English Listening - Learn new phrases & check your listening comprehension

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Sorry about the audio quality. I’m trying to improve this 🙏 Today's speaker was Alex 🇦🇺🇷🇴 - Thank you so much! Full transcript: Hi everyone, welcome back! In today's video, we're listening to a script about describing houses. We're going to listen first, and then we're going to look at the entire script, check your comprehension, and hopefully learn some new vocabulary as well. Try to turn off subtitles the first time listening, but let's begin. ---------- We went and saw two houses today, our agent had suggested a few more, but I could already tell that those weren't what we had in mind. Sure, they looked nice and spacious, but they were also out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe not for him, but that's definitely a deal breaker for me. But these two we saw today were very tempting. One was just on the outskirts, it was quite modern and not too expensive. The only downside was it felt a little cramped, but I'm sure we could make do. The other was more central, it was a bit older and more rundown, but I think it has lots of potential. ---------- Okay, so these are the comprehension questions we're going to look at at the end, but pause the video now if you want to try and answer them first. And this is the color code for the review, which I'm just going to put above my head. We went and saw two houses today, our agent had suggested a few more, but I could already tell that those weren't what we had in mind. So, to have something in mind is to have an idea or something you want, what do you have in mind for lunch? Or, that's not what I had in mind. Be careful not to confuse it with something being on your mind, which means that you're thinking about something too much or maybe you're worried about something. Sure, they looked nice and spacious, but they were also out in the middle of nowhere. That's why it wasn't what they had in mind. In the middle of nowhere means somewhere very rural and countryside, with nothing exciting nearby, it's always negative. "Our car broke down right in the middle of nowhere." In this example, the car chose the worst possible place to break down because there was nothing around, and there was nobody to ask for help. You can also say "in the sticks" or "in the Outback" referring to Australia. Maybe not for him, but that's definitely a deal breaker for me. So, just quickly, a deal breaker is something unacceptable for you. She is saying that maybe not for him. Now, "him"-it's easy to think that this means the agent, but actually "for him" means the other person. We went and saw two houses, so I think it could be easy to mistake that. Let's talk about deal breaker a little bit more, so I found out that she's already married, that's a deal breaker. I would hope that that's a deal breaker for anybody if somebody's already married. Now, you can also say that in that example, that is a red flag, that is a big red flag. But there is a difference between a red flag and a deal breaker, a deal breaker is very personal. So, you could say somebody is not right for you because they are too tall, that's a deal breaker. That's not a red flag because that's not for everybody, some people would like a tall person, others wouldn't, a deal breaker is very personal and specific to you. So, the husband or partner is saying maybe not for him, but for me, the person speaking, being out in the middle of nowhere is a deal breaker. But these two we saw today were very tempting. One was just on the outskirts, so we just talked about being in the middle of nowhere. Now, this is not central-right in the middle of the city-but this is kind of the edges of a city, so there are still some things to do. It's kind of a happy medium between the two. It was quite modern and not too expensive, the only downside was it felt a little cramped, a little bit small, not very spacious, or maybe just bad spacing. But I'm sure we could make do. Making do with something means to settle or to be okay with something that's not perfect or ideal, let's make do with what we already have. It's not perfect, but you know, we can survive with that, you just have to make do. What are we making do with? Well, it's not the size that we want really, but we can manage with it. The other was more central-outskirts, central. It was a bit older and more rundown, but I think it has lots of potential. So, rundown-the meaning is kind of assisted by "older" here, they go together. If something is rundown-something like a house or a car-it can also be used for people, I'll explain in a minute. Rundown means old but also very used, almost broken. It's not broken, but it looks like it might break soon, "It's only 5 years old, but it looks very rundown." In British English, we also say "tatty." Now, for people, you can also use "rundown," but it doesn't just mean old. You wouldn't say an old person looks rundown unless they are feeling tired, exhausted, or a little bit sick. So, you can say, "I feel so rundown today." That's fine, saying someone else looks rundown-be careful. So, the house looked rundown because it was also older, but I think it has lots of potential. So even though it's old and rundown now, it could be improved, or it could be really good, "He's still learning, but I think he has so much potential." Here, this is being used to describe maybe a new coworker. You can also say, "I see potential in him." So, the second house-maybe they're going to do some DIY or a bit of home improvement, but it has lots of potential to be a good house. So, let's go back to these comprehension questions. Who likes the countryside more? Well, in the first page, she said, "It's a deal breaker for me being in the middle of nowhere, but maybe not for him." So, the idea I'm getting here is that he might like the countryside more, this is not a deal breaker for him, but it's still not what we had in mind. So, I think the answer here is her boyfriend or husband-we're not sure. He likes the countryside more than her, for her it is a deal breaker, it is not acceptable. Number two, has the speaker decided which house to buy? Well, this was the second page, they said they were very tempting, and she described both of them, but she did not say anything about, "We're going to go for this one" or "We're going to get that," that's it, it's a no. Which house do you think the speaker likes most? Now, this one's really tricky, I don't think there's a 100% right or wrong answer here. But if we look at the phrases we've learned, "I'm sure we could make do with this one, it's not perfect, it's okay, we could live there, it's fine." The second one, "It's old and rundown, but it has lots of potential." I think this one sounds more positive, we need to do some work with it, but I could see us being pretty happy here, that's the impression I'm getting from that. So, I would say the answer is possibly the last one, but again, not a clear answer either way. If you had that same idea that the last one seemed like she liked it the most, then I think you've got a really good understanding of what she was saying and what she meant. But that's it for this video, please look at the chapters in the video, and you can go back easily and listen again to what was said. You can change the speed, you can shadow, and please use the comments to make your own sentence-maybe a phrase that you didn't know before. Make sure you're using it right, and I'll take a look. But that's it for today! Thanks very much for watching!