Pratique du Shadowing: "If I Knew vs If I Had Known" in Everyday Conversations | English Podcast - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

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Hey everyone, welcome back to Real Easy Talks, your daily English practice.
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I'm Anna.
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And I'm Tom.
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We're so happy you're here today.
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If you're new, subscribe so you don't miss our daily episodes.
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Tom, you told me about a dinner with Jake last week.
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Something went wrong?
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Something went very wrong.
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Not with the food, with my English.
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Tell me.
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So, Jake and I went to this new Thai restaurant downtown.
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Jake looked at the menu and picked something called Dragonfire Noodles.
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That doesn't sound safe.
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It wasn't.
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The food came, Jake took one bite, his eyes went wide, his face turned completely red,
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he grabbed his water and drank the whole glass in three seconds.
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Oh no. And I looked at him and said, I remember the exact words, if I knew it was that spicy.
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I would have warned you.
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Wait, say that again slowly.
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If I knew it was that spicy, I would have warned you.
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Do you hear the problem?
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Um, not really.
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It sounds okay to me.
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You mixed two different worlds.
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If I knew talks about right now, something you don't know in the present.
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Okay.
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If I had known talks about the past, something that already happened.
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You put a present imagination with a past result.
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They don't match.
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So what should I have said?
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If I had known it was that spicy, I would have warned you, both parts looking back at the past.
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If I had known, not if I knew.
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That exact mistake, mixing these two, is the most common grammar mistake in English, and that's what we're going to fix today.
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If I knew versus if I had known.
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Two sentences that look similar, but they live in completely different worlds.
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OK, start with, if I knew.
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What does it really mean?
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If I knew means I don't know something right now, but I'm imagining what would be different if I did.
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So it's about the present, not the past.
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Right.
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Even though knew looks like past tense, it's actually about now.
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English uses the past shape to mean unreal, not true right now.
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It's a trick.
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A trick?
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New is wearing a mask here.
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It looks like the past, but it means this is not real right now.
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Give me an example.
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If I knew your phone number, I would call you.
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Do I know your number?
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No. Am I talking about yesterday?
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No, you're talking about right now.
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Exactly.
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I'm looking through a window at a life where I have your number.
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I can see it, but I can't touch it.
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That's if I knew.
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A window you can see through but can't open.
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I love that.
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More examples.
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If I knew how to cook, I'd make dinner every night.
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If I knew the answer, I'd tell you.
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If I knew what she wanted, I'd buy the right gift.
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They all mean, I don't know this thing right now, but imagine if I did.
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Yes, and the pattern is simple.
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If plus past tense shape in the if part, would or could plus base verb in the main part.
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Past tense shape, but meaning not real right now.
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My brain needs a minute with that.
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Take your time.
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This is the biggest trick in English grammar.
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Once you get it, everything changes.
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So when Jake says, if I knew how to fix my car, I'd do it myself, he's not talking about the past?
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Not at all.
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He's saying, I don't know how right now, but imagine if I did.
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And when my co-worker says, if I knew a good restaurant nearby, I'd take you there for lunch, same thing?
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Same thing.
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She doesn't know a good restaurant, she's imagining, not remembering.
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It's always, I don't know this now, but what if I did?
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That's the pattern.
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That's the pattern, and it works every time.
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Okay, now the harder one.
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If I had known...
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If I had known is for the past.
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It means I didn't know something back then, and now I'm imagining how things would have been different.
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So this one is about the past?
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Yes.
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Something already happened.
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You can't change it now.
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You're just looking back and imagining a different version of that day.
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Like watching a movie and wishing you could change the ending.
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Yes, but the movie is already over.
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You can't rewind it.
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And that's why this This sentence often carries a heavy feeling.
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Regret.
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Sadness.
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If only I had known.
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Give me an example.
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If I had known the meeting was canceled, I wouldn't have driven to the office.
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Did I know?
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No. Can I change it now?
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No, it already happened.
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That's the feeling.
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I'm standing in today, looking back at yesterday, and imagining what could have been different.
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More examples?
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If I had known you were coming, I would have cleaned the house.
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If I had known the test was today, I would have studied.
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If she had known about the traffic, she would have left earlier.
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They all feel like someone looking back and saying, I wish things had been different.
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Because that's exactly what they are, the language of looking back.
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Can I be honest?
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If I had known makes me feel something in my body.
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Every time I say it, my shoulders get heavy, like I'm carrying something I can't put down.
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That's real.
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Regret has a weight.
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Your body remembers the moments your brain is trying to reimagine.
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And if I knew doesn't feel that way.
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It feels lighter, almost fun.
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Because imagination is lighter than memory.
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One is playing.
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The other is carrying.
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And the pattern?
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If plus had plus past form in the if part.
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Would have plus past form in the main part both parts looking backward.
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Got it.
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Let me put them side by side so you can really feel the difference.
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Yes, please.
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Sentence 1.
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If I knew where she lived, I would visit her.
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That's right now.
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I don't know where she lives, but imagine if I did, I'd go see her.
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Sentence 2.
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If I had known where she lived, I would have visited her.
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That's the past.
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I didn't know back then.
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I missed my chance.
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The visit never happened same person same wish but one is a daydream
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and one is a closed door the daydream still has hope the closed door doesn't
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and that's why you need both some moments need
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if i knew the light one other moments need
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if i had known the honest one do you have a personal
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if i had known moment
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when i first moved to portland there was a free esl
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teaching workshop downtown i didn't find out about it until a week later
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and i remember thinking if i had known about
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that workshop i would have gone it was exactly what i needed at
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that time i felt my chest drop
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when i saw the post online that's a real
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if i had known feeling and right now there's a yoga class i want to try
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but i don't know the schedule if i knew
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when the class was i'd sign up today same person one looking back One looking forward.
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Two completely different feelings.
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Can I tell you about my design disaster?
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I love your disasters.
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Go ahead.
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Last month, a new client asked me to redesign their website.
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I picked bright orange as the main color.
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Bold, fun.
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I spent three days building the whole thing around orange. And?
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The client opened the file on our video call.
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Silence.
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Five seconds of nothing.
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Then she said, very calmly, I don't like orange.
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It reminds me of my ex-husband's car.
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Oh no, Tom!
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My face went hot.
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My hands got tight on the keyboard.
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I wanted to disappear into my chair.
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I wasn't even aware she had a feeling about orange at all.
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And what went through your head?
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If I had known she hated orange, I would have used blue.
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That sentence played on repeat in my brain for the rest of the day, like a song you can't stop hearing.
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Perfect, if I had known.
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The disaster already happened.
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You can't go back.
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But here's the interesting part.
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Right now, I have a new client starting next week.
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I don't know their color preferences yet. And?
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I keep thinking, if I knew what colors they liked, I'd start the design right away.
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If I knew.
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Present, you don't have the information yet, you're imagining.
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Same verb, know, same person, me,
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but two completely different sentences for two completely different moments one looks back with weight one looks forward with imagination
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and the result is completely different what mistakes do people make
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with these the biggest one is exactly what you did at the restaurant mixing the halves
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if i knew i would have warned you right present
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if part with past result they belong in different worlds keep them in the same world
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so if i knew always goes with I would.
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Yes.
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And if I had known always goes with I would have.
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Don't cross them.
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What about if I would know?
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I hear that sometimes.
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That's a common mistake.
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Never put would in the if part.
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Say if I knew, not if I would know.
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Never?
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The if part uses the past shape, not would.
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This is a rule that never changes.
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And if I known without the had.
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Also wrong.
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You need the had.
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It tells your listener, we're going back in time.
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Without it, you're stuck in the present.
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Time machine button.
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I'm keeping Matt forever.
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One more useful thing.
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In real speech, people almost never say the full words.
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They shorten them.
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How?
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If I had known becomes if I'd known.
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The D sound is hiding the word had.
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If I'd known.
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That's much faster.
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And when you hear, I'd have called you, that D means I would.
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So in, if I'd known, I'd have called you, the first D means had, and the second D means would.
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Hmm, same sound, but two different meanings.
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Yes, your brain figures it out from where it sits in the sentence.
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After if, the D means had.
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In the main part, the D means would.
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That's actually easier to say than the full version.
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Much easier, and it sounds more natural.
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Start using the short form and you'll sound more like a natural speaker right away.
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Here's something I realize now.
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I've been hearing these sentences my whole life in movies and songs.
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I just never noticed the difference.
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That's very common.
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Once you see the pattern, you can't unsee it.
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You'll start hearing if I knew and if I had known everywhere. In movies? In podcasts?
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Everywhere.
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And you'll know exactly which world the speaker is in.
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Practice time.
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Give me situations.
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First, you don't know your neighbor's name.
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You've lived next to her for two years.
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If I knew her name, I'd say hello properly instead of just waving.
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If I knew, because I still don't know it right now.
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Good.
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Second, you went to a job interview last week.
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You didn't know the company was having money problems.
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If I had known the company was in trouble, I wouldn't have wasted my time.
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If I had known, because the interview already happened, I can't go back and change my decision.
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Third, you're planning a trip, but you don't know how much vacation time you have left.
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Um, if I knew how many days I had, I'd book the flights today.
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If I knew, present, imagining.
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Fourth, you ate something bad yesterday and got sick.
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If I had known the fish was old, I would have ordered the chicken.
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If I had known.
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Past.
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Regret.
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My stomach is remembering right now.
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Fifth, your friend told you a secret.
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You accidentally told someone else.
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Now you feel terrible.
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If I had known it was a secret, I wouldn't have told anyone.
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Past.
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Done.
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And honestly, my chest feels tight just thinking about that. That feeling? That tightness?
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That's how your body tells you it's if I had known and not if I knew.
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Wow, that's a real way to feel the difference.
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Listeners, try this yourself.
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Think of one thing you don't know right now.
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Make an if I knew sentence.
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Then think of one thing you didn't know in the past.
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Make an if I had known sentence.
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Say them out loud.
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Great.
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Now, quick question from Tom.
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Can you ever mix the two, like past in one part and present in the other?
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Yes, those exist.
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If I had studied medicine, I would be a doctor now.
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The if part looks back, had studied, but the result is about now, would be.
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Past decision, present life.
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Exactly.
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A decision you made years ago that shapes who you are today.
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But that's a whole topic for another day.
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For now, if I knew for the present, if I had known for the past.
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Once you own those two, the mixed ones will come naturally.
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Love it.
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So what's the simple takeaway?
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The whole lesson comes down to two questions.
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First, am I imagining something about right now?
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If yes, if I knew.
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Second, am I looking back at something that already happened?
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If yes, if I had known.
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One is a window you can see through, the other is a door that already closed.
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And both are part of being human.
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We all imagine, we all look back.
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English just gives you two shapes for what you already feel inside.
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That's beautiful.
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And here's one last thing.
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Every person, in every language, imagines and looks back.
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It's part of life.
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We all have moments where we think, what if I knew more?
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And we all have moments where we think, what if I had known?
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The difference between strong speakers and beginners is this.
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Strong speakers can put those feelings into the right words.
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And now, so can you.
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That feels good.
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Like a door just opened in my English brain.
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And if someone had told you this morning that you'd understand conditionals by tonight?
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I wouldn't have believed them.
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See?
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If I had known.
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Just came out naturally.
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It's already becoming part of how you think.
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Before we finish, let's review the key vocabulary from today.
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Let's do it.
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Go ahead.
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First, unreal.
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Something that is not true or not happening in real life.
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If I knew describes an unreal situation.
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You're imagining something that isn't true right now, and the past tense is the signal.
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And regret, a sad or heavy feeling about something you did or didn't do in the past.
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If I had known often carries regret.
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You're looking back at a moment and wishing things went differently.
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Imagine, to see a picture in your mind of something that is not real or hasn't happened yet.
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Both sentences ask you to imagine.
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One imagines a different present, and the other imagines a different past.
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Aware.
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Knowing that something exists or is happening around you.
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If I had been aware of the problem, I would have fixed it.
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Not being aware is where most of our regrets begin.
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Realize.
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To suddenly understand something you didn't know before.
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The moment you realize you made a mistake, your stomach drops and your face gets warm.
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That's when if I had known starts playing in your head.
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And result, what happens because of a choice or an action you take.
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Every if sentence imagines a different result, a different ending to the story you actually lived through.
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And decision, a choice you make about what to do next.
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Most if-I-had-known moments are really about decisions, the ones we made without the information we needed at the time.
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And finally, looking back, thinking about something that happened in the past and seeing it with new eyes.
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Looking back, I wish I had known.
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Those words start a thousand honest conversations about the past.
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Eight words.
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Each one helps you talk about imagination, regret, and the choices that shape your life.
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Great words today.
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That was a really good talk.
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Now a question for you.
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Tell us in the comments, what's one thing you wish you had known earlier?
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Use if I had known in your answer.
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We read every comment.
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We love hearing your stories.
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If this helped your English, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who always mixes up if I knew and if I had known.
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We'll see you tomorrow with another easy conversation.
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Bye everyone!
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Bye!

Context & Background

In this engaging dialogue, Anna and Tom discuss a light-hearted experience involving a dinner and a language mix-up. Tom recalls a moment when he attempted to express regret about not warning Jake about a particularly spicy dish. The conversation serves as an excellent opportunity for English learners to explore the nuances between the phrases "if I knew" and "if I had known." Understanding these differences is crucial for clear communication and proper grammar usage, especially when reflecting on past events.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

  • If I knew it was that spicy, I would have warned you.
  • If I had known it was too hot, I would have ordered something else.
  • If I knew your phone number, I would call you.
  • If I knew how to swim, I would join you at the pool.
  • If I had known about the party, I would have brought snacks.

These phrases illustrate common situations where misunderstandings can occur if one confuses the present with the past. Correctly using "if I had known" emphasizes that the speaker is reflecting on something that already happened, while "if I knew" pertains to current knowledge or a hypothetical situation.

Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide

To enhance your English speaking practice using the shadowing technique, follow these steps while watching the video:

  1. Watch and Listen: Play the video, focusing on Anna and Tom’s conversation. Listen carefully to their pronunciation and intonation.
  2. Pause and Repeat: After a short segment, pause the video and repeat what you heard. Try to mimic the speakers’ emotions and inflections, which will help you sound more natural.
  3. Break It Down: Focus specifically on the phrases provided. Practice saying each one out loud, making sure to get the tense correct. The difference between "if I knew" and "if I had known" can change the entire meaning.
  4. Record Yourself: Use your phone or a recording device to capture your voice as you practice. Listening to yourself can help you identify areas for improvement.
  5. Engage with Others: If possible, find a language partner or group to practice these phrases in context. The more you use them, the more confident you will become in your English speaking abilities.

By incorporating these techniques, you will not only improve your grammar but also enhance your overall English communication skills. Remember to leverage resources like learn English with YouTube, as visual and auditory learning can significantly boost your progress.

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.