How to use HAPPEN: Advanced English Vocabulary Lesson

Hi.

I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

What in the world happened?

Let's talk about it.

Are you ready to take your English from regular boring English to fun party English?

Okay, maybe not party English, but at least real, natural English.

Well, there is one advanced word that I'd like to share with you.

It's the word happen.

Today, we're going to be talking about a basic way to use happen, and then an advanced way

to use happen.

So I hope you'll be able to integrate it into your vocabulary and sound like a natural native

speaker.

Let's start with the basic version of happen.

It's simply something that occurred.

If your coworker walks into the office in mud, you might say, "What happened?"

This is a casual conversational way to say what occurred.

Occurred is way too formal for daily conversation, so the word happen is perfect.

Your coworker might say, "Oh, it all happened so fast.

I tripped on the sidewalk.

I don't remember all of the details.

I don't remember exactly what happened."

Let's take a look at three specific situations when we often use the word happen to talk

about something that occurred.

Lets think about the situation that your friend just got engaged to be married.

How can we use happen to talk about this?

You might ask, "When did you get engaged?"

And she could say, "It happened on Saturday."

This is talking about a day or a time.

If your friend starts crying because she's so excited about her engagement, you might

say, "Oh, I'm so sorry.

Are you okay?"

And she could say, "Don't worry.

It happens all the time."

Again, we're talking about a time or a day.

All the time, when does it happen?

All the time.

I guess she cries a lot.

You can see in these two sentences that happen or if we talk about it in the past, happened

is simply the verb of the sentence.

It happened on Saturday.

It happens all the time.

When your friend tells you that she got engaged to the man of her dreams, she might say, "I

can't believe this is really happening."

We often use happen to talk about when you're questioning reality.

I can't believe this is really happening, or maybe for you, maybe you're in love with

the man who just asked your friend to marry him.

So you might say, "Oh no.

This can't be happening."

You're questioning reality.

Oh no, this can't be happening.

When your friend first tells you that she got engaged, she runs up to you and says,

"You'll never guess what happened."

We often use happened for unknown situations, especially with the word what.

You'll never guess what happened.

Let's see a couple other examples with this.

When you feel sad inside because she just got engaged to the man you love, you think,

"We'll just see what happens."

Maybe you think that they won't actually get married, or maybe something will happen.

So you're kind of thinking about an unknown thing that might happen in the future.

We'll just see what happens.

And then before their wedding, if that man falls in love with you and your friend says,

"What happened?"

You might say, "I don't know what happened."

You can see in all of these situations we're using what happened to talk about something

unknown.

This is the basic way to use happen as something that simply occurred.

But what if we want to take it up to the next level and use it in the advanced way?

The advanced way to use happen or happened is in situations where there is a coincidence.

Two things that happen at the same time by accident.

Something that happens by chance.

You didn't plan this.

My friend used this last week because I went over to her house for dinner, and before I

went over, I asked, "Is there anything I can bring?

Maybe some drinks, a dessert, a side dish," something to help her with the dinner.

And so I brought some beer to her house, and when I got there, her husband said, "Well,

I happened to by the same beer."

He had the same beer in his hand that I had brought.

He used happened to buy the same beer because he's talking about something that was an accident.

We didn't plan to buy the same beer.

It was a coincidence.

Two things happened at the same time.

I brought the same beer, he brought the same beer.

So he used happened to buy the same beer.

Did you notice the sentence structure?

Happen to plus the infinitive.

Let's look at a couple other examples.

If you happen to see Vanessa, tell her I said hi.

This means you're not planning on seeing me, but if you pass on the street or if you see

each other at work, okay, tell her that I said hi if you happen to see her.

Notice that the verb here see is not conjugated.

That means it's the infinitive.

Happen to see.

I happened to be asleep when he called me.

I didn't plan on being asleep when he called.

This is something that was a coincidence.

Two things happened at the same time by accident.

I was asleep and he called.

I happened to be asleep.

The verb here be is unconjugated.

The teacher happened to give us a quiz on the day that I was absent.

I didn't plan on being absent on the day of the quiz, so this was just a coincidence,

an accident.

Here we have the verbs happened to give.

Give is not conjugated.

It's the infinitive.

The teacher happened to give us a quiz.

The verb happen is conjugated in the past because this is something that happened in

the past, not now, not in the future but it happened in the past.

It occurred in the past.

So make sure that that second verb is the one that's not conjugated.

She happened to give a quiz.

The front door of my apartment is pretty heavy.

So whenever we leave, I always tell my toddler, my son to stay close to me.

I tell him, "If someone happens to open the door when we're right here, it will hurt really

bad.

So make sure that you stay with me so that someone doesn't hit us with the door."

If someone opened the door and hit us, it would be by accident.

It wouldn't be on purpose.

It would just be a coincidence.

So I want to kind of warn him to stay close to me.

Be careful of the door.

It could open because someone might be coming through.

So make sure that if someone happened to open the door, you are close to me.

Before we go, I want to give you a little quiz.

Can you use the correct version of happen?

Make sure that you conjugate the word happen correctly.

Is it happen, happens, happened, or is it happen to, happened to?

Look at the full sentence and think, is it talking about something that is occurring

or is it talking about something that's a coincidence, by accident?

What's the verb tense that should be used?

Let's start with the first sentence.

You'll never guess what... yesterday.

You'll never guess what happened yesterday.

I was browsing in the local bookstore, and I... see Tom Cruise.

I was browsing in the local bookstore, and I happened to see Tom Cruise.

I couldn't believe it.

I thought, "Is this really..."

I couldn't believe it.

I thought, "Is this really happening?"

As I was walking by, he... turn towards me and smile.

As I was walking by, he happened to turn towards me and smile.

Immediately my face went red, and he said, "Oh, don't worry.

It... all the time."

It happens all the time.

How did you do?

Let's read the full story so that you can see all of those sentences in the correct

way.

You'll never guess what happened yesterday.

I was browsing in the local bookstore, and I happened to see Tom Cruise.

I couldn't believe it.

I thought, "Is this really happening?"

As I walked by, he happened to turn towards me and smile.

Immediately my face went red, and he said, "Oh, don't worry.

That happens all the time."

And now I have a question for you.

Let me know in the comments what is something that happened to happen to you.

Yes, we are using both versions of happen here.

It means what is something that occurred to you by accident without a plan.

You might say, "I happened to see Tom Cruise at the bookstore."

This happened by accident.

It was something that occurred to you by accident.

Let me know in the comments and try to use the word happen so that you can advance and

expand your vocabulary.

Thank you so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for

a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to download my free eBook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English

Speaker.

You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

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Thanks so much.

Bye.