Learn how to ask about the time, and how to use the expression "Excuse me"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Sadia: Hi, from New York. This is Sadia. Thanks for tuning in. |
| Keith: Hey and I’m Keith. Welcome to Gengo English, Lesson 20 - “You Better Ask Before You Do This in America” |
| Sadia: In our last lesson, Lesson 19, you learned how to express desire to to do something, and about adverbs of probability. |
| Keith: You also learned about "will" and the simple future tense, the verb, "to want," and, "probably/probably not/maybe." |
| Sadia: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask permission. |
| Keith: And the conversation takes place at a museum. |
| Sadia: The conversation is between Zo, a museum worker, and a security guard. |
| Keith: Alright, Sadia, are you ready to listen in? |
| Sadia: Let’s listen. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Zo: Excuse me, what time do you open? |
| Staff: At 10 am. |
| Zo: What time is it now? |
| Staff: 9:50 |
| Zo: Okay, I'll wait. |
| (10 00 a.m.) |
| Staff: Sorry to keep you waiting. |
| Zo: One, please. |
| Staff: That’ll be $20. |
| Zo: Here you are. |
| Staff: That's $20, exactly. Enjoy the museum. |
| Zo: Excuse me, can I take a photo here? |
| Security: I'm sorry, sir. No pictures. |
| Zo: How about video? |
| Security: Hmmm.... I guess that's all right. Go ahead. |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| Zo: Excuse me, what time do you open? |
| Staff: At 10 am. |
| Zo: What time is it now? |
| Staff: 9:50 |
| Zo: Okay, I'll wait. |
| (10 00 a.m.) |
| Staff: Sorry to keep you waiting. |
| Zo: One, please. |
| Staff: That’ll be $20. |
| Zo: Here you are. |
| Staff: That's $20, exactly. Enjoy the museum. |
| Zo: Excuse me, can I take a photo here? |
| Security: I'm sorry, sir. No pictures. |
| Zo: How about video? |
| Security: Hmmm.... I guess that's all right. Go ahead. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sadia: It seems as though our main character, Zo, is visiting a museum. |
| Keith: Yeah, sounds like it! And it’s so... quiet! [laughs] |
| Sadia: Museums kind of tend to be that way-- which I think is a little bit strange, especially, like, when the art is modern and crazy, and the museum is so sterile and it’s so quiet! |
| Keith: Well you have to be quiet. You have to appreciate the art. Wow, it’s so beautiful. If it’s too loud, it’s not good. |
| Sadia: Anyway, it seems that Zo wants to take photographs in the museum. |
| Keith: But the security guard tells him, “You can’t do it!” |
| Sadia: That's right. The guard does, however, allow Zo to take some video footage, which is interesting. |
| Keith: Yeah, it’s a little different, huh? |
| Sadia: He sounds unsure though if taking a video is okay, but he let's Zo do it anyway! He puts his job on the line for a perfect stranger! |
| Keith: Sadia, what does that mean? |
| Sadia: Job on the line. He risks losing his job for a stranger. |
| Keith: Zo. |
| Sadia: He allows him to do something that may or may not be OK. |
| Keith: Yeah, he might not have a job tomorrow. That’s why he’s such a noble man, if I do say so myself [laughs]. |
| Sadia: Actually, It’s not uncommon for museums to not allow photography, especially flash photography, which I’ve heard can kind of ruin the artwork, especially older art—not to mention, it’s really disturbing for other museum-goers. |
| Keith: Yeah, a lot of flashes, when you’re trying to take a look at the art |
| Sadia: Yeah. |
| Keith: Alright, so let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Keith: The first word we shall see is... |
| Sadia: to open [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to make available for use |
| Sadia: to open [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to open [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| now [natural native speed] |
| Keith: at the present moment |
| now [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| now [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: to wait [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to stay in place |
| Sadia: to wait [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to wait [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: dollar [natural native speed] |
| Keith: United States (US) money |
| Sadia: dollar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: dollar [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: exactly [natural native speed] |
| Keith: perfectly, not more or less |
| Sadia: exactly [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: exactly [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: to take [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to get into one's possession; to capture |
| Sadia: to take [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to take [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: photo [natural native speed] |
| Keith: photograph; an image on paper |
| Sadia: photo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: photo [natural native speed] |
| Keith: Next... |
| Sadia: video [natural native speed] |
| Keith: moving picture with sound |
| Sadia: video [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: video [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sadia: Let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase we’ll look at is, “What time is it now?” |
| Keith: The phrase is the same as, “What time is it at this very moment?” |
| Sadia: "What time is it now?" |
| Keith: The next phrase is, "One please." |
| Sadia: Zo approaches the museum ticket window and he says, “One please.” The noun, “ticket,” is implied—that is, Zo doesn’t say “ticket,” but the context of the conversation, the subject of the conversation suggests that he’s talking about purchasing a ticket. So he says, “One please.” |
| Keith: If you’re at a ticket office or a ticket window, I think he’ll know it’s one of a ticket. |
| Sadia: This dialogue too is another example of like, a quick business transaction; there is no time for small talk, no time for being pleasant or nice. |
| Keith: Sadia, what's next? |
| Sadia: Next is, "That’s $20, exactly." |
| Keith: So Zo gives the museum worker $20 dollars—he doesn’t give him more or less. |
| Sadia: $20 exactly. A similar phrase is, “$20 even.” |
| Keith: Well, the next phrase we have is, "I'm sorry. No pictures." |
| Sadia: This phrase is short for, “I’m sorry, but you can’t take pictures here.” |
| Keith: And of course, the next phrase is, "How about video?" |
| Sadia: So when he learns that he’s not allowed to take photographs, Zo asks, “How about video?” What's this mean? |
| Keith: This is short for, “How about video? May I take video footage?” May I record with a video camera? |
| Sadia: The next one I love-- it's, "Hmmm..." |
| Keith: [laughs] That’s not really a word or a phrase, but kind of like a sound.. |
| Sadia: Yeah. |
| Keith: You use that to show that the person speaking is thinking! Hmm... |
| Sadia: Hmm... I wonder what the next phrase is... |
| [chuckles] |
| Keith: Well, next is, 'I guess that’s alright." |
| Sadia: Okay. When Zo asks about taking video footage, the security guard, the noble security guard says, “I guess that is alright.” |
| Keith: And this means, I’m not entirely sure if it’s okay, I’m not 100 percent sure, but I will let you do it. You can do it.. |
| Sadia: Nice guy! That’s risky business! [laughs] |
| Keith: Okay! Last phrase. “Go ahead” and this is an informal way of saying, “Yeah, you can do it,”granting permission. |
| Sadia: Go ahead. The more formal, or polite, way to grant permission is to say, “Yes, you may.” |
| Keith: And that’s the same as, “Go ahead.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sadia: The focus points of this lesson are time expressions (Part 2), the phrase, "What time do you...?" and the phrase, "Excuse me." Let's start with time expressions. |
| Keith: When Zo arrives at the museum, he asks about the opening time, and the museum worker, he tells Zo it opens at 10 o’clock. |
| Sadia: Zo asks about the current time and he discovers that he’s a little early—so he can’t buy his ticket or go into the museum. He asks, "What time is it now?" |
| Keith: And the museum worker says, "9:50." |
| Sadia: Another way, though to express 9:50 is to say, “It’s 10 to 10,” |
| Keith: And that’s short for 10 minutes to 10 o’clock. That’s a good point, Sadia. With English, it’s not at all uncommon to tell the time in terms of how far away it is from the next hour. |
| Sadia: What that means is 9:50 is 10 minutes away from 10 o’clock. 9:50, you could say, it’s “10 to 10.” |
| Keith: How about another example? 2:55. so that means, it means, 5 minutes until 3 o’clock. So you would say 5 to 3 |
| Sadia: Here's an interesting one - 12:45 would be quarter to 1, which means it’s 15 minutes until 1 o’clock. 15 minutes is one-quarter of an hour, so 12:45 is “quarter to 1.” |
| Keith: So remember, this alternative way of talking about time is used usually when the next hour will begin in less than 30 minutes. |
| Sadia: Let's practice. What’s another way to say 2:45? |
| Keith: So that would be a quarter to 3. What about 5 to 6-- how else can you say 5 to 6? |
| Sadia: 5 minutes until 6 o’clock. So that would be 5:55. |
| Keith: Exactly. Now you know two main ways to talk about time. |
| Sadia: With practice, it gets easier, right? |
| Keith: Definitely need practice, though, yeah.. |
| Sadia:What's next, Keith? |
| Keith: Our next focus is the phrase, "What time do you…?" And then fill in the blank |
| Sadia: Zo walks up to the ticket counter and says, “What time do you open?” The phrase, |
| “What time do you open?” is a casual, informal way of asking, “At what time will you open?” |
| Keith: And you'll probably hear this phrase used in a lot of places, for a lot of different events. For example, if you’re at a hotel, and you want to know, um, going to be hungry in the morning, "What time do you serve breakfast?" |
| Sadia: Or, "What time do you close?" if you’re at a store. Or even, if you’re at a theater, "What time do you start the program?" or “What time do you start the show?” |
| Keith: How about, "What time do you serve your last customer?" |
| Sadia: An alternative to “What time do you…?” is, “What time WILL you…?” |
| Keith: So, "What time WILL you serve breakfast?" and "What time WILL you close?" |
| Sadia: "What time WILL you start the program?" or "What time WILL you serve your last customer?" |
| Keith: They’re all the same thing. What time DO you and What time WILL you... Our next focus is, "Excuse me…" |
| Sadia: Zo says to the museum security guard, “Excuse me, can I take a photo here?” The phrase, “Excuse me” has many, many meanings, I think. |
| Keith: We talked about “Excuse me” in one of the earlier lessons, and that was when Zo was trying to pass Michelle, who sat next to him on the plane. |
| Sadia: From getting someone’s attention maybe to asking someone to repeat himself (because you didn’t understand), let’s take a look at a few sentences that include, “Excuse me.” If you're addressing a group of people you could say, "Excuse me; can I have your attention please?" |
| Keith: So maybe if you're asking a stranger for directions you can say, "Excuse me; do you know how to get to Central Park from here?" |
| Sadia: Or even if, let's say you were asking a person in a theater to stand up so that you could pass. You'd say, "Excuse me; may I pass you?" |
| Keith: So, we've covered a lot of ground today. We talked about a lot of things, Sadia. |
| Sadia: You learned how to express time in two different ways, how to use the phrase, "What time do you...?" and when to say, "Excuse me..." |
Outro |
| Keith: Alright, well that’s all for now. |
| Sadia: Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time. Bye. |
| Keith: Bye-bye. |
Comments
Hide