Shadowing Practice: 5 Confusing English Verbs: SAY, TELL, ASK, SPEAK, TALK - Learn English Speaking with Video

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And in today's video, we are going to look at some words that are so confusing.

We're going to look at the words say, tell, talk, speak, and ask.

So all of these words mean to use words.

Okay?

So right now I am talking.

But there are differences in the grammar of how we use these words.

And also there are some differences in their meanings or when we use each of these words.

So if you're someone who confuses these words, that's okay.

Today I will help you with this.

So let's get started.

The first word we will look at today is say.

Say is important.

Many students make mistakes with the word say and the grammar of say.

We will look at some mistakes in a moment, but first let's look at the definition.

So say we use when we're describing words.

I've written this here, no person is needed for this.

What I mean is for tell, you need a person.

I tell him something.

For say, you do not need a person.

I will explain this in a moment.

But the focus for say is on the words.

What words did he or she say?

So let's look at some examples.

So here is a woman.

She says, good morning.

These are her words good morning.

So we can say she says good morning.

So notice we don't have a person here, we just have the words.

What were her words?

Her words were good morning.

This is the focus.

Hello.

I say hello.

When I finish my videos, I say take care.

So those are the words I use.

So, we use say in this example.

Sometimes in a conversation, you might want to know what the words of someone were.

You can say, what did he say?

What did she say?

What did you say?

It means what words were used.

And this is very important the past tense of say is said.

She says good morning.

Yesterday she said good morning.

We use said when we talk about the words in the past

and we use say when we're talking about the words now.

So this is probably the number one mistake I see with the word say or said.

I said him something.

I said him the answer.

I said him hi.

I said her goodbye.

So why is this wrong, it's this, this is the problem.

With said, you don't need a person.

I said the answer.

Okay, so we can use a person with the word tell or told if you're talking in the past tense.

I told him the answer.

So this is a common mistake, a common way people confuse these words.

If you're using a person, use tell.

But if there's.. you're focusing on the words, you can use said.

Let's look at another example.

I said him a question.

So what's wrong with here?

It's the same problem as up here.

It's this word, him, her, Bob, Mary.

There should not be a person here.

And the other issue with this is the word question.

So usually when we're talking about questions, we use the word ask.

I asked a question.

I asked where the bathroom is.

So for questions, we often use the word ask.

So just remember, and we'll look at each of, we'll look at tell and ask in a moment

but just remember for say

or said it's really about the words that's what the focus is on what words did we use

Our next word is tell.

So say and tell are the words I think learners of English confuse the most.

They confuse the grammar and the meaning.

So tell means that you're telling a person or people some information.

You need both of these things in your sentence if you use tell.

You need the person and you need the information.

So, the focus is on who.

Who are you giving the information to?

So, if you think about it, we tell someone something.

Let's look at some examples.

I can tell you the answer.

So, we have tell.

Who's the someone?

It's you.

The something is the answer.

So, we have those three parts.

Tell someone something.

Tell me a story.

Kids love to say this to their parents.

Tell me a story.

So again, we have the word tell.

What comes next is the word me.

So we could put a different word here.

We can put you, he, she, Bob, doesn't matter.

A story is the something.

Tell me a story.

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Tell me a story.

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Okay, let's look at another example.

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Tell him I am mad.

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Tell who?

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Him?

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What?

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I am mad.

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So you see you need these three parts when you use tell.

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What is the past tense of tell?

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So if we're talking about the past like yesterday, last year, in 1947.

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When we talk about the past, we would use the word told.

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I told you already, for example.

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I told you to come.

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So again, we have the same pattern.

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Tell or told.

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Who are we talking to?

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In this case, you.

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And then what or what's that something? To come.

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So if you can remember, you need these three things for tell, this will really help you.

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Now let's look at some common mistakes with the word tell.

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I told hello.

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I told goodbye.

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I told information.

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What's the mistake here?

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The mistake is we don't have a person.

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We need the who.

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Who gets this information?

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So there's no person here, so that's why it's wrong.

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So you could, if you just want to say the word, you could just use say or said.

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I said hello.

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So this is correct because you're only using the word.

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So this is a good example of the difference between tell or told and say and said.

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For say, said, you're focusing on the words.

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For tell or told, you're focusing on who, on the person.

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Who are you giving the information to?

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So if we wanted to keep hello, we could also do one other thing.

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We could say, I told hello.

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So you can add a person here.

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So we can say, I told her hello.

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I told him hello.

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I told my friend hello.

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So that's okay, because now you have a person.

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That's what you need for tell or told.

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Let's look at another example of a mistake.

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I tell that every day.

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What's the mistake here?

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Do you see the who or the person in this sentence?

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No, we're missing a person, so that's why this is wrong.

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But what if we add a person?

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I tell my boss that every day.

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Okay, now we have the person, so we can use tell.

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Or if we don't want to use the person, we can use say.

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I say that every day.

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So that represents the words somebody's using.

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So you can say, I say hello every day.

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I say please do your homework every day to my students.

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So this is again a good example of the difference

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when you use say with just the words or use tell with a person.

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The next word we're going to look at today is the word speak.

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We use speak more in formal situations or when we're talking about languages specifically.

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So, for example, here's an example of a language.

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This is not true, but I could say I speak Italian.

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So, I wouldn't use say.

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I wouldn't say I say Italian.

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I tell Italian.

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I talk Italian.

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No, I would use speak.

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we use speak with languages do you speak other languages we can also use this for formal situations

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so for example my boss is speaking to me i could also use the word talk

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but speak is more formal so speak plus a language or speak to and with someone when we're in a formal situation

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So one thing I wanted to say about this is when you speak in this situation,

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you need to follow it with either the word to or with the word with.

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So you have a choice and you need to use it with someone.

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So I speak three languages as an example of this.

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I need to speak to the CEO.

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I need to speak with the CEO.

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So we could use either of those.

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So in terms of speak, what's the past tense of speak?

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A lot of students don't know this one, but it's a good one to know.

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The past tense of speak is spoke.

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So we have this O here, spoke. So here's an example.

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I spoke to my professor.

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I could also say I spoke with my professor.

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And if I wanted to talk about the topic, I could say I spoke to my professor about my homework.

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I spoke with my professor about my homework.

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So that's how we use the word speak.

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So, let's look at common mistakes with speak and spoke.

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What's the mistake here?

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I speak him.

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The mistake here is that this is different from tell.

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You need this word. Or the word with.

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So, you can say I speak to him.

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I speak with him.

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Both of those would be correct.

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What's the problem with this?

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I speak high.

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Well, in this case, a better thing to say would be say, because remember, we use say with words.

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So speak, we're not just using words, we usually speak to someone.

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So in this case, because we're just talking about words we would use say.

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I say hi.

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Okay, we mentioned languages.

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I talk six languages.

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There's a mistake here.

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The mistake is in English we usually use the word speak when we're talking about languages specifically.

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I speak eight languages.

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I speak one language.

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One way to practice this is in the comments you can tell us how many languages do you speak

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and what languages are they.

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So write that in the comments below and don't forget to use the correct word here, speak.

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The next word is ask.

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It's a little bit of a difficult word to pronounce.

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We use ask when we're talking about questions.

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So the focus is on getting information.

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We often get information by asking questions.

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So we usually use this pattern, ask someone for something.

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So, for example, I ask her a question.

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So, we have here the person.

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He asks me for help.

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So, you can also ask for favors or for help.

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That's a common way we use this.

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The past tense of ask, a lot of people have trouble with the pronunciation of this.

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asked.

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So this may or may not help you.

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I asked, I asked.

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So the ED actually sounds like a T.

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Asked, and it's one syllable.

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I hear a lot of students say ask, asked.

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That's not how we pronounce it.

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We pronounce it asked.

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So past tense of ask is asks.

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Oh, now I'm having trouble.

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I asked a question in the meeting.

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So that's an example of ask in the past tense.

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So now let's look at common mistakes.

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We've already talked about pronunciation.

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Let's look at some common grammar mistakes with this.

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I said him a question.

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What's the problem here?

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Well, the main problem is that you're using said with a person here, I said him.

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So you wouldn't say that.

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You could say I said a question, but again, usually with the word question, we use ask.

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I asked him a question.

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So that's much better.

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You could also, if you don't want to talk about who, you could say I asked a question.

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That's fine too.

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So I asked him a question.

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I asked a question.

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Both of these are okay.

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Talk is what we're looking at next.

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We use talk when we're really talking about a conversation.

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So it's not just a word, it's something more than a word.

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So when you have a conversation with someone you can use talk you can talk to someone

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or you can talk with someone both of these are fine

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but you need to remember a preposition here to or with and then if you want you can

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add what the subject is you talked to someone about something

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so for example last night I talked to my sister Audra about a movie I saw.

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So that means we had a conversation about a movie.

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So talk is like speak, but speak is more formal.

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And talk is used more for everyday conversation.

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So speak might be something I might write in a formal situation, Whereas talk, you know, I talk to my friends, I talk to my mom,

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I talk to my teacher.

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So we use it more in everyday general conversation. So here's an example.

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I talk to my friend about my problems.

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I talk to my friend about work.

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I talk to my friend about my family.

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Just some examples.

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So the past tense of talk is talked.

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There's an ed, but we pronounce it like a t sound.

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So I'll just put a little t here.

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Just like asked, talked.

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So a lot of students will say talked.

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And they'll use two syllables, talked.

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But the correct pronunciation is talked with a t at the end.

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All right, so I talked to my friend about the movie.

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Let's look at some common mistakes people make with talk.

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There's a problem with the first sentence.

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We talk my brother about travel.

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What's the mistake?

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Well, we forgot the word to or with.

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When we use the word talk, we need to use to or with with a person.

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So, you can say we talk to my brother about travel or we talk with my brother about travel.

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Okay, what about the next sentence?

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What's the issue here?

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We talked goodnight.

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Well, goodnight is a word.

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It's not a conversation.

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A conversation you need to have like a back and forth, you're talking back and forth to each other.

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Goodnight's just a word.

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So it's better to use the word said.

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We said goodnight.

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Okay, what about the third example?

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How do you talk hello in French?

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How do you talk hello in French?

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Is this correct?

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No. what we really want to say is how do you say hello in French? So again...

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we're using the word say

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because we're talking about the words we're not talking about a conversation

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so talk is for conversations where you're talking about a subject say we're using

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when we're talking about words what was a person's words that's what the focus is on all right so So,

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to summarize what we talked about, there are many words that confuse learners of English.

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Say, tell, ask, talk, and speak all have similar meanings but are a little bit different.

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So, say we use for words.

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I say hello or I said hello.

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So, tell, we tell a person something.

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I tell my mom I love her.

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That's an example.

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Ask.

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Ask we usually use for questions.

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I asked a question.

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Talk is usually used for conversation.

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So, you talk to someone about something.

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And then speak is like talk, but it's a little bit more formal.

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Or we can use it for languages.

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I speak English.

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I speak Mandarin.

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I speak French, just to give some examples. So, it's hard.

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English is hard.

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I agree.

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We have a lot of words that mean very similar things, but are slightly different.

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But these are words we use very, very frequently.

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So it's a good idea to practice, to really learn these words.

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And one way you can do that is visit our website at www .engvid .com.

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And there you can take a quiz to practice the words we covered today.

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You can also check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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We have a lot of different videos on many topics related to grammar, English, everyday conversation, and so much more.

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So thank you so much for watching.

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Until next time, take care.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B1 se basa en el vídeo “5 Confusing English Verbs: SAY, TELL, ASK, SPEAK, TALK”. Las palabras que más se repiten: word, speak, example, mistake, language. Este vídeo tiene 326 frases y 2692 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 22:08. El hablante mantiene un ritmo constante de unas 122 palabras por minuto, cómodo para el shadowing. El 89 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es fácil de seguir.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 12 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
tense sustantivo	/tɛns/	tiempo
confuse verbo	/kənˈfjuːz/	confundir, barahustar
grammar sustantivo	/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/	gramática
pronunciation sustantivo	/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	pronunciación
homework sustantivo	/ˈhoʊmˌwɝk/	deberes, tarea
learner sustantivo	/ˈlɜɹnəɹ/	aprendiz, aprendedor
syllable sustantivo	/ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/	sílaba
goodbye	/ɡʊdˈbaɪ/	adiós, hasta luego
preposition sustantivo	/ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/	preposición
summarize verbo	/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/	resumir
quiz sustantivo	/kwɪz/	prueba, cuestionario
subscribe verbo	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	suscribirse, subscribirse

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
check out verbo	investigar, chequear

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

You can say, what did he say?
What did you say?
With said, you don't need a person.
Who are you giving the information to?
Who are we talking to?

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is needed · is said · is talked
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	I've written · We've already talked
Posibilidad con “might / may” might/may + verbo — algo posible pero no seguro	might want · may not help · might be
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — algo que ocurre ahora o en estos días	am talking · we're describing · we're talking

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 49 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we're, you're, don't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

/z/ — sonora, no /s/: confuse /kənˈfjuːz/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, summarize /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/, quiz /kwɪz/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como tense, confuse, grammar.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: 5 Confusing English Verbs: SAY, TELL, ASK, SPEAK, TALK - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

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Frases que vale la pena repetir

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?