The WEIRD ways we use "GIVE" in English! - English grammar lesson (With PDF worksheet!)

(soft music)

- Do you think Maria's gonna get me

a birthday present this year?

- Well, given that you didn't give her a gift last year,

it's a given.

She ain't gonna give you anything.

- Yeah.

Is this mango good?

- Dunno, does it have any give?

- Any what?

- Any give.

Squeeze it.

Nah, it's rubbish.

You ought to give this one away.

Excuse me, sir, do you want a...?

Here you are, lovely mango for you sir.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, give it back.

It's my mango.

(Aly munching)

The verb give has way more meanings than you think.

And to improve your English today

you are gonna learn some weird ways that we use give.

The first obvious meaning everyone knows.

To transfer from me to you, from you to me.

I gave her a donut and now we're married.

I'm pretty sure this is how love works.

Quick test.

Is there something missing from this sentence?

How about to?

I gave to her a donut?

Yes or no.

Quick, decide.

(clock ticking)

The answer is no.

I gave someone something.

I gave a something to someone.

That's when you use to.

But don't worry, this is a very common mistake.

And now you know how to fix it.

But of course, there are so many other meanings.

For example, to talk about the impression that you get

when meeting someone.

Not necessarily the first time, but just their energy,

their vibe.

Use the phrasal verb give off.

- Hello.

- Hi.

- My name is Thomas.

- I'm Aly, nice to meet you.

So for example, if someone asked you

"What did you think of Thomas?"

You could reply

to be honest, he gave off really creepy vibes.

It doesn't have to be bad like creepy.

It could be good.

He's so nice, he gave off such positive energy.

Have you ever met someone like Thomas?

Practice this in the comments.

Think about the last person you met.

What kind of impression did you get?

What kind of energy?

What kind of vibe did they give off?

This next way to use give, you definitely don't know.

But it's very useful and very common

especially if you eat mangoes.

You go to the shop, you get a mango.

You want to check if it's ready to eat.

The word is ripe.

Is this mango ripe or not?

Looks good, the color's good.

But what is the ultimate test?

(mango honking)

You squeeze it, of course.

So when you squeeze something or put pressure on something

and the shape changes, we use the word give.

You can use it like a verb.

Mm, yeah, that's giving.

But more commonly, more naturally

we use it like a noun.

Mm, yeah, it's got some give.

Should be nice and juicy.

If you put pressure on something, squeeze it

and it doesn't move, it doesn't have any give.

Of course not just for mangoes.

Your bed, for example.

If your bed is too hard, it doesn't have enough give.

This next phrasal verb is very useful.

To give up.

It means to quit, but is it always bad?

No.

It could be a sign of strength.

For example.

- I gave up smoking!

- Amazing!

Or it could be something bad like a weakness.

(Aly crying)

I give up.

English is too hard.

(Aly speaking in Spanish)

Similar to quitting.

Are you the younger brother or sister in your family?

I am.

I have an older sister.

And when we were younger, we fought a lot.

But she was like twice the size of me.

So every time we had a fight,

I would quit, or more accurately, it's a fight,

I would surrender.

When you want to say surrender,

use the phrasal verb give up.

- Can I play Fortnite?

(hand punching)

Can I play Fortnite now?

- Ow!

All right.

Stop punching me, I give up.

Have it.

Or give in.

Yeah, if you are the younger brother or sister,

you always give in, you always give up

whenever you fight your older brother, older sister.

Bastards.

Whoa, I just realized we do something in English

that I'm not sure you do in your language.

Let me know in the comments.

So if I see something that I really, really want,

we talk about something we would surrender

to get that thing.

So a PS5, what would I give up of my own

to get that PS5?

But we don't say give up, we just say give.

Like this.

For example, if you see someone really hot

and you're like "Whoa.

I would give my...

Both hands to date her."

What would you surrender?

What would you be willing to lose in order to get something?

I'd give my what?

Let's practice this in the comments.

What would you give to be able to fly?

Personally?

I'd give anything to be able to fly.

I'd give my legs.

I'd give my legs.

Okay, this next way we use give is the weirdest way.

When you wanna say something is understood, it's obvious,

you don't need to say it because everyone understands it.

You say it's a given.

This is a fixed expression.

Here's how to use it.

Do you think he's gonna show up?

- Oh yeah, he'll come, but he'll arrive late.

- Oh, for sure.

I mean, that's a given.

- Yeah.

- That's a given.

It's like, yeah, we all understand this.

But you also hear this in this structure.

This guy is in trouble with his boss

because he's always late.

So his boss might say this.

- Well, given that you keep coming late,

we have to let you go.

You're fired.

- So it's like saying with this in mind,

this is now gonna happen.

Okay, practice time.

Use one of those in the comments.

Pause the video and use either.

(Aly blowing a raspberry) It's a given.

Remember it means this is obvious, everyone knows this.

- It's a given that Aly is the best teacher on YouTube.

Everyone knows that, duh.

- Or given that blah, blah, blah.

Remember you're saying

"Well, we all understand that this happened.

Therefore, this is gonna happen."

Or "This happened."

- Well, given that Aly is the best teacher on YouTube,

I'm gonna subscribe and get the eBook.

- The next one is for all Red Hot Chili Peppers fans.

Give it away.

So you give up smoking.

Now you don't need your favorite lighter.

You could give it to someone else.

Who?

Anyone.

It doesn't matter.

When you want to give something to someone else,

anyone else, it doesn't matter, you give it away.

So usually with giving things to charity, you give it away.

Just no specific person.

For example.

Here, take my favorite lighter.

I don't need it.

- Thank you.

I love this lighter.

My name's Thomas, by the way.

Let's be best friends.

- Meeting new people is too stressful.

You know what?

No, I don't give up smoking.

I'm gonna...

I'm gonna take up smoking again.

Give me back my lighter.

Thank you.

Remember, the preposition is what's important

with phrasal verbs.

So phrasal verbs with back means to return something.

So obviously to give back means to return something.

For example, are you borrowing anything

from a friend right now?

Do you need to give it back?

Let me know in the comments.

Practice this.

All of the examples from today,

practice them in the comments.

I'll give you correction when necessary.

If you wanna learn more about phrasal verbs,

maybe with get, that one's weird, try this video.

If you want to learn

how prepositions are everything to master phrasal verbs,

use this video.

And if you want to practice all my lessons

in the most amazing ultimate English eBook ever,

click this guy.

Don't forget to subscribe

and I'll see you in the next lesson.

Bye.