Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel and to yet another video where we'll be learning English through movies or TV shows.
And in this one specifically, it'll be The Witcher.
If you clicked on this video, then you're either a fan of the show or at least familiar with it.
I was a huge fan until they changed the main actor.
But we'll leave that discussion for another video.
This is a huge franchise.
There's the show, the video games, and the books.
Also, before we begin, I want you to keep in mind that the style of speech in the show is dramatic, to suit the time period and the genre of the show.
And the language they use is mostly old-fashioned.
All right.
So, as per usual, we'll watch a couple of videos, a couple of clips from the show, and then we'll break them down.
People call you a monster too.
A mutant.
What if they come after you?
Attack you?
They have.
If I tell you, Witcher, that I can neither forgive Stregoborn nor renounce my revenge.
Is that it?
I admit I'm a monster.
Yes.
Where is she?
We won.
Because of her.
She bought us time until the armies arrived.
What do you think?
I think you need to hide your hair and mask your eyes.
Would it kill you to say you look lovely?
Siri.
My news was a bad idea.
Would it kill you to say you look lovely?
Hey, no cutting.
Don't touch me.
This food was provided by the queen.
Make sure you rot in hell.
Your cloak.
My father made it.
He clothes Cintra's finest.
You look like you've been through hell.
Like all of us.
When will it stop?
And when I'm a knight, I'll have enough coin to rebuild our house.
You're to be a knight?
I have to apprentice, but I'll be ready when Cintra rises again.
Alrighty, so let's begin.
So we have this phrase here to come after someone.
What if they come after you, attack you?
They have.
So to come after someone?
Usually it means to attack someone, criticize or target them, and usually not physically, but with words, actions or blame.
It's often used when someone feels picked on, blamed or treated unfairly.
So to criticize or attack someone is the most common real life.
Meaning this phrase, you can hear something like why are you coming after me?
I didn't do anything wrong.
Or you can hear this a lot from youtubers like myself or influencers.
In their videos, they say don't come after me.
This means don't criticize me in the comments section, for example.
Sometimes it can also mean that someone is actively trying to hurts your reputation or cause problems.
For example, someone might say he's coming after me at work, which means that someone is trying to make them look bad or get them in trouble.
And there's also a literal meaning which is kind of less, a little less common in everyday language.
It can also mean to chase someone.
For example, the dog came after me.
This means that the dog, In this case, in our example, it's the first meaning, which is to attack, criticize or target someone.
What if they come after you, attack you?
They have.
Now remember, tone matters.
Come after often sounds aggressive and negative, and it's often used in emotional situations.
What if they come after you, attack you?
And the answer was they have.
What if they come after you, attack you?
They have.
So they have sounds kind of wrong here, right?
But it sounds wrong because by itself, the phrase they have sounds incomplete.
So in English, have usually needs an object like, Have what?
Or a past participle.
Have done what?
So when someone answers only they have, your brain naturally goes, have what?
So when he was answering, he was using the present perfect tense, but he left some words out.
And this happens a lot in spoken English actually.
So the full correct idea or answer would be they have attacked me or they have come after me.
But in casual speech, native speakers sometimes shorten it to just they have.
Okay, and now this is a confusing and common question.
Why have and not did?
And the short answer is because have is the present perfect tense and did is not past simple tense, and they talk about the past in different ways.
So to simplify, we use did when the time is known or implied.
When the action is completely finished and the time is clear and specific.
So if you knew the specific time or the action was completed, you could answer saying something like they attacked me yesterday.
Or they came after me last year.
Here we're talking about a past event closed and done.
Now, we use have on the other hand, which is present perfect, when the exact time doesn't matter.
When the result or effect is still relevant now or when the situation may still be ongoing.
They have attacked me.
It happened and it still affects me now.
They have come after me.
This isn't just history.
This is part of a current situation.
If I tell you, Witcher, that I can neither forgive Stregobor nor renounce my revenge.
Okay, this is a good one.
And here we have neither, neither forgive, nor renounce.
Neither, nor.
So what does this mean?
Neither, nor basically means not this and not that.
It's used when you want to say that none of the options are true or possible.
And now this sentence.
I can neither forgive, strike upon nor renounce my revenge.
What it basically means, just very simply, that I can't forgive, I can't.
I can't attack and I can't give up my revenge.
But the wording is different, she says, I can neither, so it means I cannot do this.
So how do we use neither nor?
We use it to connect negative choices.
So you can say, for example, I like neither coffee nor tea.
So I don't like any of those things.
One little note here, and I'm sure that you've noticed, we don't say I don't like neither nor.
We say I like neither because neither is already negative.
We don't use two negatives.
And also another little note about this sentence here.
She says strike upon.
So in modern English, strike upon sounds unusual.
If I told you a witcher.
But I can neither forgive Jacopo nor renounce my revenge.
As I already mentioned at the beginning of this video, in The Witcher, characters often speak in a very dramatic, old-fashioned, and almost like poetic way.
So we shouldn't copy this style for daily English.
We should leave it for stories and drama.
A more natural, everyday, casual version of strike upon would be strike back.
And now about this whole sentence.
What people would usually say in real life is I can't forgive them, I can't fight back and I can't let go of my revenge.
This is the same meaning, just much simpler.
What do you think?
I think you need to hide your hair and mask your eyes.
Would it kill you to say you look lovely?
So what does would it kill you mean?
Would it kill you is an idiomatic phrase.
It does not mean real death or danger.
So it's used to complain, express frustration, or gently guilt someone into doing something small.
Think of it like.
Is it really that hard for you to do this?
If you don't want to use this phrase, for example, you could just simply ask why can't you just say I look lovely.
Again, very important in English, the tone really matters.
So the meaning will depend on the tone.
So you could say it like in a playful teasing way with a smile and it'll be like a light complaint.
Or you could sound really annoyed or sarcastic and you could say it with an attitude which could mean real frustration.
Where is she?
We won because of her.
She bought us time until the armies arrived.
Okay, now this very dramatic scene.
She said she bought us time.
So to buy time means to delay something.
So you can think, prepare, escape. or wait for help.
It does not mean using money, it's an idiom, which means to get extra time before something happens.
In this example.
You can interpret it as she delayed the danger, or she stopped something bad from happening immediately, or her action gave others more time.
And here's a couple of examples.
She asked more questions to buy time.
The police are buying time until backup arrives.
She stayed behind to buy them time to escape.
Hey, no cutting.
Don't touch me.
This food was provided by the queen.
Makes you rot in hell.
Your cloak.
My father made it.
He closed Sintra's finest.
Okay, in this scene, we heard no cutting.
Hey, no cutting.
So no, cutting is something you say when people are standing in line, which means that you're not allowed to go in front of other people in line.
An easy way to remember this, to cut, jump ahead.
Your cloak.
My father made it.
He closed Sintra's finest.
This was interesting, he said he clothes, he clothes.
So here clothes is a verb, not an out, which basically means that he provides clothes for a royal family in this case, or basically just he designs or supplies their outfits.
In even more simple words, he is responsible for what they wear.
He makes, chooses, or supplies their clothing.
But again, this usage of clothes as a verb is formal and old-fashioned and is very common in books, history or fashion fantasy settings.
Now a couple of options of what you could say instead.
You could say he dresses a royal family, or he is the royal family's uh tailor or designer, or another good option he provides clothing for the royal family or for whoever.
You look like you've been through hell.
You look like you've been through hell.
This is another idiomatic expression.
It does not mean real hell.
It means that you look very tired, stressed, hurt, or emotionally exhausted.
How we use it?
We use it when someone looks worn out, when they've had a very bad time, or when someone looks like something bad or stressful happened.
For example, after a long night, after an argument or an illness or a difficult experience.
We also say you've been, which is you have been, which is the present perfect.
We use the present perfect here because the bad experience happened in the past, but its effects are visible now.
When will it stop?
And when I'm a knight, I'll have enough coin to rebuild our house.
You're to be a knight?
I have to apprentice, but I'll be ready when Cintra rises again.
Okay, this is a good one.
Why do we say when I'm a knight and not when I will be a knight?
Because in English, we do not use will after when to talk about the future.
In English, we have words that we call time words.
So, even though we're talking about the future, English uses the present tense after time, words which are when if after, as soon as before.
Until i'll give you a couple of uh, easier examples when i'm older, i'll travel the world.
When she gets home, she'll call you.
When we finish, we'll eat.
Why does english does this?
Because English sees when as a time maker, not a future maker.
So will is unnecessary there.
When will it stop?
And when I'm a knight, I'll have enough coin to rebuild our house.
You're to be a knight?
I have to apprentice, but I'll be ready when Cintra rises again.
Now this question is very interesting.
The way it was asked, you're to be a knight.
So she's not asking, are you to be a knight?
She's using a statement, but implying a question using her tone.
You're to be a knight.
And now this whole structure is very interesting.
You're to be a knight, which basically means you are expected or destined to be a knight.
Again, it sounds formal, serious, and a bit old fashioned.
So what she's really saying is you're supposed to be a knight or you're meant to become a knight.
So an easy way to remember this to be means expected, planned or destined.
In normal conversation, people will usually say something like uh, you're going to be a knight or you're supposed to be a knight.
Okay guys, that'll be it for this video, as usual, i really hope that you had fun, learned something new, and i want to thank you for watching this video and for watching the witcher with me and for supporting this channel.
This means the world to me, especially these days.
Anyways, what i'm really trying to say is that i appreciate you, and you showing up for me still means a lot to me, and thank you and i'll see you in the next one, as usual bye.
