Romance Idioms, Phrases and Vocabulary in American English
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[00:00:00] Hi everyone, it's Angela at ESL Speech Connect, and since Valentine's Day is almost here, today's lesson is about idioms and expressions related to the topic of love and romantic relationships, and also some vocabulary and their pronunciations. So let's start with some idioms and see how many you know.
Number one, head over heels, and notice when I said this, I didn't say head over heels. The words kind of connected, head over heels. Head over, head over heels. So just kind of notice these patterns of speech and how the words connect to each other. So what does head over heels mean? If you said to be very much in love, you would be correct.
For example, Tom is head over heels for Lisa. This [00:01:00] means that Tom just really loves Lisa. Number two, seeing someone. This means that you are dating and in a relationship. You're not married, but you are in a relationship. They've been seeing each other for two years. And maybe, if you're in a relationship, and someone else doesn't know that, but they are interested.
In getting to know you better, or they want to ask you out on a date, you would just say, I'm seeing someone, or I'm currently seeing someone. Number three, tie the knot. Not quite, but almost. This means to get married. They're going to tie the knot in June. Number four, pop the question. What is the question?
This means to propose marriage or ask [00:02:00] someone to marry him or her. He wants to propose to his girlfriend after graduation. And usually we just say propose. We understand that it's propose marriage, but we just say propose. He's going to propose. Number five, a match made in heaven. Now, just those words, that combination of words, tell you that it is something good and positive.
So, basically, that means a perfect couple. Two people are very good together. For example, after a few dates, I knew he was the one for me. It was a match made in heaven. Or, sometimes we can use this idiom if two things are very compatible with one another. Again, if a couple is compatible together, yes, we use it, but also it could be other things as well.
For example, some might say that chocolate and peanut butter [00:03:00] together are a match made in heaven. And I tend to agree. I agree with that. Next, we're going to talk about some common phrases. This first one is a question that you will typically hear on Valentine's Day. Number one, will you be my valentine?
Now this is a yes or no question. So with yes or no questions, we usually end on a rising intonation. Will you be my valentine? So let's look at the word valentine. Three syllables, Stress on the first. Valentine. Valentine. And don't forget the V. Top front teeth. Press down on the bottom lip. V. Voice the sound.
Valentine. Phrase number two. I'm crazy about you. What does that mean? Usually we say crazy about. Not [00:04:00] really I'm crazy for. for you. Usually about is more common. And this means I have very strong feelings toward you. Number three, I have a crush on you or I have a crush on him or I have a crush on her.
What is crush? Crush is generally a very strong, romantic attraction to someone. That doesn't last very long. It's usually just very temporary. Or sometimes, we say, He or she is my crush. Number four, You take my breath away. And basically, this just means, You have such an effect on me. You know, I just have such feelings for you.
for you and you have an effect that just takes my breath away. It's like, I can't breathe when I'm around you. And the word breath has that unvoiced TH sound at the end. Breath. Okay. Take the [00:05:00] tongue, tip of the tongue, press it between the upper and lower front teeth. Push air out as you pull the tongue back.
Breath. Breath. Now let's look at a few vocabulary words. Number one, puppy love. Okay. And no, this doesn't mean that you love your puppy. This is actually, uh, something that we call a young, innocent crush. Usually seen in children and teenagers. And it's like a crush, it's very temporary. Very sweet and innocent.
Here's an example sentence. When Sarah was 13, she had a huge crush on a boy in her class. She thought she was in love. But her parents just called it puppy love. Our next word is chocolate. Now, it looks like we would say this with three syllables. Chocolate. But in American English, we actually omit the second [00:06:00] O.
So it sounds like chocolate. Chocolate. Two syllables, stress on the first. Chocolate. Next, a dozen roses. So, dozen has two syllables, stress on the first. Dozen. And notice that the O, has the sound. So don't say dozen or doozen. Dozen. Dozen. And then roses is two syllables. Stress on the first. Roses. The S's sound like a Z.
Roses. Roses. So it's voiced all the way through. And if you want to practice the R, you can say a dozen red roses. A dozen red roses. I hope to receive chocolate and a dozen red roses for Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoyed this lesson about romantic idioms and [00:07:00] pronunciations. If you'd like to learn more about American English speech patterns and pronunciations, check out my website at eslspeechconnect.com happy learning, everyone!
