#23- 16 Slang Words, Phrasal Verbs & Idioms about Time

Welcome back to The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast! In episode #23, I'll be teaching you 16 phrasal verbs, slang words and idioms all about time! You'll be learning words like kill time, make up for lost time, in the blink of an eye, slow down, speed up, put off and more! I'll also be teaching you some grammar around saying time in American English and even how to politely ask people about the time.

This episode will teach you everything you need to know to talk about time so that you can naturally use this vocabulary with CONFIDENCE in English. This is real life English that native speakers use to talk about hot weather and after listening to this episode and using the STUDY GUIDE, you'll be able to use these words naturally in English.

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The Study Guide includes: 

• Word list and definitions
• Example sentences
• Full transcript
• Practice activities

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Transcript

Episode #23- 16 Phrasal Verbs, Slang Words and Idioms All About Time

[00:00:00] On this episode of the real life English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 16 phrasal, verbs, slang words, and idioms all about time. You'll be learning vocabulary, like in the blink of an eye, a time crunch. Put off. Make time. Run out of time and more. Let's get to it.

Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.

Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in. 

Hey, Hey. Hey, welcome. If you have already listened to. Episode number 22. Which was all about [00:01:00] summer and hot weather. You'll know that this episode was totally inspired while I was recording that episode. We were talking about time when I realized the importance of a time episode. Time, expressions and time. Idioms are very, very common. We use them all the time. And they're extremely necessary. In American English. 

In this episode, first, we're going to run through how to say American time.Since it's different than British time. Before we get into the vocabulary

after that. We'll be talking about the vocabulary. As usual. So how is American time different from British time? Let's talk about that. 

Firstly. I often hear my students making mistakes with time. [00:02:00] For example. They'll say. It's four and a half. Which is totally and completely wrong. Or they'll say half past four. Which is correct in British English, but not said in American English. So, how do you say four and a half or half past four? How do you say this correctly in American English? Well, you say. Four 30. Never ever, ever say half. In American English.

 I want you to imagine that you're looking at a clock, not a digital clock, but a regular clock. And. Both the small and big hand are on the 12. And it's daytime. In British English, they would say. Mid day, but we don't say that in American English. Mid day for us is like a range. It's not exactly [00:03:00] 12. 

O'clock. So you could say 12 o'clock. PM. But. We say noon. I'm going to lunch at noon. 

So let's take a little journey around the clock. 12 o'clock. Or noon. 1215. Or. A quarter after. 

1230. 1245 or a quarter to one. And then one o'clock. 

So again, 1 1 15, 1 30, 1 45 or. One o'clock. Quarter after one. One 30. A quarter to two. Once we get into the last 15 minutes of an hour. We start to say. To the next hour. It's 10 to one. That means [00:04:00] it's 1250. It's five to one. That means it's 1255. Very common to do this, but you can choose whichever way you prefer to say this time.

Now if it's 12 o'clock at night and everyone is asleep and it's dark. We would say midnight. This is the same. In American and British English. In conclusion. In British English. They like to say. Past. But we don't say past in American English. We say after. And to. So again, One o'clock. One 15 or a quarter after one. One 30. 1 45 or a quarter. To, two. And I know that we are one of the few countries that uses am. And [00:05:00] PM. So, if you say. 1300 to the standard American person. They will have no idea what time you're talking about. We call that military time. So some of us know it. My dad works for the army. So. He uses military time often, but we call it military time. The 24 hour clock.

 And one more thing. Another common mistake. We don't say it's five and 20. I know that's a direct translation in many languages. But we never say like, oh, it's two and 40. No, it's two 40.

 One other thing that I want to mention. Is how you would ask someone what time it is. So imagine that you're on the street. And your phone is dead. And you really need to know the time. Do you know what question to ask? Because when we ask strangers, we do not [00:06:00] say, what time is it? So if I'm in the room with my husband and I don't have my phone, I can say, Hey. What time is it? 

Or do you know what time it is? But this is not a polite request outside of your home. So if you're asking a stranger for time, You would say. Excuse me. Do you have the time? Or. Can I please have the time, or may I please have the time? Although Americans don't typically use may anymore, it is declining. In use. But yes, we say have the time. You can say, excuse me, , do you know what time it is? It's a little bit more polite, but we never say, excuse me, what time is it? It's very strange. And it's a little bit rude. So now, you know how to ask for the time. 

 Now that we got the first part out of the way now let's get to the vocabulary. Today, [00:07:00] I'm teaching you 16. Phrasal verbs. Idioms expressions and slang words that have to do with time. Let me read those words to you. Lose track of time. a, time crunch. Slow down. Time flies. In the blink of an eye. Kill time. Too much time on your hands. About time. Time consuming. Make time. Run out of time. Speed up. Time will tell. Make up for lost time. Put off. In due time.

For those of you who might be new. I want to tell you two very important things. Number one. Every single episode has a study guide. Waiting for you. according to science, the absolute best [00:08:00] way. To learn a new language, learn new vocabulary. Is through repetition. 

The brain needs to be exposed to something multiple times before it can stay in there. Which is why when students use translators or Google, To figure out the definition of a word. They typically don't remember it. Long-term. However. When your brain has to calculate and figure out the definition on its own. Through context. You're more likely to remember the word. And even more, if you see it. Multiple times and are exposed. Six to seven times. For that reason, I created a study guide for this episode and for every episode, So that you can repeat. And practice. All of the vocabulary from [00:09:00] these episodes. In order to get , the link to the study guide folder. Just click the link in the episode description. And put in your email and that will start the process off. When new episodes come out, I email you directly. But you have access to the folder where you can get every single study guide. For every single episode. 

Secondly for those of you who might be new, just to explain the way that this podcast works. Is I tell you what words you're, going to be learning. Then I read a story. That has all of the words inside that I created specifically for this podcast. And then afterward we talk about all of the vocabulary words together. And that's how the podcast is. The goal is for you to look through the study guide afterward. [00:10:00] And practice what I taught you in the podcast episode. 

All right. let's get started with the story. 

 Amelia sat at her desk, staring at the mountain of paperwork. She had been working nonstop since early morning and had completely lost track of time. The ticking clock on the wall reminded her that she was in a time crunch to finish the reports before the deadline. She needed a break. So she decided to slow down. Take a deep breath and make herself a cup of coffee. As she waited for the coffee to finish. She thought about how quickly the past year had gone by. She began to realize that time flies when you're having fun, But time also flies when you're busy. [00:11:00] The past year had definitely not been fun. So many things had changed in the blink of an eye. Just then her phone buzzed. It was a message from her old college friend, Aleksei. Emilia smiled. Thinking about all of the fun memories they had in college. They used to spend hours together, often killing time between classes. Back then they had too much time on their hands and they would often get into trouble together in fun ways. 

One of those ways was by playing pranks on their friends. Feeling nostalgic. She realized that her job often caused her to say no to social activities. She had been wanting to catch up with Aleksei forever. And it was about time. She actually said yes to Hangouts. 

She replied to the message [00:12:00] suggesting they meet up that weekend. She knew it would be time consuming to fit another activity into her already packed schedule. But she decided she needed to make time for her friends. As she got back to her desk. She noticed she was running out of time to finish her reports. She needed to speed up her pace in order to finish on time. She worked as hard as she could. Until dinnertime. 

The weekend arrived and Amelia met Aleksei at a new cafe in town. They spent hours reminiscing about the past and making up for lost time. Time would tell if they would keep in touch regularly, but for now she was grateful for this reunion. 

As the day ended, Emilia felt relaxed and happy. While she was with Alexi, [00:13:00] her stress melted away. She realized that while work was important. So were the relationships that enriched her life. She promised herself that she wouldn't put off these meaningful connections anymore. At that moment. She thought of a few more friends that she could connect with. Soon. Returning home. She looked at her unfinished work and smiled. She knew that she would get through it all in due time. For now she was content with the moments she had shared with Aleksei. And was happy that she finally understood. That it was important to cherish what truly matters in life.

 This story is a great reminder. Of what's really important. Work is important, but what's more important is enjoying the time that you don't work. And relaxing, [00:14:00] hanging out with people who make you feel happy. And overall enjoying life. . 

All right. So let's get into these explanations. In the story. It says that she had been working nonstop since early morning and had completely lost track of time. 

To lose track of time. Means to become unaware of what time it is. The expression lose track of means to not be informed about something or to not have awareness. And so we can actually lose track of many things. We lose track of our spending. We lose track of a person. We lose track of our time. They're all very common to use with lose track of. 

Next it says that the ticking clock on the wall. Reminded her that she was in a time [00:15:00] crunch. To finish the reports before the deadline. A, time crunch is a situation. Where there is very little time to complete a task. And so you're stressed about finishing something in time. We never want to be in a time crunch because there's always stress involved, worrying that we're not going to finish something. When we need to. 

Next up. Slow down. She needed a break. So she decided to slow down, take a deep breath and make herself a cup of coffee. Slow down is a phrasal verb. And it means to decrease speed. Or take things more slowly. This is a very common phrasal verb. And so I'm sure that many of you have heard it before.

Next up, we have time flies. She began to realize that time [00:16:00] flies when you're having fun, But time also flies when you're busy. Time flies is when something seems to pass very quickly. Actually the full statement. It's kind of like a proverb. 

 it's like a saying. Time flies when you're having fun. However in the past decade, we've really shortened it. And now we say time flies. And so it just means time goes so quickly.

So many things had changed in the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye. Means very quickly. Seems to almost happen instantly. Like you blink your eyes. And everything has changed. We use this a lot. Symbolically metaphorically. Like we say, oh my gosh, my son is graduating from [00:17:00] college. He grew up in the blink of an eye. We typically say it. With that kind of context.

Next up, we have the expression to kill. Time. To kill time is very, very common. We use this often in social language. Kill time means to spend time doing things. While you're waiting.

 you're meeting up with friends at the movies. And you happened to get there an hour early. You have an hour to kill. Meaning that you have to find ways to fill. That extra time. And normally the things that we do are really not important. It's just things that we're doing to fill. Our time. 

Next step it says back then they had too much time on [00:18:00] their hands. And they would often get into trouble together. In fun ways. To have too much time on your hands. Is when you have more free time, then you need. Often this leads to you being bored. And we typically use this in a negative way. Meaning. Oh, he has too much time on his hands. He's not doing anything good.

So we're unproductive. We're doing things that we shouldn't, we're getting into a little bit of trouble, as you see in the story. Because they had so much extra time. They had nothing to do. So they filled their time and they were playing pranks on their friends.

Next up in the story. It says she had been wanting to catch up with Aleksei forever. And it was about [00:19:00] time. She actually said yes. It's about time is an expression. That means something. Finally happened. Much later than we expected. So no one could have predicted that it would have finished this late. And we often say, wow, it's about time. So we can either say it alone. Like two of our friends who were in love. Finally decided to get into a serious relationship. And we say. It's about time. Or it's about time. Or we could say a full sentence. It's about time. You guys caught together. 

Next up, we have time consuming. She said it would be time consuming to fit another activity into her packed schedule. But she needed to make time for her friends.

So firstly. Let's talk about [00:20:00] time consuming. Time consuming is something that takes a lot of time to complete. It consumes you, it takes all of your time. The word consume means to use up or take. And so time consuming means that it consumes all your time. Takes a lot of time, uses up a lot of time. Time consuming. 

 Next up in the story. It's make time. So she wants to make time for her friends. The expression make time. Means to create extra time in your schedule to do something. So you're really busy. You have a really tight schedule. But there's something that is really important to you. And so you decide to create time in your schedule just for that thing. 

[00:21:00] Next up, we have run out of time. As she got back to her desk, she noticed she was running out of time to finish her reports. So run out of is actually a three word phrasal verb. And it means to finish something completely. We ran out of paper. And needed to go buy more. Run out of time is to have no more time left to complete something because you've already used up. All your time. So I can be at home. And say I ran out of paper. I ran out of soap. I ran out of milk. And that means I used everything. So run out of time here is to have no more time left to complete something. Because you've used it all up already. 

Next it says. She needed to speed up her [00:22:00] pace in order to finish on time. She worked as hard as she could until dinner time.

Speed up is a phrasal verb. That means to increase speed or make something happen faster. 

Next up we have They spent hours reminiscing about the past. , they spent hours remembering the past and making up for lost time. . So makeup for. Is a three-word phrasal verb. And it means to compensate for. Or replace something lost or missed. So make up for lost time is to do something with extra effort. Because you missed a lot of time doing it. 

So maybe. She hasn't seen her father in 10 years. And then they get together [00:23:00] and they spend a lot of time with each other. Because they're making up for lost time. 

The next one is time will tell. In the story, it says time would tell if they would keep in touch regularly, but for now she was grateful for this reunion. Time will tell. Means that the truth of a situation or the final results will be revealed. At some point in the future. we'll only be able to know. After time has passed. So we say this often when we're going to have to wait. for. The truth. 

Next up. We have the phrasal verb put off. She promised herself she wouldn't put off these meaningful connections anymore. Put off is a phrasal verb. That means to delay. Or postpone something to a later time. [00:24:00] This is a very, very common. Phrasal verb. 

And lastly. We have. She knew that she would get through it all in due time. In due time means at the appropriate time or eventually. So don't worry, it'll happen in due time. It'll happen eventually at some point in the future. We use this often to make people feel better. It comforts people to know. That things will get better eventually, even if they're not good right now.

Well guess what. You just learned. 16. Really common slang words, phrasal, verbs, and idioms in English. Now the next step. Is to practice what you learned so that you can [00:25:00] become a confident speaker in English. If you want to learn how to use these naturally. Click the link for the study guide because repetition is the key. To learning English. Thanks so much for tuning in. I'll see you next time. 

Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.