Shadowing Practice: 11 Common Relationship & Dating Phrasal Verbs in English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hey everyone, I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on dating and relationship phrasal verbs.

So in this video, I'm going to give you 10 phrasal verbs

that you can use when you are discussing dating and relationships.

Now, because this is a phrasal verbs video, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of my book,

100 Practical English Phrasal Verbs, which has 20 context -based lessons,

over 900 examples, and only high -frequency phrasal verbs.

So if you enjoy this lesson and you think, huh, I want to learn more phrases like that, pick up the book.

It's available in PDF format, ebook format, and this beautiful physical format.

And again, let me let me have you hear that book.

Love that sound.

So the physical version, you have to buy it on Amazon.

Check it out.

Now, let's continue with this video.

So most relationships or many relationships or maybe just encounters with people begin with someone hitting on someone.

What does it mean to hit on someone?

Now, again, the verb hit, it's very physical.

Like this is hit.

We don't mean this.

This is terrible.

This is the opposite of what we're doing.

So when you hit on someone, you show romantic interest in them,

you try to get their attention by complimenting them or by saying something to them,

introducing yourself and showing that you're interested and you want to talk to them more and learn more about them.

So repeat after me.

Yes, you will practice speaking in this video as well.

Repeat after me.

A guy hit on me at the club.

Okay, so if you are a young person, this is probably something you might say.

If you are an older person or a married person, maybe you don't go to the club anymore.

The dance club.

I know some parts of the world call them discos.

I just think of John Travolta when I hear disco doing this stuff.

So, not that type of disco.

So, yeah, a guy hit on me at the club.

This means a guy tried to get my attention.

He asked for my phone number.

Or maybe he said something like, You know, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put you and I together.

Terrible.

Don't say that.

Maybe do.

Some people might enjoy it because they like bad jokes.

I don't know.

So yeah, hit on someone.

To show romantic interest, you want someone's attention.

Next, to ask someone out.

If you ask someone out, you ask them to go on a date with you.

So repeat after me.

You should ask her out.

Yeah, so you are encouraging your friend

or someone in your family to ask someone out

because maybe they see

that huh I think there's a connection there I think

you guys have a good connection you should ask her out

and see what she says maybe

she will say yes let's go see a movie let's go

for a walk let's go to a coffee shop yeah classic first date stuff, right?

Next, we have hit it off.

If you hit it off with someone, you have a strong connection,

a good connection, almost immediately the first time you meet them.

Now, hitting it off with someone doesn't have to be romantic.

It can be, maybe you can hit it off with someone and then you become friends because you have a similar interest.

Like if I like board games and this other person likes board games

and we meet and we discuss board games together and we have a great connection and we connect immediately,

I can say, ah, we really hit it off.

Like, we hit it off immediately and we had an instant connection.

Here is the more romantic version of it, perhaps.

It doesn't have to be romantic in this case either, but just repeat after me.

I think you and Jane would really hit it off.

Yeah, that's it.

That's good.

So I think you and Jane would really like connect.

You'd have a strong connection immediately because I know your personality,

I know her personality, and I think your personalities would mix very well together.

Next, we have to fall for someone.

So this means to fall in love with someone, to basically develop the feelings of love for someone.

You can use this in the continuous tense, you can use it in the past, in the present, many tenses actually.

If you are in the process of this, if you think you are developing feelings,

you can say, I think I'm falling in love with him, or I think I am falling for him.

Now, repeat after me this sentence right here.

It sounds like you're falling in love.

Okay.

And I just realized I should have written, it sounds like you're falling for him or for her.

So let's, we'll use them to cover everyone.

So repeat after me one more time.

It sounds like you're falling for them.

Yeah, it's like it sounds like you are developing those feelings that people associate with love.

That warm feeling in your heart where you want to spend time with the person all the time.

and next you know you fall for someone sometimes the relationship doesn't work you have to end the relationship

which means you have to break up or split up

so split like this right you split up with someone

or break up with someone uh so repeat after me they broke up last month

Yeah, you know, I thought that John and Amy, they were going to make it.

They were going to get married.

They were going to show us the power of love.

But no, we don't know what happened to them.

But they broke up last month.

So far, so good, right?

100

Next, we have to make up with someone.

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Sometimes when you break up with someone, you can also make up with them.

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So, to make up with someone is to reconcile,

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which means you have an understanding or you come back together after a negative experience like an argument,

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a fight, or maybe a breakup even.

105

So, for example, repeat after me.

106

We argued, but we made up.

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Okay, good.

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Uh, this makes me think of a Taylor Swift song, so I don't put Taylor Swift in my videos very often,

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but maybe my daughter will be proud of me, or she will say, Dad, you are so cringe.

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Uh, and we fight, we make up, we kiss, we break up.

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I think that those are the lyrics to that song that she has.

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I don't remember the name of the song, but if you know the name of the song that I'm talking about that Taylor Swift sings,

113

please leave it in the comments where she talks about kissing and making up, fighting and breaking up.

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Next, to go out with someone.

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This has two meanings.

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One, to go on a date, right?

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To go to a coffee shop or to a movie theater.

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So we went out last night.

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Now, this can also mean to be in a relationship with someone.

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If you are married, you don't say

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that like you go out with your wife or your husband or you are going out with your husband or your wife.

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When you are going out with someone, you are dating them, which means you are having experiences together,

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and maybe your relationship will be long -term.

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Maybe it won't.

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You're not sure yet.

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So repeat after me.

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Bia is going out with Ryan.

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Yeah, so this means Bia.

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Maybe they have been on two dates together.

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I say, oh yeah, she's going out with Ryan.

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You know, they are spending time together.

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Next, we have to cheat.

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And you can cheat on someone.

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So if you cheat on someone, this means you kiss someone or you have sex with someone who is outside of your relationship.

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So for example, repeat after me.

136

Eric cheated on Melissa.

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Melissa.

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In this situation, Melissa and Eric are together.

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They are boyfriend and girlfriend, perhaps husband and wife.

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And if Eric cheated on Melissa,

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this means Eric found someone outside of his relationship and either kissed someone else or had sex with someone else.

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Not a good thing.

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Next up, we have drift apart.

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This is also a sad, slow separation from someone.

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So this one is not only about romantic relationships.

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You can drift apart in a friendship.

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You can drift apart with from a family member, for example.

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So to drift apart is to slowly go in different directions.

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right

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so i am becoming a different person you are becoming a different person

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we don't have the same interests anymore we don't really talk anymore

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but we just slowly go in opposite directions we drift apart

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so repeat after me um we'll do this in two sections so repeat the first part

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We used to be close, but we drifted apart.

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Yeah, so we used to be close, this means we were close in the past, but then we just drifted apart.

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When you think of the verb drift, think of a piece of wood on the water

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and another piece of wood on the water

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and they're just going slowly in different directions finally we have to settle down now

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when you settle down you commit to a long -term relationship

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so repeat after me i've dated enough i'm ready to settle down

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good so

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if you are ready to settle down this means i am ready to commit to one person usually

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when you settle down you pick one place to be your home

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and basically you stay in

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that place for a long time you start a family many people start families

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or you just stay together with your partner and you're not interested in other people anymore, in dating other people.

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You just want to start a life with someone.

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So, that is it for this video.

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If you want to test your understanding of these 10 phrases, check out the quiz on engvid .com.

170

That's E -N -G -V -I -D dot com.

171

And don't forget, if you enjoyed this check out my YouTube channel you're probably watching this on YouTube

172

if you are click subscribe click like click share

173

and definitely definitely definitely turn on those notifications so

174

that you never miss anything that I make and finally pick up my book it's very good I have been told

175

It's like 4 .5 stars on Amazon right now.

176

I can't remember how many reviews.

177

I'm just going to say 500.

178

500 people have said that this book is amazing.

179

So check it out.

180

You can get the PDF from my website.

181

Check out the link that is attached to this video for more information.

182

And until next time, good luck with your love life.

183

Good luck with your English.

184

And in both cases, keep practicing.

185

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “11 Common Relationship & Dating Phrasal Verbs in English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: repeat, relationship, verb, connection, apart. This video has 185 sentences and 1839 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:14. The speaker talks at a steady 129 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
drift noun	/dɹɪft/	Anything driven at random.
verb noun	/vɝb/	A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
romantic adjective	/ɹoʊˈmæn(t)ɪk/	Fantastic, unrealistic (of an idea etc.); fanciful, sentimental, impractical (of a person).
settle verb	/ˈsɛtəl/	To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc).
cheat verb	/ˈt͡ʃiːt/	To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation.
format noun	/ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/	The layout of a publication or document.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
disco noun	/ˈdɪskoʊ/	A genre of dance music that was popular in the 1970s, characterized by elements of soul music with a strong Latin-American beat and often accompanied by…
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
connect verb	/kəˈnɛkt/	To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
commit verb	/kəˈmɪt/	To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
tense noun	/tɛns/	The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
practical adjective	/ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/	Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.
argue verb	/ˈɑɹ.ɡju/	To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break up verb		To break or separate into pieces.
drift apart verb		To lose contact, to lose one's friendship or closeness.
settle down verb		To make or become quiet and calm after a period of disturbance or restlessness.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
make up verb	/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/	To constitute, to compose.
pick up verb		To lift; to grasp and raise.
come back verb		To return to a place.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

This is the opposite of what we're doing.
To show romantic interest, you want someone's attention.
It sounds like you're falling in love.
It sounds like you're falling for them.
I can't remember how many reviews.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to be
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have hit · have been · i've dated
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is hit · have been told · is attached
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	Verbs, which has · them, which means · someone who is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 35 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/
Long words — get the stress right: associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like drift, verb, romantic.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 11 Common Relationship & Dating Phrasal Verbs in English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?