Imagine yourself sitting in a movie
theater.
You are watching a romantic comedy,
a love story with a happy ending,
such as the 1989 movie "When Harry
Met Sally".
imagine yourself: imagínate;
movie theater: (sala de) cine;
watching: viendo;
In the film, Meg Ryan and Billy
Crystal play friends who become
lovers. In one part, Harry tells
Sally what he loves about her:
play friends: representan;
who become lovers: que se
enamoran; what he loves about her:
lo que le encanta de ella;
"I love that you get cold when it's
71 degrees out.
I love that it takes
you an hour and a half to order a
sandwich".
you get cold: te resfrias;
it's 71 degrees out: cuando
afuera hacen 71 grados (Fahrenheit)
= 22 grados (Celsius); it takes
you: te lleva; to order:
encargar;
In this example, you hear Harry use
the word TAKE. Have you
ever had problems understanding this
strange verb?
Today on Everyday Grammar, we will
explore the verb take. We
will hear how take's
meaning changes depending on the
noun or noun
phrase that
follows it in a sentence.
how take's meaning changes:
cómo cambia el significado del verbo
take; depending ON:
dependiendo DE;
Take is an
irregular verb. The past
tense of take does not have
the usual –ed ending.
Instead, the past tense is took.
-ed ending:
terminación -ed de los verbos
regulares; instead: en cambio;
The literal
meaning of take is "to move
or carry something from one place to
the other". This meaning is rare in
everyday speech, note Susan Conrad
and Douglas Biber. Both are experts
on English grammar.
take: llevar, tomar; rare:
raro, poco común;
Instead, native English speakers
will often use the word take
in a way that has an
idiomatic meaning. In
other words, the verb take
and the words that follow it have a
different meaning than the
individual words suggest.
One common structure is take
+ a noun phrase.
will often use: utilizan a
menudo; in a way: de una
manera; idiomatic meaning:
significado idiomático; in other
words: dicho de otro modo;
that follow it: que le siguen;
noun phrase:
frase nominal (frase que puede
actuar como sujeto o como objeto de
un verbo);
Today we will examine three
take
+ noun phrase structures that have
idiomatic meanings.
we will examine: analizaremos;
1. GO IN A DIRECTION.
go in a direction: ir o
caminar en un sentido (izquierda
derecha);
One common meaning of take
is to go in a different direction.
Take has this meaning when
followed by noun phrases such as
"a right turn" or "a left turn". The
word turn is not always added.
Sometimes speakers only say
"take a
right" or "take a left".
take a right/left turn =
take a right/a left:
doblar a la derecha/izquierda;
Imagine you hear the following
exchange:
A: Excuse me, but where is the train
station?
B: The train station is about four
streets from here. Walk straight and
then
take a right. After you
see the bank,
take a left.
You'll see the train station.
A: Thanks! So I
take a right
and then I
take a left after
the bank?
B: That's right.
A: Great! Have a nice day.
B: You, too!
is about: está
aproximadamente a; walk straight:
siga derecho; take a right/left:
doble a la derecha/izquierda;
that's right: correcto;
In this exchange, you heard four
examples of the structure take
+ a noun phrase. In this case,
take means to go in a different
direction – either the right or the
left. This structure is very useful
to know when asking and giving
directions!
exchange: intercambio
coloquial, diálogo informal;
either ... or ...: o ... o ...;
very useful: muy útil; when
giving directions: cuando se dan
instrucciones;
2. MAKE SURE THAT A TASK IS DONE
PROPERLY.
make sure that: asegurarse de
que; task: tarea; is done
properly: se cumpla
adecuadamente;
A second meaning of take is
to make sure that an action is done
correctly. Take has this
meaning when followed by noun
phrases such as "care of…", "charge
of…", or "responsibility for…" You
might hear this structure in the
workplace.
take care OF: encargarse DE,
ocuparse DE; take charge OF:
responsabilizarse DE, hacerse cargo
DE; responsible FOR:
encargado DE, responsable DE; you
might hear: es posible que;
in the workplace: en el lugar de
trabajo, en el ámbito laboral;
For example, a worker might tell a
supervisor, "Don't worry, I'll take
care of it". When someone says this,
he or she means that they will carry
out the action or complete the work.
he or she means: él o ella
quieren decir; carry out:
cumplimentar, llevar a cabo;
When a supervisor plans to be out of
the office, he or she might say,
"Jane will take charge of the
project while I am away".
be out of the office:
retirarse de la oficina; while I
am away: en mi ausencia,
mientras estoy fuera de la oficina;
This statement, about a worker named
Jane, means that she is responsible
for making sure that work on the
project continues while the
supervisor is gone.
statement: oración,
sentencia, comentario; is gone:
se ha retirado;
3. SPEND ENOUGH TIME FOR A TASK.
spend enough time for a task:
dedicar el tiempo suficiente a una
tarea;
A third common meaning of take
is to spend time for a
task.
Take has this meaning when
followed by nouns such as "a minute" or "time".
Sometimes these nouns come in
phrases. In other words, adjectives,
adverbs, and
other words go along with the noun.
go along with the noun:
secundan o acompañan al sustantivo;
Here are a few examples. In school,
one student might tell another
student, "The homework is easy. It
only takes a few minutes". A teacher
might tell a student, "This exam
will be difficult. It will probably
take a long time".
take a few minutes: requerir
unos minutos (de dedicación);
take a long time: requerir mucho
tiempo (de dedicación);
In both examples, the verb take
suggests spending time to complete a
task – namely, the homework and the
test. This meaning is similar to the
lines you heard at the beginning of
this report: "I love that you get cold when it's
71 degrees out. I love that it takes
you an hour and a half to order a
sandwich".
namely: particularmente;
report: informe;
In this case, Harry is talking about
a set amount of time – an hour and a
half. This is the amount of time
Sally spends on ordering a sandwich.
set amount of time: cantidad
fija de tiempo; an hour and a
half: una hora y media;
spends on ordering: dedica para
encargar;
We will leave you with a few words
from the American jazz song Take
Five. The performer is Al
Jarreau.
we will leave you with: te
dejamos con; a few words:
algunas palabras; performer:
intérprete, artista;
Just have them take a little
time out with me
we'll just take five, just take five
...
(esta famosa canción de Paul Desmond
emplea un compás inusual de 5/4 y de
allí deriva el nombre de la canción
si bien
–
como expresión informal
–
take five significa "breve
descanso de algo, tomarse cinco
minutos").
I'm Alice Bryant.
And I'm John Russell.
