done

so we do that even though there is no gender in English

so that it doesn't represent a female noun but when we do change a noun to a gender

we always use her but we pronounce it as her get her done you can hear that in this clip

I think I can get her done in under 5 hours now to get it done to get something done

native speakers will commonly say get her done this simply means that you complete

a task but we're using it because the task is obvious

it's already been identified so you can change it to it

so if you're in a meeting and you're discussing

a report then it's obvious so someone might ask you

can you get it done by 5:00 you can reply back and say

Mark my words I'll get her done now what does Mark my words mean

this is a way of saying I promise or I'm certain this is true

in this case it's a promise I will get it done

and that's why we're using the future simple because we use the future simple

with promises and commitments you can use this expression in more of a dramatic

way to say I'm certain this is true

for example you shouldn't work with that company Mark my words so

you're emphasizing your certainty about the fact that the person

shouldn't work with that company maybe because they have a bad reputation

Mark my words so you can use this as a stand alone expression

before or after to sound quite dramatic quite forceful Mark my words Seinfeld

Mark my words Mark my words pal let's try this one more time

I'll say it three times we need to up the anti

we need to up the anti we need to up the anti

did you get this one I said we need to up the anti

2 is commonly reduced to just a ta we need to we need to

we need to up the anti notice that pronunciation anti

anti and you can pronounce the as the with a long

e because anti starts with a vowel

native speakers don't always follow this rule to up the anti

this is when you increase your demands in a situation

or your risk involved in a situation and you do this to achieve a better result

this is commonly used in negotiations so imagine there a union

and they're negotiating with the company and the union increased their demands

they opt the anti for example the union opt the anti by demanding a 5% race

no notice here the word up is used as the verb to up the

anti and that's why it's conjugated in the past

simple up and notice that pronunciation is a soft t

the e d is pronounced as a soft t up

up the anti now you negotiate any time

you're entering into a partnership and agreement even when you accept a job with a company

so you can use this expression maybe a business is trying to get a new contract

and someone says I thought we had until the end of the week

to accept the contract and someone else replies we did but they opt the anti

so they increase their demands we have until 5 p m

tonight great emotion talk about upping the anti

well the dress up the empty we've got to up the empty

now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation

I'll say each sentence again three times but after each sentence

I want you to repeat it out loud here we go is Tuesday doable

is Tuesday doable is Tuesday doable

Dinner's ready let's dig in Dinner's ready let's dig in

dinner's ready let's dig in Mark my words I'll get it done

Mark my words I'll get it done Mark my words I'll get it done

we need to up the anti we need to up the anti

we need to up the anti do you want me to make more lessons

where we test your listening skills if you do then put yes yes yes

put yes yes yes in the comments below

and of course make sure you like this video share with your friends and subscribe

so you're notified every time I post a new lesson

and you can get this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips on how to speak English

fluently and confidently you can click here to download it

or look for the link in the description and you can keep improving your listening

skills with this lesson right now