Let's Learn English! Topic: Relationship Verbs 👫🙂😥
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Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about relationship verbs. In life, we have relationships. We have family. We have friends and we interact with these people. Sometimes, we interact in a positive way and it's very happy. Sometimes, we interact in a negative way and it's kind of sad or maybe filled with anger. Relationships are very complex and

So, I thought I would take the time today to look at 30 different verbs that we use in English when we talk about relationships. So, once again, welcome to this English lesson about relationship verbs. To be close. Now, in English, when you are close to someone, it can mean that you're standing beside them but we also use the verb to be close to talk about when you are close

when you really like a member of your family or a friend. It's quite common to hear someone ask a question like this. Are you still close with your friends from university? Are you and your parents still close? Are

they're not talking about physically being close. They're not talking about whether your parents live beside you. What they mean when they ask if you're still close to someone. They mean are you still friends? Do you still talk every day? Do you see them quite regularly?

So, I'm still quite close with my mom. As many of you know, my dad has passed away many years ago but I'm still very close with my mom. It would be kind of odd to not be close uh with a family member such as your mom or dad. But to be close means to be in contact with someone uh to see them regularly and to talk to them regularly or text them regularly. So,

sad when you hear someone say, oh, I'm not close with my brother anymore. I haven't talked to him in five years. That would be a sad situation. To grow apart. So, sometimes, you

people start to have different interests. When I was young, my brother and I had similar interests and we still do today but if we had different interests, we might slowly grow apart. I like computers. My brother likes computers. So, we have stayed close. We really enjoy talking to each other about technology and computers but let's say he started to be interested in horses.

and I have no interest in horses, we might start to grow apart. So, when you grow apart in a relationship, it means you don't see a person as much as you used to. Um you don't hang out with them as much and it's kind of a sad thing but it can happen.

to get together. So, this is why this English lesson is happening because it was Christmas and we had New Year's here. So, I got together with friends and family. When you get together, it means you have a special event. It means that you are in the same place as your family or friends. So, for instance, my brothers and sisters, we got together two weeks ago for Christmas before Christmas Day.

it was really nice to get together. It was really nice to all be at my sister's house and to enjoy each other's company. So when you get together it might be at a house. It might be at a restaurant but it's a time where you are just with family or friends and enjoying talking to each other.

make someone's day. So when you make someone's day it could be a family member, a friend, or even a colleague. It means you do something nice that makes them happy. At work if I knew my boss was having a bad day I could bring my boss a coffee from Tim Hortons and that might make their day. Um if Jen is having a bad day on the farm and I come home and help her do something that might make her day. So when you make someone's day you

means you do something. You give them something or you help them with something and it makes them happy. So I would challenge all of you today to make someone's day. Do something nice for somebody today. To let someone down. This is the opposite. This is when you do something that annoys someone else or makes them sad. If you said Bob, I

Uh let's meet at the pier and then if I went to the pier and you didn't show up, you would have let me down.

So, when you let someone down, you disappoint them. You do something that makes them sad. Um I'm trying to think of another good example. If I said to my family, um I'll pay for all the food at Christmas and then on Christmas Day, if I said you all owe me $20, I would let them down. They'd be like, what? I thought you I thought you were paying for everything. So, when you let someone down, you do something that makes them sad or

Maybe a little bit angry. More like sad or aggravated or annoyed. To have a falling out. When you have a falling out with someone, it usually means you disagree about something major. Let's say that a husband and wife are married and the wife wants to have kids and the husband doesn't. We would say that you're going to have a falling out. You're going to argue about that.

you're going to have a big disagreement. Um let's say, let's let me think of another example to have a falling out. Um if for instance, my brother owed me $1,000 and when I asked him for the money, he said, I don't owe you any money. We would argue and we would probably have a falling out.

after you have a falling out with someone, it usually means you aren't going to talk to them very much. You might start to grow apart after you have a falling out to hear from someone. It's always nice to hear from someone, isn't it? It's nice when the phone rings or when you get a text message, it's nice to hear from someone.

There are times where I'm unable to do a lesson on a Friday and then a lot of you enjoy it if you can hear from me still. If I post on my community page saying no lesson this week. Um maybe the phone rings and it's your mom or dad or brother or a friend from a long time ago. It's nice to hear from them. It's nice to talk to them on the phone. To get along. So this is a basic one. This simply means that you like to

with a person. You like talking to that person and you like hanging out with them. So for instance I get along with all of my brothers and sisters. So if I see my sister in town I stop and talk to her. I get along with almost all of my colleagues at work. No sorry. I get along with all of my colleagues at work. Um and I think that means that if I see them I will stop and talk to them. It means I'm happy to work with them. And

Um it's really nice when you get along with your coworkers because it makes the job a little easier. So when you get along with someone it means you're happy to see them. You're happy to talk to them. Um they are just nice people to be around.

come between. So sometimes in a relationship something might come between the two people in it. Um if this couple is fighting you can see he's saying something about money. Sometimes how you spend money can come between people in a relationship and make them start to not like each other as much. So I think

That's probably the best example. Sometimes when two people are in a relationship like a romantic relationship or even married, one might like to spend money and one might like to save money and that is

that can come between them and start to make them not like each other as much. Sometimes bands will break up because one person will want to go on tour and do lots of live concerts and another person in the band wants to stay home and start a family and that can come between them. So, they find it difficult to be on the road to become friends. So, believe it or not, when you meet people, you

can eventually become friends with them. So this happens a lot I notice with older people who go on trips in the winter. They will often become friends with people that they go on the trip with. Sorry let me explain that a bit better. Sometimes older people will go on a cruise. A cruise is going on a big boat with lots of other people. And on the cruise you might meet other people and you might become friends. Um so whenever you meet someone you

it's someone that you enjoy hanging out with you might eventually become friends. So at this point you're not friends but in the future you might become friends and then you might hang out more. To drift apart. So earlier we had the phrase to grow apart. To drift apart means exactly the same thing. If you are friends with someone or even if you are um you

married to someone, you can drift apart. It means the things you like doing and the things you are interested in are starting to become different. So, Jen and I like doing a lot of things together. We like going shopping together. We like just driving around like when we drive to market, we enjoy driving together. We enjoy selling flowers at market but if I stopped liking all the same things as Jen, we might start to drift apart.

So it means that you like different things and because of that you start to talk less and you spend less time together. So it's not a nice thing but when you grow apart or drift apart it just means yeah you can see in this picture right? People are just kinda going their separate ways.

To ask out. This is the part where Bob gives relationship advice. Like romantic advice. So don't you know when I say things like I'm not I don't know much about science. I don't actually know much about relationships but when you ask someone out to

means you ask if they would like to go on a date because you are interested in them in a romantic way. So this person I heard recently that people ask each other out by texting now not in person. So I really like talking with you. Would you like to grab coffee together sometimes? This is probably a classic way to ask someone out. So if you

there is someone who you work with or maybe you've met through friends. You've gone out with your friends and then there's some other people's friends there and you meet someone and you like them. You might ask them out. You might say, hey, I had a really good time tonight. Do you wanna go out just the two of us sometime? Or you might send them a little text message.

saying the same thing but it means you are interested in them romantically. Okay? So, it means that you you are attracted to them and you would like to get to know them better. To fall for someone. So, after you have gone on a few dates, you might start to fall for someone. Again, this is a verb for a romantic relationship. It means you are, I would say, starting to fall in love.

don't know if you're in love. Like there's different stages right? Like you're interested in someone, you're attracted to someone, you start to spend time with them, eventually you kind of fall for them like you're falling in love and then eventually you are in love but again obviously this is something um for the romantic people out there. To date. So this is a stage in life where you don't live together.

so you spend time either going to restaurants, to movies, to festivals, you might go see a sports game like you might go see the Toronto Maple Leafs. You are dating. When you date someone, it means you regularly see them. A lot of times when people are dating, they'll see each other every Friday and Saturday night or they might see each other once during the week and once or twice on the weekend. So, you definitely start to spend time with someone and

because you are very interested in them and they are very interested in you in a romantic way. To go steady. I think this is an older phrase. I don't think this is used anymore. But when you go steady with someone it means that you you basically have committed to seeing them all the time.

you're not interested in other people and so you end up doing things like I'm not sure what's all in this picture. Going for walks, getting flowers, going for bike rides. But anyways, you might hear this on a TV show or in a movie but I don't know if the verb to go steady is common anymore but it means to regularly go on dates with the same person for an extended period of time.

break up. So sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes people are dating and they date for a while and then eventually they break up. Um they decide to go their separate ways. So when you break up with someone it means the relationship ends. So when you break up often they'll say who broke it off?

that means you know did Joe break it off or did Jill who ended the relationship? Sometimes people will say it was mutual. That means both people decided they didn't want to be together anymore. But it's sometimes sad. Sometimes you'll know someone who's dating someone and you like that person and then a month later they'll say oh we decided to break up so we're no longer together. But that's how a relationship would end.

go your separate ways means the same thing. It simply means the relationship wasn't working so you decided to go your separate ways. Now this doesn't have to only be used for romantic relationship. If two people own a business together they can decide to go their separate ways at one point if they don't want to be business partners anymore.

to have it out. So, sometimes people argue and this is a phrase that is very common when we talk about people who are arguing. They're going to have it out. So, someone might say this. My brother keeps borrowing my car and when he brings it back, the gas tank is empty. I'm going to have it out with him. That means you're going to say to your brother, stop doing that. It's really annoying. I hopefully you don't yell like this guy here but when you have it out,

means something in a relationship is bothering you and you've decided you're going to talk to the person about it. Maybe your boss keeps giving you extra hours and keeps making you work Saturday. You might say I'm going to have it out with my boss. Not a good move by the way. He probably shouldn't argue with your boss. But you might say oh in the past tense you might say oh I had it out with a colleague last week and it just didn't end well. So when you have it out it means you argue with someone.

make up. So, in a romantic relationship, this means that after a fight, you decide that you want to apologize or the other person decides they want to apologize and you decide

you kind of talk it through. Uh I'm trying to define makeup without saying makeup but when you make up with someone it means that you were in a relationship, you had a fight and now the fight is over and you've decided you still want to be in a relationship. So usually you apologize to each other and then continue on to settle down. So when you settle down,

usually means it's the point in your life where you're going to start a family, okay? You might get married and start a family. In North America, often people just move in together. So, I'm not sure around the world how things work. Um generally, people get married and start having kids but in Canada, you can also just move in together and start having kids. Um

Um and we usually refer to this as to settle down. So, someone might say, hey, is your cousin uh still going out to the clubs every night and dancing till two in the morning and you might say, no, he met someone and he's decided to settle down and they're getting married in a month and they're planning to start a family. So, when you settle down in life, it means you're going to stop doing all the things that single people usually do.

you're going to start doing the things that old people like me do. You're going to get married, have kids, buy a minivan, all of that would be indicating that you are deciding to settle down.

hit it off. When you hit it off with someone it means that you get along. It means that you are happy to be with them. It means that you enjoy their company. So it looks like these guys have hit it off. I actually hope this old guy doesn't fall out of the wheelbarrow. That looks a little bit dangerous but who knows but let's say Jen said we're going to go visit

some of my family who you've never met before. I could say, oh, I hope I hit it off with them. That means I hope that they're nice people and I enjoy hanging out with them and talking with them. The opposite isn't nice. Sometimes you don't hit it off with someone. When you don't hit it off with someone, it can be a little bit um

boring, annoying, um kind of hard to say but it's nice when you hit it off with someone. I think in the chat during these live lessons, everyone tends to hit it off well with the other people. They get along and it's really nice. To keep in touch. Did I do this one already? No, I didn't.

Oh, to hear from I did. Yes, to keep in touch means to regularly call someone or regularly email them or text them. So, it's good to keep in touch with people if they live far away. It's good to keep in touch with your parents if they don't live in the same town as you. So, it's just good to keep in touch. You can

use this to talk about like seeing someone in person as well but generally when we say hey do you keep do you keep in touch with your friends from university? You can say oh no we've kinda lost touch. We don't we don't keep in touch anymore. Um which is the next one to lose touch. Sometimes when someone moves far away their life is busy

your life is busy and you lose touch with them. So, it's not the same as growing apart cuz you probably still enjoy talking to that person. It's just that, yeah, the best example I can give is if you have a friend who moves to another time zone and then the time difference makes it hard to talk to each other. Sometimes, you start to lose touch. Um and then when that person comes back to your country, you have a

an opportunity to get together with them. But sometimes you lose touch.

put up with. Yes, sometimes you just have to put up with someone. Maybe your brother or sister is annoying but they're your brother or sister. You have to love them and enjoy their company. So, you put up with them. Maybe you have a boss who watches everything you do but you really need that job. So, you might just have to put up with it until you can find a new job. So, when you put up with someone, it means that you

endure their behavior. That's kind of complex. You I guess they don't make you happy. They don't make you sad. You just have to live with them. Um I'm not describing this one well but I think the boss example is good. If your boss is mean you might have to put up with your boss for a few more months until you can get a different job to move on. So sometimes relationships end.

sometimes jobs end and sometimes you just need to move on. This is probably a bad picture cuz it doesn't mean to actually move somewhere but let's say emotionally I was very very sad because a friend of mine doesn't talk to me anymore. Eventually I have to stop being sad. I have to stop thinking about it and I need to move on. So when you move on it means you

You're having negative emotions but you need to get past them. You need to start having positive emotions. To get on. We do not use this phrase in Canada. At least I don't. Um I think this is very British. We say to get along. I think they say to get on. It means to enjoy people. Like uh Joe gets on with friends

Fred quite well. Okay. Here we would say Joe gets along with Fred quite well. So I think this is very British. So I threw it in there for those of you that like the more British version of everything.

look up to. I think I've covered this in previous lessons. It means that you admire someone. You respect someone. Usually someone who's older than you. Often a son will look up to his dad or you might be younger and there's older people at work that you look up to. You it means you respect them. You admire them etcetera etcetera.

catch up. When you don't see someone for a long time. Uh when you get together, you tell each other what has happened in your life. You catch up. So, if I go and see a friend who I haven't seen for two months, we'll talk and we'll catch up. It means he'll tell me what happened in his life and I'll tell him what happened in my life. We will basically there's a there's

There's a certain amount of information that we don't know about each other and we will explain that until we are to current day. We are caught up.

fit in. It is really nice to fit in. When you are young and you let's say you go to a new school. You hope that you will fit in. When you fit in it means that people like you. You like them and you enjoy the place you are at. When you start a new job you

important to fit in. Hopefully everyone at the new job likes you and hopefully you like them and then if someone said how's the new job going? Are you fitting in? You could say oh it's really nice. I fit in right from day one. Everyone liked me and I liked everyone else. To patch things up. This is very similar to making up. But you can this doesn't have to be in a romantic relationship. You can patch things up with someone who

where the relationship has gone wrong. So, if you've grown apart, um if you've lost touch, if you've broken up with someone, if you don't get along with someone anymore, you can patch things up. It means you want to be a friend again. You want to have a good relationship. Let's say two brothers argue and then they don't talk for a year. One brother might call the other brother and say, hey, I think we need to patch things up.

Um I'm sorry for what I said and then hopefully there's an exchange of apologies. Uh and then the relationship can begin anew. As brothers they now get along. Uh maybe a couple has broken up and they've decided to patch things up. It means they're now together again.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.