Daily English to sound Natural! ️ | British English 🇬🇧 | Modern Received Pronunciation

[00:00:00]Hello lovely people. Welcome back and welcome to English with Catherine. On this channel you can expect to find daily natural British English, British culture and etiquette, and of course some help with your pronunciation. The main aim is to make you feel like yourself when you're speaking in English. Today's video is about how to tell the time in a native way. This is literally what we're all using everyday.

[00:00:29]Not something you can easily learn in a textbook. In this video we've got how to tell the time and ask for it, the culture of time in Britain, some essential daily vocabulary that you've just got to know, and a little bit about timepieces.

[00:00:45]If you watch to the end of the video, there is a lovely idiom waiting for you.

[00:00:49]Is that the time? We should start. For 30 minutes past the hour, we say half past. We can even just say half. For example, I'll meet you in the walled garden at half past one.

[00:01:04]It's half 12, it's lunchtime.

[00:01:07]Pronunciation tip, half and past have the same sound in them. Ah. Make sure you open your mouth if you want to sound really authentic. Half past one.

[00:01:21]Half past two. School starts at half past eight.

[00:01:28]Half past eight. Happy practicing.

[00:01:31]Instead of saying 45 minutes past the hour, we say quarter to the next hour.

[00:01:39]Quarter to four, for example. The tennis match is starting at quarter to three, which reminds me, Wimbledon is starting soon. I love it. Pronunciation tip, don't pay any attention to the UA, it's not pronounced like wah or something like that. Quarter. Core. Quarter. Don't pronounce either of those Rs in that word. Very often we don't pronounce Rs if a word ends in er, we really never pronounce the R. Quarter. We don't say 15 minutes past the hour, really. We say quarter past. It's quarter past three.

[00:02:20]They will be here at quarter past 11.

[00:02:24]Finn goes down for his first nap of the day at quarter past nine.

[00:02:30]Well, that's the plan anyway.

[00:02:32]Oh, you really need to know this as well. If it's just about to turn a new hour, we say, "Oh, it's coming up to 12."

[00:02:41]"It's coming up to 2:00. It's coming up to 3:00. Shall we have some tea?" If it's a little past a new hour, "It's just gone 7:00. It's just gone 10:00. We should really be going to bed. It's just gone 4:00. Time for some tea." It's always time for tea. Just to say, British people do also use the digital clock. Of course, people say 2:30 or 2:15. I have to say, I prefer to say half past than 2:30, for example. How do you ask someone for the time? The main thing, everyone, is to be polite. In British culture, that is a very important thing. We don't just say, "I want to know the time, please." or "I would like to know the time." We don't just say, "I want the time." or "Can I know the time?" We don't say that either. Here are some very native sentences that you can shadow me with.

[00:03:35]It'll be great practice for you. Could I trouble you for the time? Could I trouble you for the time?

[00:03:42]Could I trouble you for the time? Have you got the time, please?

[00:03:47]Have you got the time, please?

[00:03:50]Have you got the time, please? Here's the hardest one. Good luck. I don't suppose you've got the time, have you?

[00:03:58]I don't suppose you've got the time, have you?

[00:04:01]I don't suppose you've got the time, have you?

[00:04:04]I don't suppose you've got the time, have you?

[00:04:08]I don't suppose you've got the time, have you?

[00:04:12]Well done. Some daily vocabulary that I could not live without. We're running out of time. Hurry up. The same way that we can run out of money, which means have very little left, or run out of milk for tea, panic situation. We can also run out of time. We're running out of time to get Wimbledon tennis tickets.

[00:04:33]If you are on time, well done. You are not going to be late. You might even be a little bit early. For example, I'm on time for my meeting. I'm on time to catch the 4:00 train. If you manage to do something just before it's too late, we say just in time. Just in time. I was just in time to catch the 4:00 train.

[00:04:54]You got there maybe 2 minutes before it was due to depart. Stressful. If you want to sound really native, you can even say in the nick of time. A lovely idiom. He caught his flight in the nick of time. You might also hear 7:00 sharp or 9:00 a.m. sharp. And that means absolutely at 9:00 or 7:00. This is used for strict schedules. Something professional, a meeting. We can also say on the dot as well to mean the same as sharp. I'll meet you at 6:00-ish. Ish.

[00:05:32]This is one of my favorite little words.

[00:05:35]It is so useful. Generally used for making plans with people. If you use the word ish, you mean approximately.

[00:05:45]Not 8:00 sharp, around 8:00, for example. You know, 5 minutes past, 10 minutes past. Ish goes after the time, so 4-ish, for example. The culture. We have a reputation, I think, internationally for queuing, having a lot of tea, tea with milk in it, and being punctual. Punctual means on time.

[00:06:09]It's true. It is deeply ingrained in us to respect someone who is punctual, and to find it pretty rude if they're not.

[00:06:19]If we don't use that little word ish when we're making a plan with you, if we say 1:00, we mean 1:00, not quarter past, not half past. We take manners really seriously, having good manners. I remember when I was a little girl, my granny tried to make me into a lady, teaching me all the rules of etiquette and good manners when I was maybe two.

[00:06:45]God, I miss her. There are a few nuances, though. For professional and formal appointments, it actually is standard to be a little bit early. Say 5 minutes early or on time, not too early, as I found out when I worked in London.

[00:07:02]I was paranoid about looking bad. I would get there sometimes about an hour early, and then had to loiter around the office trying to kill the time. That's another time expression. Probably looking quite strange. I probably would have looked less strange if I had been late, actually.

[00:07:20]Parties. Arriving 10 to 30 minutes past the stated time on the invitation is considered the norm here. In fact, we even have some English that is about that, fashionably late, because you're just so cool. Even that, actually, is rooted in respect and consideration, because it gives the host a little bit more time to finish preparing and getting ready for their guests. Let's talk about time pieces. What is traditional? What do people wear? What do people like? Firstly, I'm going to tell you about a grandfather clock. I would say every traditional English home has a grandfather clock. They are iconic. You know, the tall ones that stand like a solid tree in a room gaining your respect. My granny had one and it was a family heirloom that had been passed down through the generations. The pendulum would just swing back and forth and I remember the sound so well. It's playing in my head right now. I will definitely have one in my future house. Maybe not this one because this is a little cottage and there's not much space, but I can dream.

[00:08:29]A typical English gentleman will probably be wearing a Rolex watch. The Rolex brand was actually founded in London. Rolex is the UK's most popular luxury watch. My uncle had a vintage Rolex and it was so delicate. It wasn't ostentatious or anything like that. It was very small actually and just classic and beautiful. The pocket watch. I love the idea of going to auctions and markets to find vintage things like pocket watches. Early English pocket watches are very valuable actually for their historical significance. I just think they're beautiful.

[00:09:11]Everyone, it's time for the idiom of the week, to turn back the hands of time.

[00:09:17]This idiom can be used positively or negatively. If you want to turn back the hands of time, you want to go back to the past, whether to undo something that you did that you regret or just to return to a a simpler, happier time for nostalgic reasons, maybe. Just in case you didn't know, the hands are not hands, they are the things that tell the time on the actual clock face. We have two hands. You might want to use this in a conversation talking quite deeply. It might not come up in small talk about the weather.

[00:09:53]For deeper conversation, you might want to reflect on the past. You could say for example, "Looking at these old photos makes me want to turn back the hands of time and relive my childhood all over again." I went to a music concert the other week. So exciting. One of the first evenings I had away from Finn actually, so that was quite a big deal. When the band started playing, it was a 90s band. It felt like we had completely turned back the hands of time. So nostalgic, so much fun. A negative use of this idiom, "I wish I could turn back the hands of time and avoid that careless mistake I made that changed everything." Let me know in the comments if you found this video useful.

[00:10:39]I've put my email address actually in the description box because I'd love to hear some video ideas from you. I would love to reply actually and write back to you personally. So, if you email me, I'll do my best to do that. Would you believe it? It's actually tea time now.

[00:10:56]So, I must be off. Have a lovely day and I'll see you next time. Bye.