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. And you can tell me in two
simple ways, number one, give this lesson a thumbs up here on
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Englishlessons. And number two, if you know someone who's also working
to develop confidence in their English skills, share this lesson
with them directly. Thank
you so much for joining me. And I look forward to seeing you next
time for your Confident Englishlesson.
