SMALL TALK | ESSENTIAL Vocabulary to Kickstart Conversations with NATIVES

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back  to advanced English lessons with Harry,  

where I try to help you to get a  better understanding of the English  

language. And in this advanced English  lesson, we're talking about weather,  

yeah. So phrasal verbs related to weather. And  weather is a really, really important topic here  

in Ireland and also in the UK. Everybody talks  about it. I'm not surprised that the weather  

is usually pretty bad. And when we get it good,  we like to talk about anyway. And when it's bad,  

we like to talk about it even more. So these  phrasal verbs are really, really important help  

you to understand what English and Irish people  are referring to when they talk about the weather.

Okay, so let's get stuck into these. We've got  10, in particular, and I've also got one agent  

that's related to weather as well. First one  brighten up. Well, this is a great phrase to  

ask people do you think it'll brighten  up later on, I'm going out for a run,  

I'm going out for a walk or we're going to  go for a picnic. I really hope it brightens  

up. Meaning I hope there's even a little bit  of blue sky, it doesn't have to be wonderful,  

but as long as it's not raining, so yeah,  I think the weather will brighten up later.  

The forecast said it would. So perhaps it will  to brighten up means that skies will lift that  

clouds will drift away, and perhaps perhaps  the sun will come out. Okay to brighten up.

Cloud over. Well, cloud over is a little bit  of an opposite of brighten up. So usually when  

the day starts off nice and sunny, you wake  up and the sky is blue, you think off great,  

it's gonna be really, really good day. But  within two hours or just after your breakfast,  

you look out the window, it begins to cloud  over, the clouds are coming in from the north  

or the west. And before you know it, the sky is  completely grey. So when the blue sky is covered  

by grey sky, we can then use this expression to  cloud over Yeah, so it clouded over very early in  

the day. And it just turned out to be another dull  day, another dull day in Dublin to cloud over.

Clear up. So clear up is when things will change  but change for the better. So you wake up in  

the morning, there are pools of water on the  ground, it's been raining during the night,  

maybe there are still a few splashes of rain  around. But it's quite evident that there was  

quite heavy rain. But surprise, surprise, the  weather forecast says they expect it to clear  

up by lunchtime. So there you are waiting for  lunchtime, waiting with your golf clubs hoping  

to get out to the golf course, to hit that  little white ball around the golf course if  

the weather clears up. So all you're looking  for is for the ground to dry a little bit,  

the sun to come out, make it feel a  little bit warm, and you'll feel really,  

really good. So when the weather clears up,  it means the rain stops, the wind dies down,  

the trees stop moving, he got a little bit of blue  sky the sun peeps through it warms everybody up,  

everybody feels good because overall, we have  a little bit of a cheer-up in the weather.

Warm up. Well, when it warms up,  usually the temperature rises. Now,  

depends on where you are. That's what you regard  as warm. I was speaking to a student today,  

and she lives in Dubai and she thought it was a  little bit chilly where she was because today it  

was 25 degrees. And all of last week it was 35  degrees. Now, when I was talking to her here in  

Dublin, it was nine or 10 degrees. And if it  got to 12 degrees, then I would consider that  

it would warm up a little bit. So I might not  need the second jumper. So it's all relative,  

okay. So when the weather warms up, the  temperature increases. So maybe it goes  

from 15 degrees to 18 degrees, or 16 degrees to  19 degrees. So you could say yeah, the weather  

has warmed up a little bit. And perhaps when  you're waiting for the summer and late spring,  

the weather over a few weeks will begin  to warm up the temperatures will pick up  

gradually. So instead of being on an average  of 14 or 15 degrees, it's an average of 16  

or 17 degrees. And you can certainly say that  the weather has warmed up quite significantly.

Now, the opposite is when the weather cools down.  And of course, as we get out of the summer and  

into the autumn, then the weather naturally cools  down. So those temperatures instead of going up,  

go down. So the average of 18 to 20 during the  September period suddenly become 16 to 18 on  

average. And then by the time we get into the end  of October or early November, you're down to the  

low teens 13-14, perhaps 15 degrees. So yeah, the  weather has begun to cool down. If you're enjoying  

a really hot spell and the temperatures are 25  degrees plus, well then when it drops to 20,  

you can say, Wow, it's great that the weather has  cooled down a bit, I'll be able to sleep at night  

because there's nothing worse than trying to  sleep when you could not have air conditioning  

and the temperatures are 25 degrees plus. So  when it gets back down to 20, you can say,  

yeah, the weather has finally cooled down. And  we can all sleep nice and snug in our beds.

Break through. Well, the sun will usually break  through, hopefully, the sun usually breaks  

through. So yeah, you get up in the morning,  there's clouds, but the clouds are quite high.  

And they're, they're quite white, they're not dark  race, there's no real rain in the area. So you're  

happy for that. And then you see a few openings  or breaks in the clouds. So you're hoping that at  

some stage, the sun will break through and when  it breaks through, the air temperature will rise  

quite quickly. And you can enjoy a very nice,  pleasant early summer, morning or afternoon. So  

you can walk in the park with perhaps a light  jumper or even just a t shirt. So we all like  

to see the sun breaking through the rays of sun  that hit us the shadows you can see forming on  

the ground, that will tell you instantly that yet  there's a bit of a breakthrough in the weather.

Pick up. Okay, so we'd like to hear the  sound and words uttered that the weather  

will pick up next week long term forecasts  coming in from the the weatherman that the  

weather is expected to pick up next week,  we'll have long periods of sunshine,  

some light wind or breezes. But generally  from next Tuesday for the rest of the week,  

you can expect the temperatures to be rising, and  the temperature will pick up, and we'll have some  

nice sunny days. Okay, so that's a really good  long term, long term forecast to hear because,  

of course, you can plan your days you can plan  what you're going to wear, you can plan what  

you're going to do in the evenings and the  weekends. So a nice pickup in the weather.

Next die down. Well, usually we refer use  this when we refer to the wind. Yeah. So  

here in Ireland, we get lots and lots of strong  winds. And they come from nowhere. And they come  

very quickly. And they pick up and get quite  wild. And you can hear the windows rattling  

and then the chip trees moving. But over  a period of time, the wind, the strength,  

the wind drops, and then eventually the wind  will die down and disappear. So when we use the  

expression to die down, it means that the wind  strength gets less and less, and eventually,  

it disappears completely. And you have a nice,  quiet, peaceful evening. And you can go to  

bed without the windows rattling or the trees  brushing against the wall of the house. Okay,  

so to die down. Rain can also die down  from really heavy rain to perhaps just  

a little light drizzle or some raindrops,  but the heavy rain dies down or disappears.

And as always, if you like this particular  lesson, and please like the video, and if  

you can subscribe to the channel,  because it really, really helps.

To blow over. But again, when you're living on an  island, like Ireland or the UK, winds are a very,  

very important factor when the wind blows,  it usually brings rain and rain clouds with  

it. But the important issue is that when  there's wind, the weather patterns will  

move quite quickly. So we have rain for  an hour or two hours and the sun wind,  

it will blow the clouds away. And therefore  we can say that the rain has blown over it has  

gone so it was heavy rain for the morning.  But in the afternoon, the rain clouds have  

disappeared that blown away. And we're left  with a dry day for the rest of the day. So  

this will soon blow over. So if you're used to the  weather and you're used to the weather patterns,  

perhaps you can look at your window, you see some  rain and some wind and you say ah that will blow  

over in a couple of hours. So it won't be so bad.  So by one o'clock, everything should be okay,  

we can go out for that walk. And sure  enough, one o'clock, no wind, no rain,  

and off you go. So when we talk about something  blowing over, it means it will last for a little  

while and then it will disappear and will go on to  some other parts of the island or across the sea.

And then finally, hold off. So when we use that as  a phrasal verb to hold off means we hope it won't  

happen. It might eventually but we're hoping that  it will hold off for a period until we do some  

something so perhaps you've got a very important  wash to do and you want to hang your clothes out  

to dry and you take a look at the sky and you  see it's a bit dark and you say to your partner,  

Hmmm... I hole... I hope that rain will  hold off for a couple of hours until I get  

these clothes dry because there's a strong  wind there. So if we get a couple of hours,  

they'd be dry in no time. So you're hoping  and praying and keeping your fingers crossed,  

that the rain that's threatened will hold off  means it will not happen quite as the weatherman  

expects. So if you read the weather forecast,  or listen to the weather forecast, they might  

tell you to expect heavy rain showers throughout  the day. But you look at the clouds. And if you  

think it's not going to rain, you run out and  put your washing on the line hoping that that  

rain will hold off for the period of two weeks  to get your washing dry. Okay, so to hold off.

And then finally, as I said, we have an  idiom and that idiom is to be snowed in. Now,  

we use an idiom snowed under when we're  talking about our work, which means we've  

got work right up to our eyes up to our neck, put  in weather terms, when we say we are snowed in,  

it literally means we can't get out of  a house because there's a lot of snow,  

we don't often get snow. And the problem is when  we get it, we don't know what to do. So usually  

people just stay at home. And they don't go to  work because they have no winter tires on the cars  

so they can't drive at the buses stop because they  can't get up the road. The roads are not gritted,  

there's not enough machinery to clear the  snow from the streets. So we just stay at  

home. So if you're lucky enough to be snowed  in, meaning, you can't get your car to drive,  

you can't get to the bus stop, you struggle  to get down the street because of deep snow,  

well then, literally that means you are snowed in  for that day or half a day or two or three days.  

But in Ireland, we get those sort of situations  once every six, seven years. It doesn't happen  

so often. But yeah, I've experienced quite  a few times when I have been snowed in but  

they don't happen so often because I can usually  remember all of them. Okay, so to be snowed in.

So let me give them to brighten  up, cloud over, clear up, warm up,  

cool down, break through, pick up,  die down, blow over and hold off. So  

that's our 10 phrasal verbs and the one  idiom to be snowed in, snowed in. Okay,  

so they're the useful or super useful phrasal  verbs relating to weather and as I said,  

it's always a topical conversational piece.  So it's, it's important to know what they are,  

it's important to know what they mean. It's  important to know how you can use them.

So practice them, have a look at your weather  conditions to see if any of these phrasal verbs  

are a good description of what you are  experiencing. And if you need any help  

you know the drill by now, come back to  me www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Very,  

very happy to help you and to give you more  examples when needed. Okay, so this is Harry  

saying goodbye. Thanks for joining the lesson.  Thanks for listening and join me for the next one.