64 - Mistakes in English that you will hear from NATIVE SPEAKERS -- errores comunes que cometen los nativos del inglés

[00:00:00] Welcome to the No Te Rindas Intermediate English Podcast, home of the Tenaz Intermediate English App, disponible en no te rindaspodcast.us

[00:00:13] This is a podcast for the Spanish speakers who want to improve their comprension, auditiva del inglés, de los Estados Unidos.

[00:00:21] Somos dos hermanos americanos con raíces mexicanas soy Gabo, Okib, aquí como siempre con mi hermano mayor goyo o Greg.

[00:00:31] Hey Greg!

[00:00:33] Hey Greg afternoon.

[00:00:35] What's up?

[00:00:37] I got a little surprise for you.

[00:00:39] Oh, a surprise?

[00:00:41] You know, we'll first tell you are all yentas where you're going tomorrow.

[00:00:45] Oh, tomorrow I am going to see a professional American football game going to see my favorite NFL team play the Tennessee timed.

[00:01:00] So I'm gonna drive to Nashville here in a few minutes and stay there tonight and then go see the game at the stadium tomorrow.

[00:01:12] So that should be lots of fun.

[00:01:16] We don't seem to be very good this year as usual, but it'll still be fun and we're playing another team called the New York Jets.

[00:01:28] That is got a very famous quarterback, a very key player and he's famous because he's very good.

[00:01:36] And so Aaron Rogers is going to be the quarterback.

[00:01:38] Right, Aaron Rogers. You get to see Aaron Rogers one of the most famous football players there is right.

[00:01:45] Well, you don't know this, but I am going to see Canelo fight tonight.

[00:01:51] Not live obviously.

[00:01:52] I'm gonna be watching it until a vision, but I'm gonna go find Canelo fighting Burlanger tonight.

[00:01:58] Oh, alright. So we're gonna have a very sport themed weekend.

[00:02:03] That's right.

[00:02:04] That's not our topic today. Oh, what is our topic today, Gabo?

[00:02:09] That's right. Our topic is different today.

[00:02:11] We are going to talk about phrases that you will hear often hear native speakers use that are different in their grammar than the grammatical structures that you've learned in English classes.

[00:02:28] Yeah, so these are what like grammar mistakes, they're wrong, Gabo.

[00:02:33] Well, I guess technically they're wrong, but because the errors are so common, there certainly ones that are used all the time.

[00:02:45] So they're entirely understandable among other English speakers.

[00:02:50] So we could sort of say today that they are when they're using these phrases, they're speaking in an informal way.

[00:02:57] That's right. So what you're gonna hear in today's show will be very much like the English that you hear in the real world.

[00:03:06] If you're studying English in like a formal course, or you're going to a formal process to study English, you may be a little confused by what you hear today in the show.

[00:03:17] And that's why we want to play this for you because we want you to hear five common mistakes, or five common changes that native speakers make to English that will not align with what you have learned in a classroom.

[00:03:33] I would agree with that.

[00:03:34] What you hear today listeners may feel strange or feel wrong, but this is the way the language is frequently spoken and we want to encourage you to always listen to how native speakers speak.

[00:03:51] Making a mistake or a grammatical error that a native speaker makes will still likely make you very understandable.

[00:04:01] It'll make you sound informal and that can be a positive for you in your English.

[00:04:07] One reason that we wrote this episode is that when a game was a Spanish teacher many years ago, he had a student from Germany in his class.

[00:04:18] And quite wonderfully this German boy was learning English from a family and they made a certain kind of grammatical mistake.

[00:04:28] I'm not going to say what the mistake is here, but he would then start using that phrase in in school with with my brother and it made him sound informal, but in German accented English.

[00:04:43] So that's not a bad thing. That's a positive.

[00:04:48] Well, normally we would do our vocabulary list for the episode right here but today because we really were focusing on grammar and specific usage of informal versus formal or technically correct grammar.

[00:05:04] We're going to do a lot of translations into a Spanish just to make sure that you're following the examples and what we're trying to say in these examples.

[00:05:16] And like Gabe said, we want to encourage you to listen to native speakers.

[00:05:21] It is not the case that you can listen to a few minutes of English and pick up a trend or a tendency or a habit.

[00:05:33] But if you listen to native speakers regularly, time after time and we think you should listen to this show of course.

[00:05:40] You're going to start to kick up on little subtle things that they say that make them sound like native English speakers in our case American English speakers.

[00:05:50] And you can start to produce those tones, those sounds, those tendencies yourself.

[00:05:59] See the Gustav Escuchar, Nostrocio Pesodio, CCU, Sanderoid, Puele Spajad, Nostra App, Tenaz, Intermediating, which is the Guilupalaya.

[00:06:05] We're going to bring Damos and Losses in Nostro Pajina, Noteo Rinda, Patkes, Punto, Ose, Todas, Nostras, Abs.

[00:06:12] As you can see in La Pistagna, Paráplicación, Oi, Gracias.

[00:06:17] A word, a word.

[00:06:19] We are having a bit of an update to our application suite right now.

[00:06:23] So if you are listening here in September of 2024, you may have a trouble downloading the app but we will fix it.

[00:06:34] So it should be available in El Futuro.

[00:06:38] Yeah, alright, our first rephrasing, when someone call I'm a steak is the phrase,

[00:06:47] I had went, I had went.

[00:06:50] Yes, I hear this all the time where I live in North Carolina, people say it constantly and it is not technically correct but it is used every day.

[00:07:01] So we could do an example with the technically incorrect or technically different way and then we'll also review the technically or grammatically correct way that you'll see in your English books.

[00:07:14] I guess we'll do that format, is that alright with you? Yeah, that sounds great.

[00:07:18] Okay, alright, so for example, I might say,

[00:07:24] I had went to the mailbox when you called and my cell phone was in the kitchen.

[00:07:32] So that's the informal or technically incorrect way of saying it, I had went to the mailbox when you called.

[00:07:38] So the grammatically official way of saying it is, I had gone to the mailbox when you called and my cell phone was in the kitchen.

[00:07:50] So I had gone is the technically correct way, I had gone to the mailbox.

[00:07:55] So that would be like saying, you may have either, to record the correct, when you call me, you must say, I misalar, stay in La Cozina, this school.

[00:08:07] Alright, and it's a special bonus today.

[00:08:10] We're going to listen to some actual native speakers that are not the two of us.

[00:08:17] That's right.

[00:08:19] And so we're going to listen to examples from other people's voices and then offer some commentary.

[00:08:27] Alright, so let's listen to an example of a native speaker using the phrase I had went instead of I had gone.

[00:08:35] I knew that this is where I wanted what I wanted to do.

[00:08:39] So I don't think there's anything that I wish I had of no because, you know, at that particular time, I could say what I wish I had went to film school, but I don't wish I had went to film school.

[00:08:52] Because I love, I love that whole process of learning as I go along.

[00:08:59] Okay, so he was saying, I don't wish I had went to film school.

[00:09:06] Right, which would be in English at least.

[00:09:09] I don't wish that I had gone to film school and I think in Spanish would be something like, no lamento, no haber,

[00:09:18] I see Stido a la Universidad, or inscrito in la Universidad, something like that.

[00:09:27] So I had went, I had gone to university, film school.

[00:09:34] Our next example of an error in English is the commonly used, I seen, I seen going together in a sentence.

[00:09:42] Right, so people might say, I seen that I missed a call from you.

[00:09:52] I seen that I missed a call from you and that is used frequently, it's just not technically correct.

[00:09:58] Technically correct way would be to say, I saw that I missed a call from you.

[00:10:05] I saw that I missed a call from you, okay?

[00:10:08] Note that I may better do when I am out of the tea.

[00:10:10] Okay, I call you and you don't answer the phone.

[00:10:15] You need to, you need to call me back, man.

[00:10:19] Oh, sorry, I did, I saw that I missed a call from you.

[00:10:24] Well, why don't we move on from that?

[00:10:27] Let's listen to a native speaker use the phrase in this non-traditional way.

[00:10:33] Here we go.

[00:10:33] And I'm black, if I'm a tab, black people, I see in planet white officers do, I see them do it together.

[00:10:39] He's saying no racist saying is it, oh, oh, see no racist saying come on to play.

[00:10:44] Is it hatred there?

[00:10:46] Okay, so here we have a woman acting in a play, which is timely in the United States because the play is written in the context of police violence against minorities.

[00:11:01] And she's saying I see white officers were doing this or that, you know, while in uniform.

[00:11:11] And yeah, she said I see white policemen do it.

[00:11:15] And this is something that I hear frequently.

[00:11:19] I see and it's also used with he and she, she seen he's he's seen.

[00:11:24] And of course those all should be saw, I saw he saw, she saw.

[00:11:30] White policemen, but again, it used all the time in native speaking by native speakers, pardon me.

[00:11:40] Okay, our third example of changed English is the phrase there is now this will be very appropriate for you, or in this because I in Espanol sayosa in singular i in plural.

[00:11:57] No, I problem.

[00:11:59] But in English there are a completely pluralist, usually.

[00:12:07] There is a singular.

[00:12:12] So if you combine, there is a plural and different, a plural, frankly.

[00:12:23] Right, and in addition to this it's important to realize that you're going to hear native speakers turn the phrase there is into theirs.

[00:12:36] That's right there's so they're going to say instead of saying there is the fish on the table they're going to say there's a fish on the table.

[00:12:47] In a bowl.

[00:12:48] All right, let's, let's look at some examples.

[00:12:53] Will Greg there is several reasons I wasn't able to call you back.

[00:13:00] There is several reasons or there's several reasons I wasn't able to call you back.

[00:13:06] And then of course the technically correct way would be to say because it's plural there are several reasons that I wasn't able to call you back.

[00:13:16] And that actually can also be short in a little bit.

[00:13:19] You might hear me say in daily life there are several reasons there are several reasons I wasn't able to call you back, but that's just a shortening of there are.

[00:13:32] I was a person for less, for less than orpue, yeah, I'm arté.

[00:13:38] So I wasn't able to call you because of these reasons.

[00:13:42] So we hear, I hear this Greg.

[00:13:45] I hear this on the news when I hear newscasters who are supposed to be typically there they the most correct speakers we have and I hear them say there's several resources that these migrants can use or there's several people that have brought this issue to Congress.

[00:14:07] So it is very, very common even though not technically correct.

[00:14:13] This relates to Spanish a little bit because sometimes I hear native speakers of Spanish use an adjective.

[00:14:22] And then later in the sentence use a noun to go with that adjective.

[00:14:27] And so they will say, they'll have to change the gender of the adjective in mid sentence.

[00:14:34] It's not very often that you hear it but someone will say, it's taba morada morado.

[00:14:41] El dedo de pie de mi con yado, something like that.

[00:14:47] And they're thinking of the noun after they're thinking of the adjective and that's very much what's happening here because we're thinking of the plurality or the plural nature of the word.

[00:14:57] I'm sure the verb.

[00:14:59] Before the noun that is causing it to be plural so it's natural to say there is that's our our reflex or our instinct and then to say there is people or there is books, right? Oh sorry no there are books there are people.

[00:15:18] I think it's kind of a similar process that are orient this go through in Spanish sometimes.

[00:15:25] I think that's an interesting point well you want to hear another native speaker use there is instead of there are boy do I.

[00:15:34] Okay, let's listen.

[00:15:36] Go get in his van and go for a ride when he wanted to in the front seat and play the radio going down the road he likes going to Disney world.

[00:15:46] There's things that he would never get to do in a different situation.

[00:15:54] And of course as I said she shortened it to there's things he'd never get to do.

[00:16:02] There's things yeah there is things.

[00:16:05] In this case she's describing she's basically saying there are activities that this young boy who has some sort of disorder maybe.

[00:16:18] I'm not sure but she's describing how his life is different at the school he's attending and there is things that he can do or there are things that he can do.

[00:16:31] Because he's at the school and let's say that okay when you say to someone there is things that he can do it sounds very informal it sounds very informal and there are things sounds formal.

[00:16:48] I would agree I do think it sounds like that.

[00:16:53] All right, another very common technically incorrect phrase that you're going to hear native speakers use all the time is they're going to say if I was when technically they should use if I were but it's used all the time.

[00:17:14] Gosh Gabe if I wasn't such a good friend of yours I would think you were avoiding me by not returning my calls.

[00:17:22] So that's technically inaccurate or incorrect this is imperfect subjective in English here's what it sounds like correctly.

[00:17:34] Gosh Gabe if I weren't such a good friend of yours I would think you were avoiding me.

[00:17:40] See no for aton when I'm equal to you you're panzeria came as dust and the thunder away.

[00:17:48] Now there is one case that we'd like to point out where if I was is correct there is a case where you can use if I was and it doesn't.

[00:17:59] It doesn't break a rule that we know of and that case is that if you're talking about a past event.

[00:18:07] You can say if I was and in the case before we were talking about a hypothetical event it was not hypothetical if I was can function.

[00:18:18] So for example I can say.

[00:18:22] Hey Gabe last week did I see you at the Walgreens pharmacy?

[00:18:30] Well if I was at Walgreens last week I don't remember.

[00:18:36] See they see the H.O.E. Stava in La Farmasia Walgreens no little required though.

[00:18:42] You know I think that you were indeed at Walgreens and you were trying to avoid me.

[00:18:48] I'm seeing a pattern here cut and I'm so there if I was at Walgreens last week is not hypothetical.

[00:18:58] He's saying something about the past if I was at Walgreens last week.

[00:19:03] I just don't recall it right I don't remember being there.

[00:19:07] So that to me does not sound.

[00:19:08] I don't remember seeing you when I was there.

[00:19:11] That's right trying to avoid me.

[00:19:14] I think you're lying.

[00:19:16] So let's listen to an example of if I was being used when if I were is the technically correct way to use it.

[00:19:26] My views that museums should take a leaf out of the book of religions and they should make sure that when you walk into a museum

[00:19:32] if I was a museum curator I would make a room for love a room for generosity.

[00:19:38] So there we have an advocate for museums someone who's in support of museums saying if I was in charge of a museum then I would such and such and such

[00:19:50] I would have a room for love a room for understanding.

[00:19:54] He would organize the museum differently and technically he should say if I were the director of a museum, if I were the director of the museum.

[00:20:05] See you're Fuera.

[00:20:07] He'll have a director there when we sail.

[00:20:10] Right and interesting to hear an English person making using this informal way.

[00:20:18] Americans we tend to think of the English as sort of being the authority on the English language since it is their original language.

[00:20:27] But you can hear this is so common that it's even even used across the pond as we say over in England.

[00:20:37] Yeah, if you couldn't tell from listening to that fellow he has an English accent or he's from Great Britain and of course we are not we're from the United States.

[00:20:48] Alright our final example of sort of different English strange English that's common is her and I, her and I which mixes like an objective case her with a nomative case.

[00:21:05] I you know a pronoun that's an object with a pronoun that's a subject her and I.

[00:21:14] Sorry I didn't mean to bore you Gabe.

[00:21:18] But if you if you've been studying English you know that that should be she and she and not.

[00:21:25] Exactly and we have to have to say here that our father was very concerned with correct or proper or official technical English grammar and he often corrected me.

[00:21:41] Because my grammar is actually not as good as Greg's and dad because Greg grew up in the house with our dad and I only saw that.

[00:21:51] You know a month or two a year, but you only saw dad when he was at a prison so.

[00:21:59] But ironically, that's broma coincidentally her and I get on our nerves both Greg and I when we hear someone say.

[00:22:10] And I we win so little bit and that's one of the ways I think that we can tell that we're well old Rick's yeah Rick Sanchez son.

[00:22:21] He's the word wins there wins is something that you do with your face and your shoulders when something bothers you like if someone scratches their their unias on a piece of around right and you that you would win.

[00:22:35] That's what that means. I don't know how to say that in Spanish. Oh, well, it's a kind of kind of just to screw up your face and pain yeah.

[00:22:44] All right, so we'll we'll do an example here correct and then then then or incorrect and then correct here we go.

[00:22:52] My girlfriend was here earlier and her and I argued about all the secret texts on her phone that were sent to you.

[00:23:01] I I can't understand any of them. Why is she texting you?

[00:23:07] All right, so my girlfriend was here and her and I argued so that is not technically correct the correct way would be to say my girlfriend was here earlier and she and I argued about all the secret text on her phone sent to you.

[00:23:23] I can't understand any of them. Why is she texting you?

[00:23:28] Minovia is there a car must have brought you.

[00:23:31] And AI, you're discussing about the various text secret texts and its cell for you.

[00:23:38] No, you can't understand anything.

[00:23:41] Neither because they're mandanglos.

[00:23:43] Well, okay, if you must know we were planning your surprise 50th birthday party.

[00:23:52] Well, if you want to know what you're planning on doing your surprise 50th birthday.

[00:24:01] Oh, well, I guess I've been mad at you for no reason then.

[00:24:07] That's right.

[00:24:09] Well, well, I'm embarrassed.

[00:24:11] Let's listen to another example.

[00:24:14] How are you going to recover from this game?

[00:24:16] Aren't you embarrassed? Yes, but I'm going to recover by listening to an example of someone incorrectly using her and I when they should be using she and I hear listen to this and stop worrying about me.

[00:24:29] Thank you. You might know Jennifer Arguelo.

[00:24:32] Yes.

[00:24:32] So her and I are part of the social impact team at GitHub and we are defining what GitHub is.

[00:24:40] Okay, so that's a social media expert who works at a company called GitHub.

[00:24:46] And she's saying no, so trust right. She's saying she and I and she says her and I and this person presumably she's on a stage talking to perhaps hundreds of people.

[00:24:58] She has a microphone there for other people on the stage with her their dressed nicely.

[00:25:04] Right. She's an important speaker in this context and gave she says her and I so you will hear her and I even from those that you would not think would say it incorrectly like that right and that's the thing it's just our languages are always going to change and they're always going to be a few things that begin to be used that are not used in the same way

[00:25:30] that previous generations have have used them and this I think these are great examples of the kind of drift towards an informal usage that that we are experiencing certainly in the United States and then we saw one example in an ink.

[00:25:48] That's right.

[00:25:51] All right, it's time for our quiz case together in and set up a way.

[00:25:55] What sticks in your brain after one listening to our show today. Question number one.

[00:26:04] Okay, which of the three options that I'll give here would be a more technically correct way of saying these commonly used phrases so which of the three options would be more technically correct than the other two number one.

[00:26:21] Hey, I've seen your girlfriend at the bakery.

[00:26:25] Number two, I saw your girlfriend at the bakery.

[00:26:31] And number three, I shall have saw your girlfriend at the bakery.

[00:26:38] All right, so I hear two of these pretty frequently.

[00:26:41] Number one, I seen your girlfriend at the bakery and number two, I saw your girlfriend at the bakery but actually only number two is technically correct.

[00:26:52] I saw your girlfriend at the bakery.

[00:26:55] Hopefully you got that right or in this.

[00:26:58] That is correct. That is correct.

[00:27:01] All right, question number two, which of these three options would be technically correct or more technically correct than the other two.

[00:27:11] I had gone to purchase a greeting card at the pharmacy.

[00:27:16] When I saw your car in the parking lot, I had gone to purchase a greeting card at the pharmacy when I saw your car in the parking lot.

[00:27:27] Number two, I had went to purchase a greeting card at the pharmacy.

[00:27:31] When I saw your car in the parking lot, I had went to purchase a greeting card.

[00:27:38] Or number three, I will have a go to purchase a greeting card at the pharmacy when I

[00:27:44] saw your car in the parking lot.

[00:27:46] I will have a go to purchase a greeting card at the pharmacy when I saw your car in

[00:27:51] the parking lot.

[00:27:53] That's a mouthful.

[00:27:55] It is.

[00:27:56] So we had, I had gone to purchase, I had went to purchase and I will have a go to purchase.

[00:28:03] So only one of those is technically correct and I'm going to say it is number one.

[00:28:09] I had gone to purchase a greeting card.

[00:28:12] That is correct.

[00:28:14] Well done.

[00:28:14] Don't support us.

[00:28:17] Alright, last question.

[00:28:19] Which one of these is a more technically correct way of saying this phrase than the other

[00:28:24] two?

[00:28:25] Wow, Gabe.

[00:28:26] There is 50 candles on this birthday cake.

[00:28:29] There is 50 candles on this birthday cake.

[00:28:33] Number two, there are 50 candles on this birthday cake.

[00:28:37] There are 50 candles on this birthday cake or number three.

[00:28:41] There might been 50 candles on this birthday cake.

[00:28:44] There might been 50 candles on this birthday cake.

[00:28:50] Wait did you say Mike Ben?

[00:28:52] I love him.

[00:28:52] Hey, shout out to Mike Ben.

[00:28:54] No, I said there might been.

[00:28:57] Oh, Mike Ben, 50 candles.

[00:28:59] Alright, let me think about this.

[00:29:00] So we have there is 50 candles which would probably be shortened to there's 50 candles.

[00:29:06] We have there are 50 candles which would often be shortened to there are 50 candles.

[00:29:13] And then we have there might been 50 candles which would probably be shortened to, I don't

[00:29:20] know, bad AI or something like that.

[00:29:26] So the technically correct way of talking about 50 candles would be there are 50

[00:29:32] candles.

[00:29:33] That's my guess.

[00:29:35] Sir, you have one stuffed animal at today's carnival.

[00:29:38] Thank you so much.

[00:29:39] That was correct.

[00:29:42] Alright, we want to thank our patrons if you would like to become a patron of this show.

[00:29:45] Please go to www.patrion.com slash no teorin does podcast.

[00:29:51] And we have list of nice goodies for you that you can go see at that website.

[00:29:59] And we'd like to shout out some cities who are listening to our show recently and we want

[00:30:05] to send a special thank you to them.

[00:30:06] How about Aquarruña Spain, Setef Algeria?

[00:30:11] Okay, we have listeners in our two cities in Algeria this week.

[00:30:16] Yeah, San Jose del Monte filipines and Casablanca morocco maruecos.

[00:30:24] Wow, so we have North African listeners to note there in does now.

[00:30:31] Oh, that is so neat as we continue to spread our message of not giving up on English.

[00:30:38] That's right.

[00:30:39] Don't give up.

[00:30:40] And remembering that it does not, does not have to be perfect.

[00:30:43] That's what today's examples really mean that if you even though we're speaking technically and correctly,

[00:30:50] we're speaking like native some of the time.

[00:30:54] So please take a minute and stop what you're doing right now and pause the podcast.

[00:30:59] And if you have not yet given us a review or a rating on your podcast player,

[00:31:04] please stop what you're doing right now and do that.

[00:31:07] Um, this is helping us reach more and more listeners whether it be in North Africa or South America or wherever.

[00:31:17] Uh, please take a minute if you like our podcast and help us out by leaving a rating or review.

[00:31:23] And if you're listening to us on a podcast player,

[00:31:26] please know that you can go to www dot no tereen does podcast dot u s.

[00:31:32] And find lots of resources there for learning.

[00:31:36] We have readings, we have videos, we have a blog and importantly,

[00:31:40] there are links to our app on the Google Play store,

[00:31:44] which is called Tenazte et en a set them.

[00:31:48] And remember it's September 2024.

[00:31:51] There are some updates or issues with the app,

[00:31:55] but we will get those resolved very, very soon.

[00:31:59] Go check us out.

[00:32:01] Well, Saul canelo Arvarez is truly one of me set ois.

[00:32:07] So I really hope that he wins tonight.

[00:32:09] I'm going to be following that tonight from the hotel room on my phone to see what happens.

[00:32:15] And unless of course, I'm asleep because I am well,

[00:32:18] I am old, but you're going to stay awake and watch the fight.

[00:32:22] So I'm very, very jealous.

[00:32:25] Yes, I'll, um,

[00:32:26] instead of drinking alcohol,

[00:32:27] I probably have coffee or something so I can stay awake.

[00:32:31] Yes, I'll just stay awake.

[00:32:33] I've got to go to bed early so that I can get up and go see my Tennessee Titans play.

[00:32:38] So very good to talk to him.

[00:32:40] Yeah, yeah, this is so cool.

[00:32:41] And it's a weekend of sports for the Sanchez brothers.

[00:32:44] Love you, I love you all.

[00:32:45] I love you. I'll talk to you soon.

[00:32:47] Alright, bye bye.