Name
Rob
Surname
Woodward
Country
New Zealand
Marital status
What is marital status?
When you see marital status on an official form or application,
they usually want to know if you're married or single.
However, there is a lot more English vocabulary associated with
marital status and relationships
that we use in everyday life.
Let's look at some of the most common relationship vocabulary used in English.
To be + single
Single means you don't have a boyfriend, you don't have a girlfriend, a husband, a wife, a partner.
This is a person that has no romantic relationship with another person.
Single is used for a boy or man and a girl or woman.
I am single. You're single.
He is single. She is single. We are all single.
But many people are not single. For example,
they have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a husband or a wife.
A boyfriend or a girlfriend
is a person that you have a romantic relationship with.
But, it is not a legal relationship,
no signed contracts or anything like that.
Well, I hope not.
It is not legal and you are not married.
Boyfriend is used when a person has a romantic relationship with a boy or a man.
Girlfriend is used when a person has a romantic relationship with a girl or a woman.
We use: to have a boyfriend or to have a girlfriend.
I have a girlfriend.
She has a boyfriend.
He doesn't have a girlfriend.
To have + boyfriend or girlfriend
NOTE: we don't say I have a manfriend or a womanfriend.
Those words don't exist.
They can't be used.
Older people sometimes use the word partner instead
but we'll talk more about that later.
The next stage after being boyfriend or girlfriend for some time
is usually to be engaged.
To be engaged: you have made a promise or a commitment to marry someone.
I'm engaged means
I have made a commitment to my partner and we will get married some moment in the future.
They are engaged.
Yes, they plan to get married in the future.
Usually one of the two people in the couple
proposes to the other person. Traditionally, to propose,
which is a verb, is when a person gets down on one knee and says to their partner...
Did I leave the stove on when I left the house?
No sorry, they say...
Will you marry me?
And the other person says.... mmmm yeah, ok
or whatever reaction that they have...
Oh yes!
It all depends on the person.
An example sentence:
He proposed to me last night and I said yes.
which means, we are now engaged.
Sometimes this proposal,
the noun, proposal is a noun,
happens in a special place or a romantic environment.
To propose is the verb, proposal is the noun.
Has someone ever proposed to you?
How did it happen?
Let us know in the comments below.
What is the name of the person you intend to marry.
They're not just your boyfriend or girlfriend anymore.
Your relationship is more serious.
The person you are engaged to, or who you plan to marry,
is your fiancé for a man and fiancée for a woman.
Yes, these two words come from French.
Fiancée and fiancé are pronounced the same.
We say: have a fiancé or fiancée.
I have a fiancée means my partner is a woman and we plan to get married.
I have a fiancé means my partner is a man and we plan to get married.
And then what happens?
And then...
The next stage of a relationship is being married.
Married means you have a legally or formally recognized union with your husband or wife.
We use: to be + married.
I am married. We are married.
She is married.
The man over there crying in the corner, yes, he is married.
If you want to specify the person you're married to, we use married TO person.
I am married to Angélica.
She is married to Paolo.
He is married to a teacher.
It doesn't always need to be the name of the person. He's married to a teacher.
Or you can give the name of that teacher...
He is married to Mary.
We don't say married WITH.
He is married with Veronica... that is NOT correct.
We always use the preposition TO.
He is married TO Veronica.
This is correct.
Now very quickly...
What is the difference between married and marriage?
Married is an adjective. I am married.
Marriage is the noun. My marriage is fun.
A couple of example sentences with marriage:
They have a happy marriage.
Their marriage is on the rocks. What does this mean?
This means their marriage is in trouble, like when a ship is on rocks.
It's not a good thing for, or a good position for a ship to be in
because there is serious danger of the ship sinking.
Just like the marriage, it can sink or go under.
What do you think is the secret of a happy marriage?
Let us know in the comments section below.
And now that you are married, you have either a husband or a wife.
The man you are married to, he is your husband.
The woman you are married to, she is your wife.
My wife is from Chile.
Her husband is an awesome teacher.
In the wedding ceremony, they usually say...
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
You may now kiss the bride.
Did you know that the plural of wife is wives?
Notice the difference in spelling between the singular wife with an F and wives -VES.
For example: King Henry the Eighth had many wives. Of course not at the same time.
What does spouse mean?
Spouse means husband OR wife.
You don't specify if you're married to a man or a woman.
I went to the concert with my spouse.
I don't mention if I have a husband or a wife,
just the fact that I'm married and I went to the concert with him or her.
Something else you can say is that you have a partner.
I have a partner.
When you say this, I don't specify if my partner is a man OR a woman, also you could be married OR not married.
Partner is often used because some people don't like to use the word boyfriend or girlfriend.
Maybe because it sounds like something teenagers say,
or maybe it is used because they don't want to say whether the person they're with is a man or a woman.
I go to the beach with my partner every weekend.
I don't specify if my partner is a man or woman, I don't specify if we're married or not.
I have a partner.
So what is the difference between spouse and partner?
Both spouse and partner
don't mention if the person is male or female, a man or a woman.
Spouse means you're married.
Partner can mean you could be married or not married, you don't specify.
The wedding
The ceremony when you get married is called a wedding.
Sometimes a wedding is at a church, sometimes in an office, sometimes at a beach.
It depends on the person and their religion.
The people who are getting married at a wedding, during the actual ceremony, are called either a bride or groom.
The bride is the woman getting married at the wedding.
She usually has this nice long white flowing dress.
The groom is the man getting married at the wedding.
What is the difference between BE married and GET married?
To be married, as in I am married, refers to your current marital status or relationship status.
You're married or single in general.
To get married refers to having a wedding or ceremony to make your union legal or official.
For example: I am married now. That is my marital status. I'm not single, I'm married.
I got married at the beginning of this century.
Oh it sounds like a long time ago.
Yes, that was the time of my wedding and when I legally became married.
As you know, marriage is not always like a walk in the park.
When something is a walk in the park, it means that something is easy.
So a marriage is not always like a walk in the park,
no, sometimes it's like a walk in Jurassic Park!
So unfortunately not all marriages last forever.
Divorced means I WAS married in the past, but now I'm legally not married.
I am divorced.
She is recently divorced. This means she got divorced a short time ago.
The verbs that can be used are:
to divorce, to get a divorce, to get divorced,
which means to go through the process of legally becoming not married anymore.
Some example sentences:
We divorced after so many unsolvable problems.
I like chocolate and she didn't.
They are getting a divorce.
He got divorced last year.
Sometimes a couple is not living together now
and they have not completed the legal process of getting divorced.
They're married but they're not living together.
In this case, we use separated.
They're not living together.
If I say I am separated, it means I am no longer living with my wife or husband.
He's separated.
She is a lot happier now that she is separated.
Some final words used about not being married include...
widow and widower. What do these mean?
Sometimes you're married and then your husband dies or your wife dies.
When you haven't married again, you are either a widow or a widower.
A woman says I am a widow which typically means my husband or my partner has died.
A man says I am a widower which typically means my wife or my partner has died.
So... are you single, engaged, married, separated, divorced or a widow
or all of the above?
Let us know in the comment section below.
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Have an awesome day!