This is the All Airs English Podcast, episode 2412, when go means said in English. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection knowledge. not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Does it sound weird to you when someone says I go when they meant I said? Today, find out how to elevate your stories for more connection using a native speaker trick in English. In today's global market good enough English isn't enough. Are you ready to compete?
In meetings, interviews, and negotiations, take our free fluency quiz to find out if your English is ready for the world stage. Are you B1, B2, or C1? And how can you level up? It's fast, it's free, and it could give you the edge you need. Start your fluency quiz now at allersenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allersenglish.com. slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Hey, Aubrey, I've got a question for you today. All right, let's hear it. So how do you ask for recommendations?
I usually go, what is something you discovered recently that I might not know about? Yes. What about you? How do you ask for breakfast? Kind of the same thing? Yeah. I might say, hey, what would you recommend for a good restaurant? Or sometimes I go, Hey, where do you like to go out to eat? Something like that. I don't know. That's the first thing that comes to mind. And speaking of recommendations, I want to recommend anyone who has HBO. There is a movie that was recently in theaters.
called Companion that you have got to see. I highly recommend it, but there's a cat. Don't watch a preview and don't look at the movie poster because there's a really fun plot twist. that the preview spoils. So if you could try to watch the film without seeing the preview, you're going to enjoy it so much more. And then leave a comment on YouTube. I want to hear your thoughts. I loved it. I was just telling Lindsay about it. You've got to watch it.
So good. Sounds intriguing. Alright, I'll have to watch that tonight. Not crazy, just interesting. Okay, good. Well, excellent. So today's episode, we're talking about what, Aubrey, what are we getting into today? You might have noticed in our little conversation at the start that we said go a couple times. I said, I usually go.
What's something you discovered? And then you said how you go. And did we actually mean go? Are we going anywhere? Are you going somewhere? Are we taking a road trip somewhere? No. No. We mean said. Often in English, we say go. I go. He went. And what I mean is I say or I said
This is what I said. Such a strange thing to do. We do it all the time. Super weird, but we're going to get into it today because we want our listeners to know real English. This is not textbook English. This is not what you learn in a typical class, right? And the episode's inspired by one of our listeners on YouTube. By the way, guys, go to YouTube and find All Ears English and hit the subscribe button.
Right, Aubrey? Exactly. This was a question on YouTube. They said this was story bits in Russian. Sounds like an amazing YouTube channel. They said, amazing episode, second time re-listening. I've also noticed you used he goes. And then she goes in other episodes instead of, and then he says, Would that apply to I as well? Could you say, and then I go? Or does that sound weird?
Thank you. Oh, it's such a good question. And so observant of this listener to hear that and ask that question. And it is very native and natural. So Aubrey, what do our listeners need to know as we get into this? Yeah, because this is a perfect follow-up to a recent episode that we did about reported speech. We do this in English, and there are a lot of things we say, I was all, I was like, and this is one of the ways we do that that we didn't cover on the first one. Yeah, so stay at the end.
We're going to share which episode that was so you can listen to it if you missed it because reported speech is one of the best ways to make your stories more interesting. Yep, guys, might as well go ahead and hit that follow button right now. As you're listening, this is your opportunity to make sure you get every single episode of All There's English five days a week, including Sassy Saturdays.
I'm dropping into your listening queue wherever you're listening, Spotify. And if you're on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. All right. Good. There are just many options when reporting speech. So I'm not shocked that we didn't think to mention this one. But we do use it a lot. We use it to report speech and actions, but not thoughts. This is sort of interesting as I thought about it. I would never say, you know, so then I go.
What are you doing when that's something I thought, right? There are other ways I would say I was like, I was all, and I might report something I thought. Yes. Go. It just means said something that I said or did. Got it. Okay, perfect. And so to answer the first question, though, we can use it for any subject, right? That's important to know because that was one of the things that he asked.
yeah exactly right i go he goes any subject you can do this and we also do it in the past tense right i went meaning i said so it's interesting because if you say i go This means you've already switched to the present tense in your story, which we do all the time. We also talked about this recently on the podcast that we'll switch. We'll start in the past tense. We'll switch to the present to bring our listener in. So they're there with us.
So then I open the box and out jumps, right? We moved the present tense because it's more interesting. Yeah, exactly. So our listeners want to have their ears ready for this kind of quick movement, interchanging between organically moving between tenses. So let's get some real practical examples here, Aubrey. Shall we? Perfect. First, we'll talk about speech. We use this, I go, he goes. It just means said, I said. So for example, I might be telling a story and then I say...
I go, what's your name? And he's like, you can't remember my name. And I'm talking about something that happened in the past, but I'm using the present tense. I go, what's your name? And what I mean is I said, what's your name? Yes, I love it. It really brings you in so much more. Or here's another example. He goes, why are you here? And she's all.
Don't you know? And it's interesting to think about these couldn't be thoughts, right? If I just thought, oh, no, what's his name? I don't remember. I would not say. I go, what's his name? No, because then the person I'm talking to will assume that I'm saying I said that out loud. We wouldn't use I go for thoughts. But can we put it in the past tense? We can, right? Absolutely. How would that look?
Yeah. So for example, I'm telling a story and then I might say, so then I went, I don't know about this. And he was like, yeah, I'm not sure either. So same thing when I say I went, I mean, I said. It's just another way. We don't want to say, I said, I said, I said, I was like, I was all, I went, all of these mean, I said. And again, you know, if you're just tuning in now, we're not talking about traveling anywhere, going anywhere, right? We're going anywhere. All right. Here's another example.
They went, you're kidding. And I was just like, no, I'm not. And it's really interesting to think about, you probably wouldn't repeat, I went there, right? We don't want to be redundant. We don't want to be repetitive. So we probably wouldn't say, they went, you're kidding. And I went, no, I'm not.
to do the exact same one again exactly feels redundant so we have all these different options to switch it up we're trying to get away from the redundancy of using i said he said she said right we're getting away so we might as well be mixing it up with our choices Okay, so that was the first one, speech. And what about action?
Yeah, so of course we also use this for actions, meaning, you know, went. So we'll describe actions in the past and then also in the present tense to make the listener feel like they were there. So for example, I could say... So then I go through the gate and close it very slowly so it doesn't squeeze. So what I'm doing, I've been telling about a story. Maybe I'm sneaking onto someone's property or sneaking out of my house when I'm a kid breaking curfew and I switch to the present tense.
So this is to keep in mind that if you hear someone say, so then I go, they might mean I said, and they might mean they actually physically did something. That's why we have to look at the whole context, right? I mean, so again, just so we're not confused, now we are talking about physically going somewhere. Exactly. Actual actions. Yes. Okay. Here's another example.
We'd only been there five minutes when he goes up the ladder and onto the roof. And look what I did there, right? I switched the tense into present tense. right away from my present perfect or past perfect right you're in past perfect first we had only been there five minutes but then you're not going to stay in past perfect the whole time because that's feeling so far removed we switch to present tense
to pull the people in. Now they're right there with us watching this guy go up the ladder. And you can see I get extra energy in my voice. And I do that on purpose because I'm trying to bring the listener in. Exactly. Every runner knows the moment when everything clicks When your legs lock into a rhythm, the aches float away and doubts fade Replaced by a feeling of euphoria It's why you lace up at dawn. Why a little rain doesn't stop you. Why one run turns into a
So next time you go for a run, chase that runner's high. Learn more about running and go wild at puma.com. Okay, Aubrey, I think this will be best displayed through a signature roleplay here that our listeners love. So here you are telling me about something that happened to you when you were paddle boarding.
I like to go paddleboarding. This really did happen. I don't think I've ever told this story on the podcast, but maybe I did. Okay. So this is to be able to use someone's reported speech. I love paddleboarding. We paddleboard on the Salt River here. Do you go paddleboarding, Lindsay? I've done it a couple of times.
There's not a lot of bodies of water in Colorado, which we struggle with. Right, absolutely. A lot of people will tube the river. They have these inflatable tubes. So you do the paddleboard? We take paddleboards because if the river's low, there are these big rocks that you might hit.
And if you're in a tube, that's very painful. Whereas the paddleboard, no problem. As long as you don't fall off the paddleboard. I mean, are we talking about rapids here? But the river's not, it's not like rapids, right? There are new places that are a little faster, but for the most part, it's just like an easy float.
Yeah, pedal boarding is fun. It's a low lift activity. It's easy. It's fun. You can hang out, bring your dog on the pedal board. It's so fun. Yes, exactly. All right, I'll start us out. Ready? We lugged everything to the river, four heavy paddle boards, and then realized we had forgotten the pump. Oh no! So I go back to the car and I knew the kids would get impatient so I'm running. Well how far was it? We had parked maybe like half a mile away. Oh yeah, that's a bit of a hype. Yeah, so then
I'm about to pass this group of teenagers unloading their car and one of them goes, Karen incoming. Oh, what? Karen? Why? I have no idea. So I stop and I go, did you just call me Karen? You did? Yes, I wanted to know why. And one of the boys looks kind of sheepish and he goes, Because you were running. Oh, we know. Yes, I know. I remember this story. I wonder how many of our listeners. This is a great quiz for who's been a longtime listener.
If this is familiar to you, you have probably been with us a while. Yeah, I love this story. Oh my gosh. It's a very vivid story. I can totally imagine it. Right? Yeah. And I know whenever I tell people this story, they're like, really? You like stopped and went?
Did you just call me Karen? I'm like, yeah, I really wanted to know why. I give you credit for that. I give you credit. I think it's fair. It's hard to ask that question. I don't know why we're in a society that doesn't really push back at all. And you're pushing back in a very...
you know, non-controversial way. You just want to know why. But when I told my daughter, my teenage daughter about this, she was mortified that I had stopped and talked to them. And she was also not surprised. She's like, yeah, no. She's like, you were wearing flip-flops.
And like, you know, whatever, swimsuit and shorts. She's like, no one my age would ever run. Like we're walking unless we're in like athletic clothes and intentionally exercising. Oh my gosh, it's so funny. I've never thought about it. It's a whole other world. It's a whole other world. I think to myself.
was I that different from my parent right as a teenager I don't know you know it's just so interesting but so let's go through this because I have we intentionally used it here a few times so the first I said, so I go back to the car and I knew the kids and this is the actual action, right? I mean, I went back to the car, but I am telling a story and I'm trying to pull you in as if you're right there with me. So I use present tense.
So I go back to the car and then I switch back to past. I knew the kids would get impatient and then I go to present continuous. So I'm running. so i use three different tenses in this sentence just to make the story interesting impressive right really impressive yeah really interesting and then you i said we had parked maybe half a mile away and i said oh yeah that's a bit of a high And this is a little bonus to say a hike that meaning significant distance.
I just added this because I say this a lot. Oh man, that's quite a hike. It doesn't have anything to do with hiking. This doesn't mean a real hike. We use this to mean pretty far. Yes. Yeah. And that's a good, that's a common, a common comment, right? When someone says something as far, oh, it seems like quite a high. Yes. And then I said, I was talking about how they had said Karen incoming. They called me Karen. And so then I, so I stop and I go, did you just call me Karen?
And this is where what I mean is I said, that's what I said to them. I just stopped. I was like, did you just call me Karen? Which was really confrontational to me. I'm usually not that confrontational, but I was confused. And I really hate this Karen term. And I wanted to know why. What did I do? And they said it loud enough that I'm like, if they don't want me to hear it, they should say it more quietly. Right, right. I was like right there.
And here I am, I'm responding with surprise. And I said, what, Karen, why? Why did they call you that? Right. And I said, I had no idea. So I stop and I go, did you just call me Karen? Right. So I mean, I said. but this would happen all the time we might say i was all i was like i was like did you just call me karen or we'll use this i go did you just call me karen yeah i love that and both of these are in the present tense so i stop and i go
And listen to the intonation there, too. We probably talked about that with that other episode on Reported Speed. It's almost like you're hanging. I go, did you just call me Karen? It's an intonation thing. That little space. We slow it down, give it a little space.
before we report what we said or what we thought in the past. And I could have gone into the past. I could have said, so then i stop and i went did you just call me karen both we use them interchangeably we switch back and forth all the time every single time you can say i go or i went he goes or he went means the same thing they both mean they said Yep. And you've still got your listener kind of wanting more information. So I said you did.
And then you said, I wanted to know why. And then this is interesting. I said, one of the boys looks kind of sheepish. And he goes, because you were running. So notice the present tense here. I'm describing, I'm adding interesting details. I could use past simple here. The boy looked kind of sheepish. Absolutely. Time doesn't really matter. But because I've tried to pull you into the story, I'm describing him in the present tense.
And I narrate this in the present tense. He goes because you are running, meaning he said this. Yeah. And as a double bonus for our listeners who are really ready for it, the word sheepish, embarrassed, right? A little bit embarrassed. Embarrassed. a little ashamed of what they had done because i called them out on it and more than anything he probably felt sort of sheepish about saying it loud enough that I heard it.
He probably wasn't embarrassed to call me Karen, but he didn't mean for me to hear it. He only wanted his friends to hear it. That's what he gets for talking too loudly. Oh, man. All right. This is really good stuff. So our listeners, where should they go? What other episodes should they check out?
Yeah, we want to make sure you don't miss basically part one. This ended up being a great follow-up with this amazing question that our listener asked. And that was episode 2401, how to be a more interesting storyteller in English. We taught about narrating speech and thought. Interestingly, with iGo, you can't... narrate thoughts It's just for speech and action, but there's a lot of other interesting ways that we narrate speech in English.
Yeah, so this was a pretty advanced episode. I'm not going to lie, right? So go back and listen again if you want to and try to start to implement a little bit of this go into your... storytelling, right? Absolutely. That's the way to do it. We've got to start using it. We're excited for you to use reported speech and thoughts as you're telling stories. This really does Pull in your listener. It makes it so much more interesting, engaging as if they were right there with you while this happened.
Exactly. And let's not forget why we're here. We're here for human connection. Connection, not perfection. So it's about the story. So if you... botch the grammar, it's okay, right? If you say it in the wrong tense and, oh, I couldn't do that, I could do that, Aubrey Lindsay said, I can't, I can't, no. Remember, make the eye contact, share the story. Help them figure out why it was funny. You've accomplished your goal. Okay, and next time you'll get the grammar right.
Absolutely. I love that. I would much rather to talk to someone who has an interesting story, even if they make 20 grammar errors. I don't mind. We've connected. They've told me a great story. I love it. Alright, good stuff, Aubrey. We'll see you next time. Have a good day. Awesome. See you next time. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash
fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.