9 Ways to Use 'Get' in English Conversation

Hey, I've got a tricky question for you.

What does the word get mean in each of these phrases?

How do you get to work? She got a haircut. Did you get what he said?

They're getting married next month in each of those phrases,

the verb get has a different meaning. Recently,

one of my students noticed the English speakers love to use the word get in

a variety of ways. In fact,

she shared with me that she was a little bit surprised or shocked when someone

asked her, how do you get to work? If you don't already know,

I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your

life and work in English. And every Wednesday,

I share a new lesson to help you do just that.

Now let's get back to this word get. If you look it up in the dictionary,

you might be surprised to find that there are over a dozen

different meanings of this word. In this Confident English lesson today,

you'll discover why English speakers use this word so much in

conversation.

And you'll discover nine different ways that you can use it in your English

conversations as well.

[Inaudible].

Before we get into the nine different meanings of the verb,

get let's talk about why it's used so often.

The simple truth is it's easy and casual.

In English conversation we're naturally more informal.

So if we can replace a word with something more relaxed,

we will. And by replacing some verbs with the verb get,

we naturally relax our speech. We simplify it. Let me give you an example.

If I have dinner plans with a friend of mine, I could call her to say,

I have to cancel our dinner plans. I've contracted the flu.

That makes sense. And it is correct,

but it sounds really formal. It almost sounds like I'm at a business meeting.

To make my speech more casual with a friend.

I'm more likely to say I can't go to dinner tonight. I've got the flu.

Similarly,

if I want to tell someone how wonderful it was to sleep in over the weekend,

I could say, yesterday,

I had the opportunity to sleep in and it felt fantastic.

Or I got to sleep in yesterday.

Both are correct,

but the second is far more casual and more likely in conversation.

As we go forward with this lesson today,

it's really important to remember that there's no right or wrong.

Using get to replace another verb is simply an option or an alternative

that you have. In fact,

what you're doing is learning how to add variety to how you speak.

The more you know about how to use English.

The more you can adapt and change to a variety of situations.

And you're learning to better understand native speakers who use the verb get

often as well.

And now let's get started with nine different ways to use the verb get in casual

conversations. Number one,

the verb get can be used to replace the verbs, obtain, buy,

or receive. For example, they got a new car.

Did you get a haircut? I got the job.

She got an a on the exam. We're getting some new office furniture next week.

You might not know be able to see it.

But recently I got a beautiful book about Melbourne,

Australia in the mail.

Have you become a member of my Confident English community yet? If you haven't,

be sure to sign up because you will get an email from me every week with

my newest lesson.

Let's stop here for a moment and look at the structure of those sentences and

how we're using the verb get. Get a new car,

get a haircut, get an email, get the job,

get office furniture. What do you notice?

In each example, I'm using the verb. Get followed by a noun,

or if we want to get really technical, a direct object.

So let's take a moment to practice. Have you received,

bought or obtained anything recently? What did you get?

Take a moment to write a sentence about it. And if you want,

you can share it with me in the comments below and now let's go on to the second

way that we use get it's often used to talk about reaching or

arriving at a destination or a place. For example,

that question that someone asked my student, how do you get to work?

What time do you get home every day? How are you getting home after the party?

Are you walking or taking the metro? I apologize for getting to work late today.

She'll get here tomorrow afternoon.

Number three get is often used to mean become,

for example, I'm getting hungry. She's getting married in August.

It's getting cold outside. Don't forget to take a sweater.

I'm getting tired of all his complaining.

They're getting excited about going back to school. Number four,

get can be used to mean to understand. For example,

if you just listened to a long presentation afterwards,

someone might ask you, did you get all that? In other words,

did you understand all of it? Recently, another lesson of mine,

I shared that if you want to tell someone that you understand how they feel or

what they're thinking, you can say, I got you.

One thing I love most about my best friend is she really gets me.

In other words, she really understands me.

And a question that is often used in business meetings is do you get what I'm

trying to say? Or do you get what I mean?

That's a great question to ask when you want to confirm if someone understands

what you've said.

Number five on our list today for how to use get in casual conversation

is to use it to mean that you've caught been affected by or

contracted an illness. For example, I've got a cold,

I've got allergies, she's got a fever.

She's staying home because she's got the flu. Number six is we can use,

get to talk about having an opportunity.

And after I share the examples again,

I want to pause and look at the structure of the sentence. Number one,

while we were vacationing in Hawaii, we got to meet Barack Obama.

That's not a true story, but I wish it was. Example number two,

I got to sleep in yesterday and it felt wonderful. Number three,

if all my work done on time today, I'll get to paint.

Let's take a look at the structure of those sentences.

What do you notice about the verb? Get,

and the words that follow the pattern that we're using is get + to do

something, get to meet, get to paint,

get to sleep in.

So take a moment and think about an opportunity that you've recently had

or that you might have in the future.

How could you use the verb get to talk about it?

Take a moment to write down your example and then let's move on to number seven.

Get, can be used to mean bring or grab something.

For example, could you get the wine? I left it in the kitchen.

What I'm asking someone to do is to grab or take the wine and bring it

to the table. Another example, if you ask me to go on a walk, I might say,

I would love to let me get my coat. With number eight on our list,

we're going to make a little change to the structure instead of using

get as a traditional verb that might be in the future present or past

tense, we're going to stick to the past tense form,

got + to do something.

I've got to do something. When we use that structure,

got to do something, it indicates an obligation,

something we must do or should do. For example,

I'm so sorry. I've got to get to a meeting.

That's a polite way for me to end a conversation and indicate that I'm obligated

or I must go to a meeting.

Another example.

I've got to stay late at work today if I want to finish this project on time.

If you're at a restaurant and you've just ordered something wonderful,

you might tell someone, you've got to try this. It's delicious.

Let's stop here for a moment. Because in each of these examples,

I want you to pay attention to how I'm saying got to.

I've gotta go to a meeting. I've gotta stay late at work today.

You've gotta try this. What do you notice about the pronunciation?

I'm not saying, got to, I'm saying gotta,

I'm using a form of connected speech,

which is when we blend the sounds between words.

If you want to learn more about connected speech,

I've got a lesson for you and I'll leave a link to that lesson in the notes

below the video. But for now,

let's move on to our last example on the list of how to use,

get in casual conversation with number nine on our list.

We're going to look at using, get to mean to start doing something.

For example, let's get started with today's lesson.

Let's get moving on this project.

If you're at a party and you're ready to go home, you might say,

let's get going. In other words,

it's time to begin or start the process of departing.

That might mean that you have to say goodbye to everyone at the party.

Go get your coats. It takes a little bit of time to go through that process,

but you're ready to get started.

And now you have nine different ways to use the verb

get when you're having casual conversations in English.

To finish for today, let's do a little bit of practice.

I've got four questions for you. Earlier in the lesson,

I asked you if you work outside the home, how do you get to work?

Question two. If you're married, when did you get married?

Question three. What have you got to do tomorrow?

We're talking about obligation. What have you got to do tomorrow.

In question number four,

what's your number one strategy for getting more done during

the day? You can share all your practice answers with me.

Plus any comments or questions you have in the comment section below

the video. If you found this lesson useful to you, I would love to know.

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give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and subscribe to this channel.

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And I look forward to seeing you next time for your Confident Englishlesson.