Como digo em inglês: Queria dar uma palavrinha com você

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

Feb 01
Como digo em inglês Queria dar uma palavrinha com você

How’s it going?

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre expressões do inglês com a palavra ‘word’. São todas super comuns e fáceis de entender.

Transcrição

Hi, everybody. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna talk about a few simple expressions that use the word ‘word’. I’m calling them simple because they’re very translateable, I guess… I think it will be very simple to get their meanings and many of you will recognize them. There’s an expression with ‘word’ that I say a lot: “in other words”. If you search this expression here on the blog you’ll find it in several articles. And that’s a nice expression for any teacher, since sometimes we explain something and then we want to maybe clarify some parts, or maybe summarize what we just said… So then we can say “in other words…” and we can try to explain that thing again but now in a different way.

OK, so ‘in other words’ doesn’t count. Here’s our real first expression of today. When someone says “I’d like to have a word with you” that means they wanna speak to you in private. This is usually gonna be a short conversation. You know, it’s very common for people to say also “I’d like to have a quick word with you”. In other words, “I would like to speak to you briefly”. In Brazil we say “Posso dar uma palavrinha com você”, right?

People will usually say that when they’re standing next to you, you know? “I’d like to have a word with you”. They’re not gonna yell across a room “Hey, John, can I have a word with you?” For example, your boss might approach you today at the office and say “Can I have a word with you?” And that could mean… several things, I mean, who knows? Your boss might want to simply congratulate you for a job well done, or he or she might want to excuse you from work… forever. In other words, your boss might want to have a word with you because he or she wants to fire you. So, it’s always thrilling when your boss says “Can I have a word with you?”, right?

Here’s another good, very common expression with ‘word’: “take my word for it” or “you can take my word for it”. That would be like “believe me, trust me”. Take my word for it. This is different from “I give you my word”, OK? “I give you my word” would be more like a promise; more like what we say in Portuguese “Te dou a minha palavra”. ‘You can take my word for it’, on the other hand, is just ‘Believe me, you can trust me’.

So let’s see how this expression applies to your life. What kinds of products, or services or companies do you really trust? For example, if you’re a client of Bank XYZ and you’ve actually been a client of Bank XYZ for several years, and that bank has always treated you with the utmost respect and consideration… you have never been disappointed in them. I think in that case you would be able to say “I recommed Bank XYZ wholeheartedly. You can take my word for it”.  You can take my word for it, or, in other words, believe me, trust me, Bank XYZ is amazing, it’s fantastic, you willl love it. Take my word for it.

In my case, my real example would be: give Amazon.com a shot. If you’re looking for books written in English, or just any kind of imported book, open an account at Amazon.com, and place an order. It works really well most of the time. You can take my word for it. I’ve been buying books at Amazon for years and the only problem I’ve had so far was when someone tried to open an account using my credit card number. Amazon runs such a tight ship that they identified my credit card and sent me an email warning me that someone was trying to use it. So, again, just go ahead and open an account at Amazon and become a customer. They’re awesome… you can take my word for it.

What is your example? What would you recommend wholeheartedly, saying “You can take my word for it”?

Now here’s an expression that I think is exactly what we say in Portuguese. It’s something you can say when whoever is speaking in front of you says something and… it’s like they read your mind. They just said something that is exactly what you meant to say, but before you had a chance to open your mouth. So, that thing that person just said? You agree with it very much! You know when that happens? Well, you can say “You took the words right out of my mouth”.

OK, waiting for your example in the comments.  Talk to you next time!

 

Key expressions

  • in other words
  • have a word with someone
  • take my word for it
  • you took the words right out of my mouth

 

Glossary

to run a tight ship = gerenciar algo de maneira eficiente e firme

agree wholeheartedly = concordo totalmente

whoever = quem quer que, seja quem for

Ana
Pedro Borba 15/06/2016

I found this website a few years ago. Every time I have time to do some listening or reading, this is the first website that comes in my mind! Congrats Ana, you rock!

Fernandes 09/01/2015

Hi Ana, I love your work and I loved this one. It is very helpful!
Thanks

Ana 12/02/2012

hi everyone!!! Thanks for all the comments!

Jeff 12/02/2012

Desculpe, mas Luiza, quando eu clico em “Baixe o mp3” vai para uma outra página para ouvir o podcast e pronto. ):

Como faço? Aliás, amanhã eu me inscrevo no curso de inglês :D

Obrigado!!

    Ana 12/02/2012

    Oi Jeff,

    Clique no link com o botão direito do mouse, e escolha “Salvar destino como”.

    O arquivo de mp3 será salvo em uma pasta no seu computador.

    Te aguardo no curso!

Jailma 08/02/2012

This site is really cool, I love it… Please Ana tell me what can I do to speak English? I can understand but I can speak for me is really hard do this.

    Ana 08/02/2012

    hi Jailma – you can get started by reading the “Como Falar Inglês” series (access via the sidebar)!

Filipe 07/02/2012

I love this site, I want learn speak in english and this site is helping come in my objective, can take my word for it.

Diogo 06/02/2012

Hi,

I like this site. Very interesting.

Hugs

Hebert 05/02/2012

Amazing article !

Luciano 05/02/2012

Olá Ana Luiza
Maravilhoso este trabalho que você está fazendo. Parabéns e continue firme. Está auxiliando muitas pessoas a melhorarem o inglês. Estou melhorando meu ‘listening’ ouvindo seus posts.
Take care and God bless you!
Grande abraço

Flavia 05/02/2012

This´s site is very interisting, i´m learning speak and understand in English! Your voice is different when you speak in English!

@julianinhamatos 04/02/2012

I think it’s being easier to me recognize the words in your spelling since I follow your podcast every week. Now I can’t say much because all people commented up all I would like to say about your help, so I think they took the words right out of my mouth! =)

Lucas 03/02/2012

Well,
I like it very much, this was my first time in this website.

Luiz Fernando 02/02/2012

Hi Ana, Simply awesome. Thanks a lot!

    robson 03/02/2012

    eu quero aprender ingles

Matheus Ruiz 02/02/2012

Oh my god, this example was amazing
I know your website a few days ago and I become a regular member since then

And I just recommended to my boss and I you can take my word for it!

Thanks a lot

or like Irishs likes to say

Far play!

Deyson 02/02/2012

Hi, Ana! What’s up?

I recommend this is web site, Inglesoline.com, for every student of English, you can take my word fot it. Bellive me.

You are help me so much, thank!

I recommed InglesOnline.com for many friends. I CAN SAY :”TRUST ME, it’s a great place to Learn, Study and Realy Known English ! !! You Can Take My Work For IT !

Bye Bye Ana Luiza (:
See You …

Educador Zero 02/02/2012

Hi, verybody! Hi, Ana!
I recommend for all the English students this web site, it really works well, we improve our skills, bellieve me, you can take my words for it.

Hey, man, you took the words right out of my mouth, Jesus is the only way, I give you my word.

Ana, I’d like to have a word with you… You have a beautiful voice, I guess, you can take my word for it

Monica Carneiro 02/02/2012

Ana, I recommend Nestlé wholeheartdly. You can take my word for it. In other words, believe me, trust me, Nestlé is a company who really care about the costumers. And, like Marcia said, I do recommend your site as well. You can take my word of it. :-).
Hugs

David Rocha 02/02/2012

Ana, eu tenho contaminado, com seus podcast , todos os alunos da escola que faço inglês! Para ser sincero, seus podcast são mais produtivos do que as aulas de listening que tenho na escola.
I have a question. Why our voice change when we speak in other languague?

magda 02/02/2012

Realmente, voce e excelente em ensinar. Voce nao oferece curso de ingles sem ser on line?

Dirceu 01/02/2012

Great website!!

Excellent tool for improve your english skills!

Hugs

Marcia 01/02/2012

I strongly recommend inglesonline.com.br. You can take my word for it! ;)

Ricardo 01/02/2012

Só tenho a agradecer à dona deste site. Hoje só tenho qualidade em meu listening, porque sempre visito este site para praticá-lo. Muito obrigado.

Comments are closed