to ASK

Welcome to season 7 of FYI. This season instead of tackling topics we’ll discover the most common verbs in the English language! Learning about the verb ASK is not a big ASK. Just ASK around on this week’s episode of FYI!

Transcript

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welcome to season 7 of FYI this season instead of tackling topics we'll discover the most common verbs in the English language learning about the verb ask is not a big ask just ask around on this week's episode of FYI welcome to for your info English you got it got it hello hello hello welcome fyers welcome to another exciting edition of FYI you can ask around this is the coolest English show Under the Sun and there's our first word we're going to look at today to ask around in Spanish you say same kind of idea no to ask around think of it like you're your your circle of friends your family you're asking around asking a lot of different people and that was in our intro today as well as ask as a noun I said that is not a big ask and uh an Ask as a noun also means a request now this is interesting because when I was a kid you didn't use it like that right we would say oh that's a that's a tall order that's an idiomatic expression that means oh you're asking a lot of me much that's a tall order but now because the language is is a living language and it's constantly evolving well that's what we use now we say the word ask that's a big ask instead of you're asking a lot of me I guess it's because it's shorter and it makes sense and there are many examples of that of things that weren't used when I was in school that are now used and uh and well that's interesting as I said because it's a living breathing language and that is freaking awesome so welcome to this episode of FYI on the verb ask if you're listening to the show live right now well Christmas is right around the corner and what did you ask Santa for and we're using the verb ask even more now to ask for is beid what are you asking Santa for this Christmas season to ask for now it's interesting though because when we're in a restaurant we don't say I'd like to ask for the F and the soup of the day no in this case we would say to order so what you're seeing is there is a a link between order and ask for because we already said before that's a tall order it's a tall order so as we see here and we do on all of our shows we play with the language why because if you can play with the language you can have fun in the language you can enjoy the language and most importantly you can feel comfortable you can feel cozy like you're at home and speaking of being at home I've got over 27 five students right now in my home not my physical home we wouldn't fit uh maybe maybe uh 1% of that of that would fit I've got quite a small house to be honest well Madrid it's not cheap you know the you know the rest but I've got uh over 260 amazing students in my online community on patreon it's patreon.com Alberto Al so you guys can join for free you can join for free and this way you'll get early access to some posts but if you guys want to go the extra mile in your English if you want to really learn and want to really learn with me there's so much more that's right if you go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso right now you'll see there are bonus episodes every week and in the bonus episode today we're going to talk about idiomatic expressions with the verb ask we'll also take a look at phrasal verbs we'll look at it in pop culture as well and then at the end I put you to the test all of that stuff is in the bonus episode every week you can get the bonus episode you can even get the PDF document that I'm using right now that I put together my script and use it as a study guide so you can follow along and remember I always urge you to follow along aloud remember you can you can practice your listening you're definitely going to do that but why not practice your speaking too especially when I highlight something and I say for example I watched it there I say say it with me watched it because the T from watched really goes with the it did you watch it yeah I watched it all right and speaking of you can watch this a shout out right now to my Interstellar students who get the vodcast the video podcast so a shout out to all my patrons especially my Interstellar students Carmen lenina Issa bako David Jose Maria and Edgard and those students even get a class with me every week so next week will'll be reviewing this class that you're listening to right now and the bonus episode plus I do a monthly Master Class where I tackle a c a certain topic um I've done ones on motivation and dos and don'ts and studying so there is a plethora of content at your fingertips it depends how much you want to get involved but uh if you come on board you can come on board for free just to get your feet wet this is an expression that means uh just to test the water just to in I think you would say in Spanish so think about it no don't think about it do it go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and start learning English and having fun with us because we are laughing learning and sharing together all right so let's take a look we've already looked at some different uses of ask but let's define this very common verb right now now first let's look at the pronunciation ask so I you don't know how many people I've heard say ask a shout out to Jos Maria he doesn't say it anymore but he used to say ask me and you know I love you hos Maria but I I couldn't do that to you man you know I don't want to a anybody now there are people who say axe but let me tell you something it sounds really ghetto ask me what did you ask me a so let's say kulo together ask ass is kulo ask and we put a t now the the difficult part here is now when we add the Ed asked I know that's the sound it's like pretend you have a drum kit no asked it's really difficult but if you can do it you can do it in asked walked talked uh if you're in my community I've passed you lists many times of the three columns of pronunciation for regular verbs you've got agreed you've got asked and you've got wanted notice all three of them have different endings and you can categorize them but it's a great way to practice them did you watch it yes I watched it that's in the T category so that's another thing you can do when you're taking notes too and you see the verb put a t over it and then you know well in the past tense I just add a t sound asked another thing with this verb a lot of people say ask to me a me I get it but that's not how we say it we say ask me Alberto can I ask you a question ask me or shoot shoot ask away to ask away but be careful with that it's a very common M mistake not I asked to my mother see know I asked my mother it's not easy but if you can do it once you can do it a million times the verb ask means to request information advice or permission from someone okay pretty straightforward uh the word advice be careful with that word we don't say advices we say can you give me some advice we don't say can you give me an advice it's uncountable can you give me some advice now that whether it's one or two you can say a piece of advice but why if you can just say can you give me some advice I'm going to give you some advice and the verb is to ad advise repeat after me give me some advice could you please advise me all right it can also mean to inquire about something or to request something to be given or done and we've taken a look at both of those verbs to give and to do if you haven't listened to those episodes give them a listen all right uh some of the uses and some examples which is the important part to request information it's used when you want to know something or get information from someone so an example I asked him about the meeting schedule now again I told you this is not easy to pronounce I asked now you can do two things here you can say I asked him and that's asked him or I asked him and there it sounds like you're putting the T with I am like Tim Tim Burton did you ask Tim did you ask Tim Burton yeah I asked Tim when hey I'm serious so it's a good way to remember it I asked him about the meeting schedule say it with me say it aloud until you can say it I asked him I asked him I asked him about the meeting schedule the British sh say schedule schedule we say schedule now I want you to turn that into a question did you did you did you ask him no forget about that H did you ask him now it sounds like ask Kim Kim Jong-un did you ask Kim yeah I asked Kim I asked Tim I ask him every day I ask him every day so did you ask him about the meeting schedule can you ask me in British English did you ask him ask him see they they said a little we say ask him they say ask him did you ask him about the meeting the meeting schedule see it's hard to do for me did you ask him about the meeting schedule the next one is can I ask you a question can I can I goes together can I ask you you notice you can I ask you can I ask you a question okay not can I ask to you a question and I always found this one to be a bit redundant why well isn't that a question so it would be can I ask you a second question because that's a question and questions end with a question mark another usage is to request action or help okay so it's used when you want someone to do something or to help out with something some examples she asked me asked me right really important that we learn how to put these together she asked me to help her not help her she asked me to help her with the project she asked me to help her with the project did you say it she asked me to help her with the project all right ask me in a question did she ask you to help her did she ask you did she ask you to help her with the project yeah she asked me to help her with the project of course she did she needed a hand speaking of a hand give yourselves a hand well if you're if you're participating if you're doing the work here there's no way you're not going to improve you're definitely going to improve without a shadow of a doubt I think you said seeno in Spanish all right uh the next one they asked for now again the four is fur they asked for more time because I'm not going to say they asked for so fur they asked for more time to complete the assignment say it with me what are you asking for I'm asking for a few extra minutes so F they asked for more time to complete the assignment can you ask me go ahead they uh did they ask you did they ask you for more time yeah they asked me for more time to complete the assignment another one to request permission this sounds like NASA requesting permission it's used when you want to know if it's okay to do something right if you're looking for the green light the thumbs up the AOK and some examples I asked if I could leave early I really want you to focus on that I asked if I could leave early I asked if I could leave could sin right could leave early ask me did you ask if you could leave early did you ask did you did you ask if you could leave early yeah I asked if I could leave early oh no not today I did didn't ask if I could leave early today I asked if I could leave early yesterday all right another example he asked his boss he asked his boss for a day off remember we don't say a free day we say a day off he asked his boss for a day off did you say it like me or something like that okay ask me we're using that ask a lot there ask me not ask to me we already said okay did he did he we've looked at this structure many times it's did he ask his boss for a day off so will he his those hes are gone when it comes time to say it did he ask his boss for a day off yeah he asked his boss for a day off all right when was the last time you asked your boss for a day off okay the next one is to request something be given okay and so it's used when you want someone to give you something to hand it over as we've looked at in the past so she asked for for she asked for a glass of water for I so it's always F she asked for a glass of water how would you say what did she ask ask for what did she what did she ask for Eon what did he we know the did he what did he ask for he asked for or he asked for he asked for a glass of water is f he asked for a glass of water all right another one they asked for directions to the nearest or closest gas station they asked for directions to the nearest gas station ask me um IND did they did they ask for directions yeah they asked for directions to the nearest gas station remember the British call it a petrol station yeah well that's what they do the next example or usage I should I should say is to pose a question okay to ask a question another way a more formal way is saying to pose a question so it's used when you direct a question to someone an example the teacher asked the class what they thought about the book the teacher asked the class so making people think right ask the class what they thought about the book okay ask me did the teacher ask the class what they thought about the book thought bought fought caught right did the teacher did she did he did she it's it's I I honestly recommend instead of practicing with the teacher or the petrol station or the gas station you practice with with it and he or she why it's more common so and normally you wouldn't say yes the teacher in a normal conversation uh did your wife say that yeah she said she was coming later right I would never say yeah my wife so it's only a natural speech unless you need to practice the pronunciation of you know uh gas station or or the per you know the the country or whatever the the the subject is I would always stick with he she it they why because then you're practicing how you would answer in any situation right so yeah he asked the class what they thought about the book did he did he ask the class did she did she ask the class what they thought about the book to ask and another example he asked her asked her so he asked her how she was feeling how would you ask that in a question did he ask her how she was feeling did he did he ask her how she was feeling yeah he asked her how she was feeling and remember now that we're talking about asking questions right uh we've got direct and indirect questions so let's see let's practice a little bit what time is it do you know so now I want you to repeat the question I gave you but with do you know ready what time is is it do you know what time it is this we flip it the subject and the verb right okay another one where's she from where is she from do you know where she's from where she's from right because it's the indirect question so in the indirect question it mimics it copies the same structure is the affirmative okay let's do another one okay uh who is it kin whose is it do you know whose it is sain do you know whose it is we've practice this we practice them a lot in class in fact anytime you hear me or Richard vaugh or any of the teachers I work with say ask me or tell her to ask me we're practicing indirect speech so there's a little trick there uh and it's funny because a friend of mine an ex- student of mine said used to imitate Richard vau my boss I work at Von radio and um and it was funny because he said ask to me and I'm like well obviously you're not watching him enough because it's not ask to me it's ask me so again get that two out of there the only time you would use it would be he asked to see the new bedroom no he asked me to see the new but it would never be asked to someone that structure cross it out write it down and cross it out all right another usage is to invite someone politely to invite someone and so uh let's look at some examples more importantly we asked them we asked them we asked them a lot of Americans would take out that th apostrophe we asked them to join us for dinner it's very similar to them and him so you'll know from Context we asked him we asked them very similar but you can say we asked them but it's difficult we asked them so that's why we take a shortcut we say we asked him to join us for dinner turn it into a question did you did you ask them did you ask them did you ask them to join you for dinner to join you cu all right and the last one she asked me to dance she asked me to dance asked me if I wanted to dance I can't remember the but I know it's in a song she asked me to dance can you turn it into a question did she did she ask you to dance did she ask you to dance yeah she asked me to dance it was incredible she held my hand and asked me if I wanted to dance and the last usage and examples to expect or demand something often in negotiations or sales okay and demand is not demand it's a false friend I'm going to sue you demand is ex K demanding so it's used when you're setting a price conditions or expectations here's an example the artist is asking$5,000 for the painting right the artist is asking 5,000 or five grand we say for the painting how would you say how much is the artist asking for the painting how much is the artist asking for the painting and the last example you're asking too much from your employees remember the employer is the company the employee is the worker the same way an interviewer is the one who asks the questions and the interviewee answers the questions however if you're a good interviewee you will also ask questions good questions that show that you're curious by the way there's an episode of FYI on interviews and I think it's worth its weit in Gold so you're asking too much from your employees ask me are you asking too much from your employees yeah you're asking way too much from your employees I hope I'm not asking too much from you but that app is for those of you who are participating Who episode after episode are improving they're speaking they're listening and their overall knowledge of the language enriching themselves daily because that's what this is about this is not about studying a language it's about exploring it's about an adventure right at least for me as your teacher I want it to be an adventure and that's why I call my students English explorers remember you can join us we've got an amazing community over on patreon.com Alberto Alonso all right before we get going and I hope you'll join us too in the bonus episode I'm going to give you the synonyms and antonyms for this verb the verb to ask the first one is to challenge so you know challenge is unto so to challenges R and the adjective challenging challenging in fact I recommend instead of saying hard difficult or tough you say challenging it sounds better because what do you hear at least when I hear the word uh you can't do this or you know no way I say challenge accepted the next one demand which we just looked at it's a false friend the next one's inquire it's more formal he inquired about you the national Inquirer is a very famous uh newspaper well tabloid newspaper to quiz some body that means to ask them questions as well to request we already said uh that's a big request that's a big ask some antonyms to answer remember it's that W silent answer could you please answer me and the next one is reply we know this one mostly from emails please reply to my email and another antonym is to ignore ignore right Bard the next one reject and I want you to pronounce this one with me because that's got that J in there reject okay and the last one rebut rebut which reminds me of the noun a rebuttal a rebuttal is your answer your comeback to somebody else's statement it's used a lot in negotiations all right my Amigos we are are out but I hope you'll join us in the bonus episode of this week's FY