Shadowing Practice: Learn English with DESPICABLE ME — Gru is a Fairy Princess - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
292 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
No no no, what do you mean she's not coming?
2
I have a backyard full of these little girls who are counting on a visit from a fairy princess!
3
Die!
4
HURP!
5
Hey!
6
Hey, oh!
7
Oh!
8
Ugh...
9
Listen, I don't want a refund!
10
I want the fairy princess!
11
Please, please, I'm begging you.
12
You know what?
13
I hope that you can sleep at night, you crusher of little girl's thieves!
14
Oh, oh, when's the fairy princess coming?
15
Any minute now.
16
Yay!
17
Stole them.
18
Oh, yeah, Global Citizens, in today's lesson,
19
you learn English with a hilarious scene from Despicable Me 2.
20
So Gru is throwing a birthday party to Agnes, but when things don't go as planned, he has to improvise and it gets pretty chaotic.
21
Along the way you learn advanced everyday vocabulary that natives actually use in real situations.
22
Now to help you not only learn these expressions but also never forget them,
23
we want to give you access to all the smart flashcards from this lesson for free.
24
You can practice with them in our app by clicking the link below.
25
Thousands of learners just like you are becoming more fluent every day and having fun while doing it.
26
If that sounds like something you'd like, be sure to try out our method.
27
You only need a few minutes a day to see real progress.
28
Okay, so are you ready to jump back into our first scene and learn with it?
29
Let's do it!
30
so Agnes is having her birthday party in the backyard
31
and everything looks perfect princess costumes decorations
32
and even a fairy princess coming a backyard by the way
33
is simply the area behind your house where you might have a party a barbecue
34
or just relax now let's listen to what Gru is talking about on the phone.
35
When you count on someone or something, you depend on it or trust that it will happen.
36
Gru is saying the girls are expecting the fairy princess to show up.
37
See these other examples.
38
Galaxy is coming on us.
39
So it seems the fairy princes, Gru hired to entertain the party, won't be able to come.
40
Listen, I don't want a refund.
41
I want the fairy prince.
42
Please, please, I'm begging you.
43
They want to give Gru a refund.
44
That's when you get your money back after buying and then returning a product or canceling a service.
45
You may also hear natives use the word reimburse as a verb
46
or reimbursement as a noun which means the same thing check these examples
47
if there's been some kind of misunderstanding i'd be happy to refund your money just pay for it
48
and we'll reimburse you
49
when you get back listen i don't want a refund i
50
want to file a priest that's please please i'm begging you
51
to beg means to ask for something in a very emotional humble way
52
because you really need help now listen to these advanced expressions a guru uses here you know what i hope
53
that you can sleep at night you crusher of little girl's thieves.
54
I hope you can sleep at night is a sarcastic expression used when someone has done something wrong or cruel.
55
The real meaning is the opposite.
56
You're suggesting they shouldn't be able to sleep peacefully because of what they've done.
57
People also say, how can you sleep at night?
58
Or I don't know how you sleep at night to express the same thing.
59
And I ask him, I look them in the face and I say, how can you sleep at night knowing that you are ripping off working people?
60
Now, crusher of little girl's dreams is a creative insult Gru makes up.
61
It comes from a collocation to crush someone's dreams.
62
A collocation is when certain words frequently appear together.
63
Like the verb crush, which means destroy or ruin, forms collocations such as crush someone's dreams or hopes.
64
You can also crash in opposition or rebellion.
65
Any minute now means very soon, like it would happen at any moment.
66
For example, the bus should be here any minute now.
67
You can also hear any second now or any day now.
68
Check out these examples.
69
Is the ship ready yet?
70
Any minute now, just loading the last bit of cargo.
71
Ready or not, here I come!
72
I'm getting warmer any second now.
73
And he's going to college any day now.
74
Yay!
75
Stole them.
76
To stall means to keep people busy or distracted so something else can happen.
77
Gru is telling the minions to distract the kids and buy him time to figure out what to do.
78
To buy someone time is another way to say this.
79
Can't you stall?
80
Buy me some time.
81
I'm sorry.
82
I will buy you some time.
83
Let me ask you something.
84
When you are learning these new expressions with our lessons, can you count on your memory and use these words confidently in your next English conversation?
85
I don't want to be a crusher of your dreams, but the truth is, if you don't review the expressions we are learning today,
86
you are sure to forget them in hours or even minutes.
87
I've been there myself as an English learner, and we at RealLife English have also taught millions of English learners just like you.
88
And as a result, we created the perfect solution for you.
89
A set of flashcards for this lesson with Despicable Me that is available for free on our app.
90
These flashcards will help you remember the new words from this lesson forever.
91
The reason this works is that we put the science and the right technology behind it.
92
Basically, the app knows the exact expressions you've learned from all the lessons, and just when you're about to forget one, it brings it back to you to practice.
93
You only need 10-15 minutes daily for more natural English speaking.
94
Super easy.
95
Click the link in the description below to try the Real Life app right now for free
96
and start getting a bit more fluent every day.
97
Now let's see how Gru will get out of this situation in our next scene.
98
Oh, okay, okay, alright.
99
That's enough of the magic show.
100
Aww.
101
Wait, did you hear that?
102
It sounded like the twinkling sounds of magical fairy dust.
103
It's the fairy princess!
104
She's coming!
105
Look!
106
It is
107
I, Groose Zinkerbell, the most magical fairy princess of all.
108
And I am here to wish Princess Agnes a very happy birthday!
109
How come you're so fat? Because...
110
My house is made of candy!
111
And sometimes I eat instead of facing my problems!
112
How come you have- Okay, time for cake!
113
Yay!
114
Do you know what this word means?
115
The one Margie used here.
116
Wait, did you hear that?
117
It sounded like the twinkling sounds of magical fairy dust.
118
Literally, if something is twinkling, it is shining softly, making a loud noise, or moving very fast.
119
To twinkle is to shine repeatedly, softly, then strongly, as if flashing on and off very quickly.
120
A night sky in a dark place appears to be filled with stars that twinkle, almost like diamonds in the sky.
121
But here Margie uses this word to describe the sound of magical fairy dust.
122
So it creates this magical feeling like tiny bells in the air.
123
Now listen to how Gru presents himself as the fairy princess.
124
It is I, Gru's Zinkerbell.
125
Gru Zinkerbell is a joke name combining Gru with Tinkerbell, the famous fairy from Peter Pan.
126
Gru is trying to invent a fairy princess right there, so he mixes his name with the most famous fairy he can think of.
127
It sounds silly, and some kids can see that something isn't right.
128
How come you're so fat?
129
How come is an informal way to ask why.
130
It's very common in casual speech.
131
How come you're late?
132
How come she didn't call?
133
How come we can't go?
134
It sounds more friendly and conversational than saying, why are you so fat?
135
Now listen to Gru's response.
136
Because my house is made of candy.
137
And sometimes I eat instead of facing my problems.
138
Here we have another really common collocation.
139
Face your problems.
140
To face your problems means to deal with them directly instead of avoiding them.
141
And this verb, face, appears in a lot of similar collocations.
142
Face your fears, face reality, face the consequences.
143
All right, now let's watch the final part of the scene where the mom of one of Agnes' friends appears
144
and tries to set him up with someone, meaning to arrange a romantic meeting.
145
free time.
146
Looks aren't that important to her.
147
No, Jails, that is not happening!
148
Seriously, I'm fine.
149
Okay, fine.
150
Forget Natalie.
151
How about my cousin Linda?
152
No!
153
Oh, oh!
154
I know someone whose husband just died!
155
I'm sorry, I did not see you there. Or there.
156
Let's look at the vocabulary from Gillian's awkward matchmaking attempts.
157
Hey there, Gru, Mr. Life of the Party!
158
Life of the Party is an expression for someone who makes a party fun and exciting, the most entertaining, energetic and social person there.
159
What's wrong with you, Tarrant?
160
You used to be the life of the party.
161
Next, she uses an expression most learners aren't familiar with, but that natives use all the time.
162
So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but my friend Natalie is recently single and...
163
Go out on a limb means to take a risk, especially by expressing an opinion or doing something without being sure it will be accepted or successful.
164
A limb is a tree branch.
165
So the idea of this idiomatic expression is that if you go out on a limb, you're in a risky position.
166
The branch could break.
167
Again, figuratively, it means you're taking a chance.
168
Check out these two examples.
169
I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
170
These are the guys that want me dead, correct?
171
It's nothing personal.
172
Wow, what a night.
173
You'll never guess what happened to me.
174
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you were sleepwalking.
175
Later, when Gru says, get off the limb, he's playing with this expression,
176
telling her to stop, to not even try making this suggestion, because he's not interested.
177
But just to let you know, to get off the limb is not a standard expression.
178
By the way, here we have a good opportunity to practice advanced pronunciation.
179
Listen to the way Jillian pronounces the words, go out on a limb.
180
Let's break that down.
181
First, the words out and on become out on.
182
That happens because in American English, the T sound between the two vowels often sounds like a soft D.
183
And the two words link together.
184
Next, on A also get linked.
185
So we hear on a, on a.
186
Finally, the B in limb is silent.
187
When pronounces this word, we just stop at limb.
188
By the way, this happens to other words in English that end in B, like com, lem, num, and others.
189
So the whole expression when linked together into one smooth phrase sounds like go out on a limb.
190
Go out on a limb.
191
This is what we call connected speech when words get cut, reduced, and linked in a natural English speech.
192
Let's try repeating after Jillian.
193
I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
194
I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
195
Now, have you ever heard this expression to refer to a person?
196
Come on, she's a riot.
197
A riot is slang, meaning someone is extremely funny or fun to be around.
198
Check it out.
199
You and stupid Petricks are a riot.
200
You are a riot and I love your costume.
201
She sings karaoke.
202
She has a lot of free time.
203
Looks aren't that important to her.
204
Looks in this context means someone's appearance, how attractive they are.
205
Jillian is saying the way someone looks isn't important to her friend Natalie, which at the same time is rather insulting to Gru.
206
Now, are you ready for the final and most important step of the lesson?
207
We're gonna take everything you've just learned, the new vocabulary and pronunciation, and put it into practice.
208
You'll watch the whole scene again, this time without any subtitles, and answer some quiz questions.
209
Let's do it!
210
No, no, no. What do you mean she's not coming?
211
I have a backyard full of these little girls who are counting on a visit from a fairy princess.
212
What does it mean to count on someone?
213
To trust them to do something?
214
To ask them for help directly?
215
To hope they might help?
216
Listen!
217
I don't want a refund!
218
I want the fairy princess!
219
Please!
220
Please!
221
I'm begging you!
222
You know what?
223
I hope that you can sleep at night, you crusher of little girl thieves!
224
Oh, oh!
225
When's the fairy princess coming?
226
Any minute now!
227
Yaaaaay!
228
What's another way to say stole? To buy time
229
with the twinkling sounds of magical fairy dust.
230
It's the fairy princess!
231
She's coming!
232
Book!
233
It is I, Cruz Zinkerbell, the most magical fairy princess of all.
234
And I am here to wish Princess Agnes a very happy birthday.
235
How come you're so fat?
236
Because my house is made of candy.
237
And sometimes I eat instead of facing my problems.
238
How come you have...
239
Okay, time for cake.
240
Yay!
241
Hey there, Gru, Mr. Life of the Party.
242
Hello, Jillian.
243
So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
244
What does go out on a limb mean?
245
To say something very obvious.
246
To say something risky.
247
To share a fun idea.
248
But my friend Natalie is recently single and...
249
No, no, no. Get off the limb right now.
250
No limb.
251
Oh, come on.
252
She's a riot.
253
If someone is a riot, what does it imply?
254
They're always making people laugh.
255
They're causing problems around them.
256
Or they're very energetic but quiet.
257
She sings karaoke, she has a lot of free time, looks aren't that important to her.
258
No, Jels, that is not happening.
259
Seriously, I'm fine.
260
Okay, fine.
261
Forget Natalie.
262
How about my cousin Linda?
263
Go.
264
Oh, oh, I know someone whose husband just died.
265
I'm sorry, I did not see you there.
266
or there oh yeah amazing job guys now
267
if you are new to this youtube channel you should know
268
that every single week we make new lessons just like this one with celebrities movies
269
and tv series to help you understand fast speaking natives without getting lost without missing the jokes
270
and without subtitles so if
271
that sounds like something you want to be able to do hit the subscribe button
272
and the bell down below
273
so you never miss any of our new lessons remember to go
274
and practice what you learned today on the real life english
275
app you'll find a special link right in the description below
276
that'll take you straight to this lesson over there well okay maybe only He only speaks whale.
277
Do we need to find a son?
278
What are you doing?
279
What are you doing?
280
Are you sure you speak whale?
281
Can you give us a ray of light?
282
Dory?
283
Heaven knows what you're saying!
284
See?
285
He's swimming away.
286
Come back.
287
He's not coming back.
288
We've offended him.
289
Maybe a different dialect.
290
Dory.
291
Dory, this is not whale.
292
You're speaking like upset stomach.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
📺 Same Channel
B12
Idiom of the day: Off the charts 📈
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
![Learn English with The Simpsons [Advanced Lesson]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/19fxN2lXQXU/mqdefault.jpg)
C11
Learn English with The Simpsons [Advanced Lesson]
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
![Learn English with Disney+ | Soul [Advanced Lesson]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/e1Mno2A2N5E/mqdefault.jpg)
C13
Learn English with Disney+ | Soul [Advanced Lesson]
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
Learn English with SHREK — Meet the Fairy Godmother
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
Learn ENGLISH with ICE AGE
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2What LEVEL is Your English? — TEST with KUNG FU PANDA
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
LEARN ENGLISH with Frozen
Business EnglishTeensDaily Conversation
B22
Learn English with UP – Russel Meets Kevin the Snipe
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
![Learn English with Jennifer Aniston | The Morning Show [Advanced Lesson]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dsN6FiF9ncI/mqdefault.jpg)
B25
Learn English with Jennifer Aniston | The Morning Show [Advanced Lesson]
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B12
Learn English with DESPICABLE ME — Meet Gru Jr.
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B24
Learn English with ZENDAYA — Wedding Photos with Tom Holland: REAL or A.I.?
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B11
Learn English with FINDING NEMO — Dory Speaks Whale
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B14
Learn English with WILL SMITH — The Pursuit of Happyness
Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
B25 Tips to Feel Confident Speaking English — Lesson with Harvey from SUITS
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B16
Learn English with Ratatouille | Describing an Extraordinary Dish
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B1Learn ENGLISH with BTS — Interview with RM
TeensDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B12
Learn English with Michael Jackson
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B22
Learn English with WEDNESDAY — Fighting Bianca 🤺
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B210
Learn English with Disney's ELEMENTAL
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B21
Learn English with Disney's A BUG'S LIFE — Meet the Circus Bugs
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
✨ Recommend Video
B22
238 sentences
Learn English with The PRINCESS DIARIES — Fancy Dinner
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B236 sentences
Despicable Me (2010) 4K - Gru Wants To Steal The Moon | Movieclips
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B25
242 sentences
Learn English with Movies
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B14
126 sentences
Learn English with The Devil Wears Prada 👠 | Shadowing Practice
Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
B16
211 sentences
3 Practical Tips to Enjoy Learning English
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B22
43 sentences
Video
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B24
405 sentences
Learning English—How to learn ENGLISH SPEAKING—Learning English with movies | Rachel’s English
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B14
55 sentences
🇺🇸🇬🇧 Want to Improve Your English?#LearnEnglish #AmericanEnglish #BritishEnglish
Travel EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
264 sentences
Learn English From The Movies - Minions & Monsters Makes Bank, Is Clever, But Loses Its Magic
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B24
348 sentences
Real English Conversation: Advanced English Lesson
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B15
181 sentences
تعلم الانجليزية من الافلام / The Amazing Digital Circus
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
Learn English with Despicable Me: Gru’s Fairy Princess Chaos
Ever wondered how to pick up real, everyday English while laughing? The video dives into a hilarious scene from *Despicable Me 2* where Gru scrambles to save his daughter Agnes’ birthday party after the hired fairy princess bails. This relatable chaos is packed with natural phrases that natives use—perfect for IELTS speaking practice or just sounding more fluent. Let’s break down the key takeaways and how to practice them.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- Count on: To depend on or trust something will happen. Example: “The girls are counting on the fairy princess.” Useful for talking about expectations in work or life.
- Refund: Getting money back after canceling a service. Gru says, “I don’t want a refund!” Natives also use “reimburse” (verb) or “reimbursement” (noun)—try, “Can you reimburse me for the ticket?”
- Backyard: The area behind a house. Great for describing where you host parties or relax. “We had a barbecue in the backyard.”
- Improvise: To make do with what you have. Gru has to improvise when the fairy princess doesn’t show—essential for tricky situations!
- Begging: Asking desperately. “I’m begging you” shows urgency—perfect for polite but firm requests.
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Scene
The shadowing technique (repeating lines aloud right after the speaker) is a proven way to boost pronunciation and fluency. Here’s how to use it with this video:
- Listen first: Watch the scene once to get the gist. Notice Gru’s tone—he’s stressed but playful.
- Pause and repeat: Stop after short lines (like “No no no, what do you mean she’s not coming?”) and mimic his rhythm and intonation. Focus on how he stresses “no” and “mean.”
- Speed it up: Once you’re comfortable, try shadowing without pausing. This trains your brain to keep up with natural speech—key for English speaking practice.
- Record yourself: Compare your version to the video. Did you catch the “hurp” sound Gru makes? Small details like that make you sound more native.
- Practice daily: Even 5 minutes a day with this scene will improve your ability to handle fast, emotional dialogue—critical for real-life conversations (and IELTS speaking practice!).
For extra practice, use a shadowing site to slow down the audio or focus on specific phrases. The goal is to make these words and rhythms feel natural, so you can “improvise” like Gru when life throws you a curveball!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If that sounds like something you'd like |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | there's been · has done · they've done |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is made · be filled · will be accepted |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | noun which means · crush, which means · someone who makes |
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.