NTRODUCTION

Chihiro: Hi everyone, Chihiro here.

Daniel: Daniel here, Lower Intermediate Series, Season 1, Lesson 2,

Opening a Conversation, Part 1.

Daniel: Hello and welcome to the lower intermediate series season 1

at Englishclass101.com

Chihiro: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. We hope

you find this lesson as well as all of our other lessons useful

for your English learning.

Daniel: Chihiro, what's our lesson today?

Daniel: In this lesson, you will learn how to greet somebody you

haven't seen in a while.

Daniel: This conversation takes place in

a business district.

Chihiro: The conversation is between two friends, Mike and Joey.

Daniel: The speakers will be speaking casually.

Chihiro: Let’s listen to the conversation.

DIALOGUE

Joey: Hey, Mike!

Mike: Hey, Joey. I haven't seen you in awhile. How's it going, man?

Joey: I'm doing good. How about yourself?

Mike: Not bad. I got married recently!

Joey: That's great! Congratulations. Say hi to Michelle for me.

Mike: Oh, Michelle and I broke up. I married Susan.

Joey: Oh. Anyway, let's talk about it over a beer sometime.

Mike: Yeah, let's do that!

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

Chihiro: Looks like they're going out for a drink sometime soon.

Daniel: Sure does. Pubs and bars are popular social environments that
people can go drink and chat with

both friends and colleagues.

Chihiro: Workers may relax in a bar after work or meet up with friends for
a few drinks at the end of the week. Although some restaurants may
serve food and drinks, people go to pubs and bars mainly for the drink
and not to eat. So Daniel, do you go drinking?

Daniel: Not so much these days, I used to. How about you?
Chihiro: Once in awhile I do.

VOCAB LIST

Daniel: Okay, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.

What’s the first word?

Chihiro: man [natural native speed]

Daniel: used to express excitement or surprise

Chihiro: man [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: man [natural native speed]

Next we have:

Chihiro: to marry [natural native speed]

Daniel: to become husband and wife

Chihiro: to marry [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: to marry [natural native speed]

The next word is:

Chihiro: recently [natural native speed]

Daniel: during a close period of time

Chihiro: recently [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: recently [natural native speed]

Next, we have:

Chihiro: congratulations [natural native speed]

Daniel: an expression of pleasure for someone's success

Chihiro: congratulations [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: congratulations [natural native speed]

And next is:

Chihiro: to break up [natural native speed]

Daniel: to end a relationship

Chihiro: to break up [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: to break up [natural native speed]

The next word is:

Chihiro: anyway [natural native speed]

Daniel: despite what has been said before

Chihiro: anyway [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: anyway [natural native speed]

The next word is:

Chihiro: beer [natural native speed]

Daniel: alcoholic drink made from malt and hops

Chihiro: beer [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: beer [natural native speed]

And the last word is:

Chihiro: sometime [natural native speed]

Daniel: at a time in the future that is not specified

Chihiro: sometime [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Chihiro: sometime [natural native speed]

VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE

Daniel: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and
phrases from this lesson.

Chihiro: The first phrase we’ll look at is, “Haven't seen you in a while.”
This is a phrase used in

situations when two people are meeting after a long time of not seeing
one another. The “How’s it going, man?” in the dialogue is also a phrase
that usually follows, and it simply means “How are you?” The word “man”
is slang and is optional.

Daniel: The second phrase we'll look at is, “Let’s talk about it over a beer
sometime.” Joey is suggesting that the two of them go out drinking
sometime so that they can talk about the topic more in depth.

Chihiro: Sounds good. Let's carry on to the grammar point for this
lesson.

Lesson focus
Daniel: When talking about events that began and finished before now,
the simple past form is used. It is often used with finished time-
expressions like “yesterday” and “last year.” You make most simple past
sentences by adding “-ed” to the end of the infinitive, which is the
dictionary form of the verb.

Chihiro: For example, the verb “to help” in past tense becomes “helped,”
spelt h-e-l-p-e-d. When the verb ends in “-e,” simply add “-d” at the end
of the infinitive form. This is a regular verb.

Daniel: The verb “to like” becomes “liked,” spelled l-i-k-e-d.

Chihiro: When the verb ends in “-y” with a vowel, “-a,” “-e,” “-i,” “-o,” “-u”
directly before it, simply add “-ed” like the regular rule, but if it ends in
consonant followed by a y,” change the “y” to “-ied.”

Daniel: For example, “to try” becomes “tried,” spelled t-r-i-e-d.

Chihiro: For some verbs that end with a consonant, double the
consonant* when using the past tense. For example, “stop” becomes
“stopped,” spelt s-t-o-p-p-e-d.

Daniel: But, if the verb ends in two vowels and one consonant, then don't
double the ending consonant. For example, “seem” becomes “seemed,”
spelled s-e-e-m-e-d.

Chihiro: Now, if the verb ends in two consonants, then don't double the
ending consonant. For example, “want” becomes “wanted,” spelt w-a-n-t-
e-d.

Daniel: And finally, only double the ending consonants of stressed

syllables. For example, “prefer” becomes “preferred,” spelled p-r-e-f-e-r-
r-e-d, but “wonder” stays as “wondered,” spelled w-o-n-d-e-r-e-d.

Chihiro: There are irregular verbs as well. You must learn these forms
separately. These may seem like a lot of rules, but you'll learn them
through practice.

Daniel: That's right. So here are some examples from the dialogue.

Chihiro: I married Susan.

Daniel: I got married!

Chihiro: Michelle and I broke up.

Daniel: Note that the last two verbs are irregular verbs.

Chihiro: We’ll talk more about past tense verbs in future lessons.

Daniel: Be sure to check the lesson notes in the PDF for this lesson.

Outro
Daniel: That just about does it for today. Okay, some of our listeners
already know about the most powerful tool on EnglishClass101.com.
Line by line audio.

Chihiro: The perfect tool for rapidly improving listening comprehension

by listening to lines of the conversation again and again.
Daniel: Listen until every word and syllable becomes clear. Basically, we
break down the dialogue into comprehensible, bite-size sentences.

Chihiro: You can try the line by line audio in the premium learning center
at EnglishClass101.com.

Daniel: Okay, see you later!

Chihiro: Bye for now!

REPETITION OF DIALOGUE

Joey: Hey, Mike!

Mike: Hey, Joey. I haven't seen you in awhile. How's it going, man?

Joey: I'm doing good. How about yourself?

Mike: Not bad. I got married recently!

Joey: That's great! Congratulations. Say hi to Michelle for me.

Mike: Oh, Michelle and I broke up. I married Susan.

Joey: Oh. Anyway, let's talk about it over a beer sometime.

Mike: Yeah, let's do that!