Hi there, teacher Harry here. Welcome back to my English lessons where we try to help you to get a
better understanding of the English language. Today we're going to focus on vocabulary.
And in particular, we're going to look at vocabulary around weekend activities, because
weekends are the really important part of the week. Monday to Friday,
all about working and all about waiting for that we can come Saturday and Sunday. As always,
at the end of this particular lesson, I'll give you my contact details.
And if you want to contact me, you can do so any comments that you have, be happy to hear from you.
Okay, so usually when we're talking about the weekend, it might be something that we did it the
last, the previous weekend, the last weekend or the previous weekend. Okay. So when we use that,
we're typically using simple past. Yeah, Past Simple, simple past verbs, because we're either
asking somebody a question about the weekend or answering a question about the weekend.
And we're telling people simply, what we did, or what we got up to is another way to to express it.
For example, did you have a nice weekend? Simple past. Did you have a nice weekend? How was your
weekend? What did you do last weekend? Or what did you get up to last weekend? So they're just simple
ways of asking the question about somebody's weekend, the one usually on a Monday morning
over the first coffee that you have, and all of them using simple past formats of the verb.
The follow on questions that might lead to these when when you've you've got your answers?
Well, what did you do? Where did you go? Who did you see?
Or you might ask somebody's opinion. Did you like it? Did you enjoy it? Is it worth going to?
Or how did you like it? How did you enjoy it? So somebody could be talking about
have visited the zoo, visited the circus, and new park new activity,
something that you they've tried that you haven't or something that you might like to try? So you're
looking for their opinion as to as to whether you should or you shouldn't do it. Okay. So
previous weekend or last weekend, usually simple past.
Now, we're talking about our weekend plans, what have we got planned for the weekend. These are
very typical small talk, chitchat conversations over the coffee before
the meetings whenever you might do it. Okay. So the very simple way of asking the question is,
Do you have any plans for the weekend? Or do you have any plans for this weekend?
What are you up to this weekend? Okay. And we often use going to in these circumstances.
And the reason why we use going to it's the continuous format, but it's the continuous format,
look into something in the future, but looking at something in the immediate future. Yeah. So
what are you going to do this week? We can and the answer might be, oh, we're going to go here,
or we're going to go there. Or we're going to do some skiing. Or we're going to do some hiking. Or
going to play tennis. So it would be replied to or the response would be in that continuous
format of going to also. Okay, so often used going to... to talk about future plans, particularly
for the most immediate weekend. So the one coming in next few days or four days, okay?
If we want to look at expressions that we would use when we're talking about weekend activities,
or days, then you might use expressions like, I had a night in meaning I didn't go anywhere. I
didn't do anything. I stayed at home. I just had a night in in front of the fire a night in front of
the TV and night in watching Netflix, I chilled out watching that series that you recommended.
I had a night in or the opposite off. We had a great night out on Saturday or we had a great
night out on Friday. You should have been there was really really good fun. Okay, so it means
we went out and we had some fun at some party or some restaurant or what clubbing whatever
you were doing. Okay, so I had an idea in stayed at home. We had a great night out
or a great evening out when we went out and left the home and went went somewhere else. Okay,
now let's look at some phrasal verbs connected with weekend activities. Okay,
I've given to you and then I'll give you some examples. So here
To clean up, to tidy up, to stay in, to chill out,
to wind down, to have someone over, to flick through, to meet up, usually to meet up with,
to catch up with someone, and to bump into or to run into the effectively mean the same. Okay,
so phrasal verbs connected with weekends, and weekend activities.
Now some of these might be quite mundane or ordinary. But that's sure how weekends go.
So the first one to clean up. So if somebody asks you, what did you do for the weekend,
we decided to stay at home and clean up the garden, ready for the winter. So we
cleaned up all the leaves that have fallen from the trees, you know, there just seems to be
more and more for a couple of weeks. And then they're, they're all suddenly disappeared. Or
we decided to stay at home and clean up the spare room because our daughter's coming home
for a few months. So we need somewhere for her to sleep. So we decided to clean up the spare room.
To tidy up. Oh, well, you know what, like at the beginning of spring, we like to have a spring
clean, tidy up all the rooms get rid of the rubbish that we've accumulated over the previous
year. So we got the kids involved. So we had to give them a little bit of an incentive told them
we'd take them to the park or we take them for a pizza afterwards, provided they would tidy up
their rooms. So we set to words after breakfast. And we worked for a couple of hours. And then by
mid afternoon, we had tidied up most of the rooms. And then as promised, we went off for pizza and
we're off to the cinema. Okay, so to tidy up the room to stay in. Well, this is an activity
that lots of people have for weekends. You know, they've had a busy week, the weather's bad, the
weather is cold. We just decided to stay in this weekend. We've been travelling a lot over the last
few weekends. So we really need to just to chill out. So we chilled out and decided to stay in.
So we can link those two expressions together. So we chilled out, we sat in front of the TV,
we looked at a few movies with the kids, you know, they like these action movies. I don't
like them so much. But they can be a little bit of fun. So we chilled out on Saturday. And then
we went to the park on Sunday. So we stayed in all day Saturday, that weather was terrible. Anyway,
I'm sure it was the same way you were. So we stayed in, we had some little snacks. And then we
just chilled out in the evening. And we watched those movies to stay in and to chill out.
To wind down. Well, normally we wind down at the end of the weekend. So we can't wait for Friday
evening to come, so we can wind down and get ready for the weekend. Because what you don't want is to
be feeling under pressure or thinking oh, I should have done this I should have done that takes up
a bit of your thinking time on a on a Saturday morning. So if you can wind down on the Friday
you go home, kick off the shoes, get into your jeans or your leisure suit and you sit around with
a glass of wine and you just wind down you switch off the laptop, you switch off the mobile phone,
hopefully. And it's been a little bit of time relaxing. To wind down. And usually it takes
a few hours or in some cases a few days to wind down. So if you're planning a holiday,
you always find it takes a couple of days to wind down before you get into the holiday mood. So
to wind down means to get yourself ready, to forget about all those troubles at the office,
to forget about the schoolwork. To forget about the studies. Just enjoy yourself and wind down.
To have someone over well, to have someone over means to invite somebody to come to your home
for either for a meal, dinner perhaps. Or in fact, even to have a meal and to stay over for a night
or the weekend. And so you know what kids are like they always like to have someone over. You know,
they have their friends this weekend. The next weekend, they will go to their friend's house. Oh,
we like to have their cousins over because they... they're really around the same age as a couple
of years between them. So when the cousins come over, and they stay we have they have a great time
they watch the movies, they play games off. There's a lot of shouting and screaming of course
and there's a load of mess to tidy up afterwards. But you know, it's a bit of fun and they get to
know each other better. And I really think it's a great way to grow up. So to have someone over
means to invite, formally or informally to have them over for a drink. Oh, we must have you over
some time. Yeah. So you meet the new neighbours, you've just moved into the neighbourhood, you're
parking your car, they come and they introduce themselves to you. And they're around the same
age. And they say, You know what? We will have you over some time. Oh, yeah, great, great, great. So
you just say, we'll take a rain check on that. And perhaps the next time you meet them, they
may invite you over for a drink to sort of welcome you to the neighbourhood. So to have someone over.
To flick through. Well, you can flick through the TV channels, you're sitting in front of the TV,
you're not quite sure what you want to watch. But you know, you want to watch something.
So you get the remote control, and you flick, channel one, channel two, channel three. So you
flick through the channels until you see something that's interesting, then you watch it for a few
minutes ago, a bit bored, and you flick through again to find it. And then if suddenly land on a
movie that you haven't seen for a while, or you haven't seen before. So you're you're settled
with on that to watch it. So you flick through the same way you can take out an old photograph,
album, and you can flick through photographs from years gone by it's sort of a trip down memory
lane. Yeah. Okay. So flick through the pages. Flick, flick, flick means to go through Yeah,
usually to go through reasonably quickly until you land on something that that's of interest to
you. Oh, you can flick through the Netflix channel to see what particular episode you want to watch?
Or is there one particular Netflix movie that you think is really good that people have been
talking about. So you eventually find the one that you're looking for. So to flick through.
To meet up. Well, we usually like to meet up with our friends at various times. Or we might just ask
the question, would you like to meet up at the weekend? Why don't we meet up with the partners
on Saturday? Why don't we all go for a pizza? Why don't we all go to the cinema? Why don't we
meet up at the gym? Okay, so to meet up, you can arrange it for me. Let's meet up at two o'clock.
Let's meet up over the next couple of weeks. Why don't we meet up over the holidays. So
all of those situations where you have the opportunity to meet up with somebody, to come
together formally or informally, to celebrate or just to spend a bit of time together to chill out.
To catch up with somebody. Well, when we want to catch up with somebody, we mean, we want to find
out what's going on in their life and say, you know, I'd really like to catch up with you soon.
I don't have time now. I'm in a bit of a rush. I promised the missus that I would get home early
this evening. So give me a call and we'll catch up over the weekend or we'll catch up for lunch.
Yeah, if you're, if you're not so busy over the next couple of days. Why don't we catch
up over lunch at noon, sandwich bar seems to be quite good. Everybody's talking about it.
We could meet there. Yeah, sure, why not send you a text or WhatsApp you over the next few days. So
you can catch up with somebody for a meeting to find out what's going on in their life.
Or simply, if you see somebody walking along the street, or you see somebody ahead of you in the
park that you recognise, and you haven't seen them for a while you run or walk more quickly,
to catch up with them. Yeah. Okay. So you just do that, you run your walk quickly, and you catch up
with. Okay, so I'll catch up with you next week. I'll catch up with you for the next lesson. I'll
catch up with you soon, all ways of expressing that sentiment that you want to meet somebody.
And then finally, as I said, we've got these to bump into someone or to run into someone
and the meaning is exactly the same. It usually means that it's not planned, okay? So if you...
it's... not mean physically you bump into somebody, hopefully not in your car.
But if you bump into somebody or run into somebody, it's usually when you weren't expecting
to see them. So you might be just doing a bit of Saturday morning shopping, you might be doing
some late-night shopping in the supermarket. And you hear this familiar voice and you look around
the corner into the other aisle. And there's the guy you haven't seen for a long time. Ah,
fancy meeting you here. Fancy running into you here. I didn't expect to bump into you here.
What are you doing? Yeah, same as you I'm just buying a few last-minute things for the party
and or I'm celebrating one of the kids birthdays. So I need to get a few treats for all the
kids that are coming across to our home. Okay, so to bump into or to run into. So when you go home,
you'll go back to your...your wife or your husband or partner and say you'll never guess who I bumped
into when I was in the supermarket. Oh, you'll never guess who I ran into in the High Street.
I haven't seen her for ages. We, we were in university together and we lost touch but she
must be back home now. So I really must give her a call and catch up with her soon. Yeah, okay. So
I'm going to run into when it's something that happens unexpectedly unplanned.
Okay. So they're all phrasal verbs connected with weekend activities.
Okay, let me give them to you one more time. To clean up, to tidy up, to stay in, to chill out,
to wind down, to have someone over, to flick through, to meet up, to meet up with,
to catch up with someone and to bump into or to run into.As I said, phrasal verbs connected with
weekend and weekend activities. Okay, well, hopefully, that's given you some
help. And some indication as to how to you can use those expressions and words and phrases in
your English and if you need any other details, well, please contact me write to me and if you
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