This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2666.
After this amazing episode, you owe a swan.
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We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host.
Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.
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What can you say when someone does you a favor?
Today, you'll learn four phrases to connect when someone does something nice for you and you owe them one.
Don't miss these perfect ways to show gratitude in English.
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How pros get more done.
Hello, Michelle.
How are you today?
Hi, Aubrey.
I am doing well.
Aubrey, when's the last time you did someone a favor?
Ooh, I can think of a very small favor.
We were at Disneyland for my daughter's grad trip, and someone was in line just in front of us.
And they asked, they were like, can you hold our place in line so we can go get food?
We'll be right back.
And I'm like,
Absolutely and it's not
I'm not even really doing them a favor really
They're like we're gonna go and we want to come back
Is it okay like you won't be mad right right small favor to be like
Absolutely no problem you know
I feel like we all do little favors like that all the time.
And then as moms, it's a little more rare that we're doing other favors for friends and things because we're doing favors for our kids all the time.
So people don't ask us as often for favors.
Is that the same for you?
Yes, that's true.
My whole life is a favor for my kids.
Yep, 24-7 doing favors for our children, driving them everywhere, cooking for them, helping them with homework, just constant favors.
Getting snack after snack after snack after snack.
Yes.
Exactly.
Well, today we got this really great listener question.
Yes.
I'll go ahead and read it.
It was from YouTube.
Mauroa9748 said...
Aubrey was great on I'm Polyglot.
Okay, thank you.
First of all, I was a guest in French on the I'm Polyglot podcast.
If you missed it, you could go and check out that older episode.
And that was a little stressful for me in French.
So yeah, thank you.
I appreciate that compliment.
But then they asked, I wonder if there's an English idiom for I thought about return the favor, but it's not an idiom, I guess.
So this is so interesting.
This is a French idiom, which means to return a favor or return a compliment.
Essentially, you're just doing something kind, a good turn for someone who helped you in the past.
But what's interesting, it literally translates to send the elevator back down is what that means.
Ascenseur is an elevator.
So it implies like if someone helped you or helped you rise, you would return the favor to then help them.
And what's really interesting is I've never thought about the elevator, Michelle.
Like when I go up an elevator, I don't hit the button to send it back down.
I've never even thought about it.
Have you?
No, I never have.
But the thing is, someone on this level might need to take it down.
But that's pretty rare.
If I'm on the 16th floor, it's much more likely that someone will need it at the bottom.
So I wonder if this, because this idiom exists in French, I wonder if that's common in French culture to hit the button and send the elevator back like to the lobby.
Yeah.
So our French listeners are going to, yeah, I want to know about this too.
Do they think we're so rude that we don't send the elevator back down?
Maybe.
I'm questioning everything, Michelle.
Oh, my gosh.
No, I never thought about this before.
But yeah, this is really interesting.
So I mean, yeah, so this is all about assistance and showing gratitude, which is great for connection.
And it also helps strengthen social bonds.
So we're going to share a few different ways to say return the favor in English.
Yes.
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Yes, exactly.
All right.
So, Aubrey, so can we just say return the favor?
Yes, absolutely.
Right.
We use it when someone helps us and we want them to know that we would definitely help them in the future.
Right.
We'll say, let me know when I can return the favor.
I'd love to return the favor if ever I can.
You're like, thank you.
It's a way of thanking and showing gratitude for someone doing something and letting them know, like, I owe you one.
I'd like to return the favor.
Yeah, exactly.
So yeah, this just sounds super natural, positive.
It's really good for casual conversations.
So this is really great.
Let's let's show in a couple short role plays how this would sound.
Oh, yeah, here we go.
Thanks for helping me move this weekend.
Oh, of course.
You helped me last year.
I'm just returning the favor.
Nice.
Or another one.
I really appreciate you proofreading my book.
Oh, no problem.
You helped me with my resume last week.
I'm happy to return the favor.
Yeah, we do this often where it's such a great way to say you're welcome, but in such a great, you're connecting here by letting them know, I'm not doing this for nothing.
You helped me and I appreciated it.
And now I'm returning the favor.
Here's another one.
I can watch your dog while you're away.
That would be great.
And let me know if I can return the favor sometime.
Yeah, we do this as well, right?
It's a way of thanking and letting them know, I would be happy to help you in the future.
It's just a way to show gratitude.
Yes, yes, exactly.
So yeah, return the favor is a really great one.
But if you want to vary your English, we're going to teach you some other things that you can say.
So the first one is pay you back.
So this is to repay someone for something they did for you.
And it's casual.
And it's not only about like when you hear pay, you might think, oh, it's only about money.
It can be about money, but it can also just be favors, just doing just anything, just like returning to favor, right?
If someone buys your lunch or whatever.
Pays maybe you didn't bring your wallet, so they have to cover you and be like, I'll pay you back.
That is about money, but we do use this for favors as well, right?
Let's do a couple role plays for this one.
Did you forget your wallet?
Don't worry.
I can cover breakfast.
Oh, thanks so much.
I'll pay you back next time.
Yeah.
Or I paid everyone's deposit for the hotel.
Thanks.
Can I pay you back on Venmo?
Yeah.
So both of these are paying back actual money.
But let's do a couple for paying back a favor.
Thanks for picking me up at the airport.
How can I return the favor?
Oh, no worries.
You can pay me back with one of your yummy meals sometime.
Yeah.
So it's not always like a ride for a ride.
Be like, pay me back by inviting me to dinner.
Yes.
I love that.
Yes.
And this is great.
I use this one a lot.
Like, I'll pay you back.
I'll pay you back.
It means I'll return the favor.
Right.
Yes, exactly.
Oh my gosh.
This is such a good topic because there are so many different ways to express this.
So this is really interesting.
Yeah.
Another one is quid pro quo.
This means a favor exchanged for a favor.
It's a little more formal.
It's often used in business or negotiations every now and then you'll hear it in daily conversations, but it's a little more rare.
Yeah.
Here's a role play.
How about I help you prepare for the presentation and you review my report?
Sounds like a fair quid pro quo.
Nice.
Or did you notice he promoted her after she supported his proposal?
Yeah.
Some people are wondering if it's a quid pro quo.
Yeah.
So I don't use this often in casual conversation, but if someone said it, I would know what they mean.
Maybe they would even be doing it to be like joking or playful or facetious, sort of intentionally being more formal for some reason.
Right.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
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How pros get more done.
Another one, Michelle, is if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
This means if you help me, I'll help you.
Something is mutually beneficial.
It's very informal, playful.
I would not say this to a coworker, probably.
It's more for friends, family.
People that you're really close because it is like you're implying physical touching right
So it could give somebody the wrong impression exactly here's an example yeah all right can you help me move this couch
Sure but i need help with the ikea furniture later deal you scratch my back i'll scratch yours
Yes.
And this is also a little outdated, I would say.
I don't hear it very often anymore.
You might hear it in a TV show, movie, especially something older.
And someone could use it right now, but I don't use it often.
It feels a little antiquated, a little old fashioned.
Yeah.
And what's interesting is I noticed that you dropped the if, I think.
So that can happen.
You might just say, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, right?
So here's another example of that.
I'll help you with your homework if you do the dishes.
Of course, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Yeah, it's interesting how just removing that if does feel a little bit more casual, conversational.
Either way, they sound a little old-fashioned, but that is better.
Just removing the if makes it feel a little better.
Right, right, right.
And this one is very, very natural.
I owe you one or even sometimes people just say I owe you.
I've even said this a couple times already because this is so much more natural.
I'm going to return you a favor.
I'm going to say I owe you one.
Exactly.
So, yeah, this is about, you know, acknowledging that someone did something nice for you and you now owe them a favor in the future.
So, again, this would be used with just it's casual.
So casual conversation with friends.
Friends, family, coworkers.
It's really useful.
So I'm going to start a little role play to show how this would be going.
All right.
Okay.
Thanks for covering my ship today.
I owe you one.
No problem.
I got you.
Thanks for help.
Oh, okay.
This is okay.
It's two separate role plays, I think.
And so here's another one.
Thanks for helping me carry those boxes upstairs.
Anytime.
Seriously, I owe you one.
Yeah.
And this potentially could be coworkers who happen to live next to each other.
But yeah, more likely two separate things.
But yeah, this is so native and natural to say, I owe you one, right?
Instead of I will, I shall return the favor one day given time, right?
We're just gonna be like, I owe you one.
Yeah.
Yes, exactly.
All right, Aubrey, should we put it all together and one larger role play?
Yes.
In this role play, I hosted a dinner party at my home last night and you bought the groceries and helped cook.
All right.
I'll start us out.
Okay.
What do I owe you for groceries?
Oh, 50 bucks, but no rush.
You can pay me back anytime.
Thank you.
And thanks again for helping me cook yesterday.
I could not have done it alone.
Oh, of course.
It was fun.
Well, I definitely owe you one.
Actually, I might ask you to return the favor when I host my dinner party next month.
Deal.
You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Okay.
Yeah.
So this is interesting.
Would you say you scratch my back?
I'll scratch yours there, Michelle.
This isn't really in my vernacular.
Yeah, I don't really say it.
I do think it is a little bit old fashioned.
I don't really hear it very often now, but it is definitely...
This happens on the show.
We end up teaching things and we'll say, oh, it may not be used, but you might hear it in a TV show, in a movie, and it's just good to know.
Exactly.
Hey, if somebody talks about scratching your back and then in this kind of a way, then you'll know what it means that somebody uses it because otherwise you're going to be like, wait, I'm supposed to scratch your back now, right?
These are important to know.
This is an expression.
We want you to know what it means.
And we want you to know what context to use it in.
I wouldn't recommend it because it is a little old fashioned.
And so you will hear it.
I'm glad you guys know what it means.
But I would definitely use one of these others that are much more common, especially in casual everyday conversations.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Okay, so should we go through it?
Yeah, so first I said, or you said, you can pay me back anytime.
Yeah, so this pay you back, like we said,
Here it's for actual cash, right?
The groceries cost $50.
You're saying pay me back anytime.
And that's actual money.
But you could also later say, hey, maybe you could pay me back when I do the dinner and you could help cook.
So it doesn't have to be about money.
It's interesting.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
And then you said, well, I definitely owe you one.
Mm hmm.
Meaning, oh, a favor, but we will rarely say, I guess you could say, oh, I definitely owe you a favor.
But this is much more common just to say, I owe you one.
Yeah.
And then you said, I might ask you to return the favor when I host my dinner party next month.
And then that one that we would not recommend as much.
You scratch my neck, I'll scratch yours.
Yes, exactly.
Guys, check out episode 2662.
That is When You Know You Know, How to Express Your Intuition in English.
Yes.
Yeah, this was this was a really great question.
I'm glad that I learned something about the elevator and I like learning a French idiom.
I know I might start doing that.
I might start hitting lobby after the elevator takes me up because then the people in the lobby don't have to wait so long.
It's much more likely.
Why have I never thought about this before?
It's kind of crazy.
I'm going to start asking people if they do that.
Yeah, I'm very curious.
And this is such a great connection topic.
All of these, these are showing gratitude.
They're showing not only are you willing to do a favor, but you have these great phrases to thank others for, you know, doing a favor for you and letting them know, like, I want to pay you back.
I owe you one.
Yeah.
Yeah definitely all right guys this has been really fun thanks again to our listener for that question and Aubrey see you next time awesome see you next time all right bye
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