Hello and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
I'm your host, Oliver, and today we have a very practical episode.
That means it should be a very useful episode for you.
Something that you can use.
And that is... when you're making plans.
Let's say someone invites you maybe to a dinner party or to go to a cafe for a coffee.
We're going to be looking at English for all things making plans.
This is useful for friends, for family, really for any connection that you're going to have in English.
Think about all those times that you are going to be using English, perhaps with friends, making plans, coffee dinners, a movie.
These are the moments where your English language is going to come to life.
But maybe at the moment you find yourself struggling or finding it difficult to have the exact phrases, the right questions.
But don't worry, this episode is for you.
And we're going to look at some of the correct ways to say things, not just grammatically, but also within the culture of the English language.
I'm recording this podcast very late on a Friday evening, so if I'm a little bit tired, you'll know why.
It's been a long week.
But if you're new here, welcome.
At the beginning of every episode.
I like to highlight five keywords and phrases for you to listen to in this episode of the Easy English Podcast.
Don't worry if you know one of them or all of them.
Practice actively listening for these words.
And you will hear them throughout the episode in context.
But first, I want to thank all of my Patreon supporters and subscribers.
I couldn't do this show without you.
If you would like to support the Patreon, the link is in the description below.
Every week I post all the episodes with full transcripts and PDF documents with the key vocabulary.
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Okay, let's look at our key vocabulary for today's topic.
The first is suggest, to suggest.
And this is a verb, suggest.
To suggest means to offer an idea for someone, to think about or accept.
So for example, I suggest that you subscribe or follow the Easy English Podcast.
So I'm giving you an offer.
I'm saying, please subscribe.
Do you want to subscribe or follow?
Or we might say, you know, I suggest that we go for a coffee this evening.
It means, you know, do you want to go for a coffee?
Our second word is available, available.
And this is an adjective.
And it means free to do something, to be free to do something.
For example, are you available on Friday?
Means are you free to do something on Friday?
If you've been listening for a while, you might remember this one from our English for making appointments, episode.
So when you're calling to make an appointment.
If not, you can listen to that episode after.
Our third word for today is commit.
Commit.
And this is a verb as well.
And it means to promise to do something.
So when you promise to do something.
For example, I can't commit to meeting yet.
I still need to check my diary or my schedule.
It means, you know, you're not sure yet.
You're not... We usually use this verb when talking about not committing to something.
Now, another phrase... which is our fourth one for today.
It's a little bit more American, but I wanted to add it in because you might hear it in TV shows and movies as well, or if you're in the US.
And that is the phrase, it's a noun phrase, rain check.
Rain check.
And this is a polite way to decline an invitation, but suggest doing it at another time, at a later time.
And we would say it like, can I take a rain check on that dinner?
It means, can we do it later?
And our final phrase, our word for today, which is a phrase, is follow up, follow up.
This is a phrasal verb.
And this one means so.
Follow up means to contact someone again at a later time, usually to check on something.
So, for example, I will follow up with you tomorrow to see if you're free, to see if you're available.
And if you want more phrasal verbs like that, you can check out my book.
The link is in the description.
Okay, so those are all of our keywords for today.
Try to actively listen for these during the episode.
And if you're new and you've just listened to that, make sure that you're following the Easy English podcast and you're subscribed.
Now, let's go through to our first part of the invitation process.
And the first part of the invitation process is opening the conversation.
The secret to a great invitation is using soft and polite language.
Like a lot of the English language, we have a lot of polite ways of saying things.
We want to suggest the activity, not demand it or tell someone to do it.
We want to suggest it.
So you can start by suggesting the activity.
That's the best way.
So, for example, would you like to grab a coffee sometime this week?
How about seeing a movie on Saturday?
Do you want to try this new restaurant?
You're giving the person the option.
I mean, if it's a closer friend or someone that you know very well, you don't need to suggest as much.
You might say to them, let's go, like, let's go to the new restaurant.
Let's go to the cinema.
And usually this is a sign of being closer to someone.
But if you don't know that person as well maybe it's the beginning of your friendship or maybe you have a less informal relationship you will suggest it more.
So like, how about or do you want those types of phrases at the beginning?
But with a close friend or a family member, of course.
I would say it like let's go to the cinema or come on, let's go.
Something a little bit more informal, less polite.
Okay, but let's go back to making plans.
And again...
With most of these cases, it probably is going to be slightly more formal.
Not necessarily formal, but not like your best friend.
So you're making plans with a new friend, for example.
So once you have decided the activity, you've suggested the activity and that person says great, sounds good or something like that.
You want to move on to checking the schedule.
So checking your schedule and theirs to find a time that matches a time that you are both available, a time that you're both free to do something.
Easiest way to do this is, if you don't have a specific time in mind, just ask the person when are you available, or you can say when are you free.
To be specific just use those phrases again but with the day or time.
So are you available on Tuesday?
That's a little bit more...
Actually, I should say available to me maybe sounds a bit more formal and free sounds more casual.
So let's say slightly more formal.
Are you available on Tuesday?
And maybe to a friend you say, are you free on Tuesday?
Are you available at 7 p.m.?
Are you free at 7 p.m.?
?
It's as easy as that.
In general with all of these questions.
If you want to make them sound more polite, you can use phrases like would you like to or do you want to?
You know, do you want to meet at 7pm?
Would you like to meet on Tuesday?
These are ways if you want to add extra politeness to be super safe.
But to be honest, I personally wouldn't even bother going that far.
But of course, when we're making plans, it doesn't always work out.
Sometimes you're free and available, sometimes you're not.
Sometimes they are free and available, and sometimes they aren't.
So, planning and making these plans involves a little bit of negotiation.
So you're going to need to explain when you're free and when you're not, as well as them.
If you're free and they ask you about your time, just keep it simple.
Say, yes, I'm free.
Yes, I'm available.
If you're busy, there are a few phrases that you can use.
So generally and I had a think about this how we usually deal with this and answer is we will explain that you're not free, but you'll give some kind of a reason.
It doesn't need to be specific.
The person doesn't need to know exactly what you're doing, but even a reason to say that you're busy.
And then it's normal after to offer an alternative, so another option.
Let's think, for example, you might say, I'm tied up on Friday, if they asked you on Friday.
Tied up means busy.
Or you could say, yeah, of course, I'm busy on Friday.
But how about Saturday?
Or I'm free on Saturday.
So you're giving a reason, which can be as simple as I'm busy.
You can give the actual reason if you want, like I need to go to the doctor or I'm going to the cinema or class.
But you don't need to keep it specific, but do give an alternative.
So another option.
You might be able to say if you're not sure yet.
I can't commit to that yet, but I will get back to you or maybe I'll have to check and let you know.
But to be honest, in the UK, when people say that, a lot of the time it means, no, I probably won't.
But sometimes people try to be so polite that they just won't say no.
And this can annoy me sometimes too.
Sometimes it's easier if people are a little bit more direct about plans.
So do consider that when you're giving your answer.
Of course, there's one thing being polite.
But if you're trying to plan something, of course, we need a little bit of direct communication.
Come on, guys.
So if you're accepting or declining an invitation, I guess it's the most important part.
If you really want to be enthusiastic, so you want to show that you're really wanting to go, you can say I'd love to.
I would love to.
Count me in.
Or that sounds fantastic.
That sounds amazing.
Sounds great.
And if you want to say no, because you can't go, maybe due to another commitment, something else, like we said before, you can either give an alternative or you can use that phrase, that more American phrase, to take a rain check.
Like, I need to, like, sorry, can I take a rain check on our meeting?
Can I take a rain check on our did?
It simply means can we do it another time, and it's really a way to say no to that specific meeting or time, but yes to the person.
So you want to meet them but you can't.
And, of course, the final step if you've planned something a little bit further away from the time that you're organizing it, you want to, of course, follow up.
If it's informal, you might say something like I'm just following up to see if we're still going to meet on Friday.
If it's a friend, you can just say, hey, are we still on for Friday?
That's a great phrase.
Quite a native phrase, I would say.
Still on for.
So are we still on for Friday?
It means are we still meeting on Friday?
So let's go to my favorite part of the podcast.
And that's when I get to read your lovely comments and answers to my questions.
So today's question that I want you to answer for the next episode or next week, is I want you to tell me what your favorite things are to do with friends.
Not even just friends, but when you want to make plans to meet someone.
What are some things that you like to do?
For example, do you like to go to restaurants?
Do you like to go to the cinema?
Maybe for a walk?
Just tell me a few things and why you like them.
But I'm going to read out some answers to the previous question.
And this was from the English pronunciation episode.
If you haven't listened to that, you can go back and listen.
And I asked what part of I think it was.
What part of English or English grammar do you find the most difficult?
And I have a few great answers.
So we have one answer from Brenda.
And she said, hi, Oliver.
About today's question.
For me, the hardest part of English is learning verbs and, of course, the tenses.
So your example for the question was very true for me.
How did you know that?
It would be very helpful to have some magical tip to improve with verbs.
I agree.
I wish there was some kind of magic tip.
There are definitely some things that you can learn to make it easier, but I'll have to save some of those tips for another episode.
We've got a good comment here from Jairo as well, or Jairo.
Hey Oliver, one of the grammar topics that is a bit complicated for me is the passive voice, especially the more advanced forms.
Slash uses.
That's true, the passive voice can be quite difficult, and perhaps one that i'll cover on a why behind english, the why behind english series, and lou uh sent a comment in as well, so this one is great.
I think where it's most difficult, it's when the translation doesn't work Because it's not the same architecture.
The same way of thinking.
When I need did or when I need had.
Or when to use ing.
Because the logic is of course different in my native language.
Hi from my London trip.
Excellent comment and a really good point.
It's very hard to translate literally from your native language into English.
And in fact, it's probably one of the biggest mistakes that a lot of people make.
So understanding the structure behind the language, how it's formed and even why and just what is natural and sounds natural, is very important.
But of course, that comes with time and lots of practice.
But great point.
So remember, answer the question for next episode.
And that is, what do you like to do with friends?
What do you like to do with friends?
So today you've learned about making plans in English.
It's quite simple and there's really just three parts to it.
So you're asking the initial question or suggestion about the activity.
You're negotiating, so getting the schedules right.
And you're agreeing or disagreeing to the plans.
So hopefully some of those phrases were helpful for you today and that the topic has helped to break it down and make it very simple.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you're following and subscribed to the Easy English Podcast, and do share it with friends.
So share it with anyone who's learning English.
It really really helps us to grow.
I appreciate even posting it on social media or sharing with those that you think might find this podcast helpful.
Thank you as always for listening and thank you especially to my Patreon subscribers.
I will see you all in the next episode.
Goodbye.
