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Today's episode is about phrasal verbs with down as the particle or phrasal verbs that end in down, basically. That's what we call the adverb or preposition in a phrasal verb, the particle. But yeah, whatever. Phrasal verbs with down. If you heard the last phrasal verb episode, you know I now like to group them by particle rather than by main verb because it's easier to grasp or to understand the common thread between them and get a sense of them.
I'll go through these and then do a quick recap at the end. So here we go. Let's start the show. You are listening to episode 128 of English with Dane. Hit it. Okay, we have officially started the show, so let's get going with the first phrasal verb with down. This first one is to die down. To die down means to gradually become less strong, intense, powerful, or noisy.
For example, if there's a storm, una tormenta and you want to walk to the store to get some food or something, you should wait for the storm to die down before you leave. Maybe you're at a party and you're having a great time, but then people start to leave and the party starts to die down, so you go to a bar or something. To die down is similar to cool down in a way too. Cool down is usually more for temperature, but you can use it to talk about situations too.
Listen to this clip from the 2011 movie Attack the Block. They use both of these phrasal verbs.
No, I'm just saying we should wait till things cool down. Tell him it to cool down. Forget it, bro.
Alright, next up we have the phrasal verb to break down. This one you've definitely heard before, but it can be used in a variety of contexts. If your car breaks down, it stops working, deja de funcionar. So in this case, it means averiarse. If a person breaks down, they lose control of their emotions. It usually implies that the person started crying uncontrollably. But again, not the meaning I want to get into.
I want to talk about breakdown in the sense of explaining something step by step or in a way that's more clear or digestible. Dijerible, digestible. So, to break down as in to explain something piece by piece, let's say. If someone at work is telling you about the new digital marketing strategy or whatever, and they're going too fast for you, you say, Whoa, hold on, break it down for me. In other words, explain it parted because it's too much.
You can imagine it as someone literally taking something and breaking it down into smaller pieces that are easier to understand. Let's break this down. Next up, we have to cut down on something. If you cut down on something, you are reducing an amount of something, you hear it a lot in the context of people's diets, right? You can say things like, I'm trying to cut down on sugar. I heard he's cutting down on alcohol after going out every day last month.
Of course, you can also use this verb to say you're cutting down a tree or something, but I think it's more useful in terms of reducing the amount of something. Try cutting down on negativity and see how you feel. It's probably a good idea to cut down on snacking between meals. I'm trying to cut down on TV time, etc. A classic for cigarette smokers is I'm trying to cut down. You always hear that one.
I'm trying to cut down. Someone is worried about my health.
Let's move on to the next one. This one you've heard before, but it's a useful one to let someone down, to disappoint someone. This one is straightforward, as in there's no real mystery to it, just wanted an excuse to play that clip. But actually, there's something we can say. This phrasal verb is usually separated. He let them down, she let us down, they let her down, etc. We don't say he let down her. That sounds terrible, don't say it. He let her down, so he disappointed her.
Next up we have to write down. Not a difficult one to remember, but one that's really useful. This one is the equivalent of apuntar or anotar in Spanish. We usually use the verb write for longer things like emails, essays, etc. And we use write down for short, quick things. Write it down so you don't forget. We don't say write it so you don't forget. It's correct, but it's not that natural. Don't forget to write it down. I need to write this number down.
This one doesn't require separation always. You can say I need to write down this number or I need to write this number down. It's up to you. But if you're just using the pronoun, you have to separate it. You can't say write down it. Nope. You have to say write it down, as in apuntalo or anótalo.
We're collecting all the evidence, taking all the pictures and samples, writing everything down.
Alright, one more before I go. This last one is maybe one you haven't heard before, to track down. To track someone or something down means to find someone or something after having done some research. You look for information about someone or something and locate them. In movies, it's usually someone who has been gone for a while, someone who left without a trace. Someone comes along and tracks them down.
Frankie finally tracked them down. Learned they checked into their hotel six days earlier.
Okay, a quick recap before we finish. To die down, to gradually lose intensity, to break down, to separate information into smaller pieces that are easier to understand, to cut down on something, to reduce the quantity of something, to let someone down, to disappoint someone, to write down apuntar or anotar, to take note, and finally to track down, to find someone or something after having done some research. Okay, that's it for this episode of English with Dane. Thank you for listening.
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