Podcast: Ela não faz nem tarefa, imagina estudar!

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

May 13
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Hey, you! No episódio de hoje do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre o idiom let alone, que é suuuuper comum na língua inglesa. Ouvindo os vários exemplos do pod, você vai se familiarizar bastante com esta expressão e chegar bem mais perto do ponto onde é só abrir a boca que as palavras saem (se é que você já não está lá). Ouça, re-ouça e depois deixe seu exemplo nos comentários. Abraço – Ana!

Transcrição

Hello, what’s up? How are you doing? What did you have for lunch? How did you sleep last night?

Anyway, welcome to a new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Today I have a really good expression for you. It’s a phrase… very, very common. And if you’re a listener of, of other podcasts, if you watch a lot of American TV or British TV, if you’re into movies and TV shows I guarantee you have already heard this expression before. But- is it rolling off your tongue? Is it something that comes to your mind when you want to express that idea? That’s the big question. I’m going to give you many examples today.

This phrase is let alone. Does it ring a bell? Sound familiar? Picture this: there’s this little guy, Tommy, who’s in school and his mother is talking about him, let’s say to the neighbor. Tommy’s mother says: Tommy never eats fruit, let alone vegetables.

He never eats fruit, let alone vegetables. Now, what is being said here? The first piece is Tommy never eats fruit, never! He never does it. Now, most kids would probably choose fruit over veggies if they had to pick one. My guess is, it’s easier to get a kid to eat mangoes and bananas than broccoli and eggplant.

Tommy won’t even eat fruit, which, let’s say, is the nicer option. Can you imagine when it comes time to eat vegetables? He just runs in the other direction – he wants nothing to do with vegetables. With fruit, he’s still in the room. But if you try to get him to eat broccoli he’ll get out of the room. That’s why his mother is saying, Tommy never eats fruit, let alone vegetables. No, no, no chance, no chance for Tommy.

Here’s another word, imagine that there’s this girl, Sally. She lives on her own but she doesn’t cook. She can’t even fry an egg. She can’t even fry an egg, let alone bake a cake. Again, what’s more work? Fry an egg or bake a cake? Or what’s the level of difficulty of these two things? I think we can all agree… Baking cakes is probably a bit harder, it’s probably a bit more work, a bit more complex than frying an egg. Sally can’t even fry an egg. She doesn’t have the ability to fry an egg, she just can’t do it, let alone bake a cake. I mean, she can’t even do something that is relatively easy like frying an egg. Do you think she can do something that is more complex like baking a cake? Nope, no chance, she can’t do it. Sally can’t even fry an egg let alone bake a cake.

Here’s an example with me. I can barely understand Japanese, let alone write in Japanese. Actually in this example, I’m actually exaggerating my abilities a little bit… Because when I say I can barely understand Japanese it kind of communicates that I can understand something in Japanese, but that isn’t even true. I can’t even understand the basics of Japanese, let alone write in Japanese. Come on… I guess what I’m saying here is writing in Japanese is a lot more complex than understanding Japanese. I can’t even understand it, let alone write it.

Let’s wrap it up with a final example. Mark never remembers his own birthday. I mean, he forgets his own birthday. Have you ever met someone like that? That forgets their own birthday? Mark never remembers his own birthday, let alone his friends’ birthdays. He can’t even remember his own, let alone his friends’. Nope, not a chance.

Tell me, can you think of an example from your own life? Something that is real for you, maybe it’s about you, maybe it’s about someone you know. Leave it in the comments, I’m curious.

Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

  • Let alone

Vocabulary

is it rolling off your tongue? = você está falando isso (a expressão) com naturalidade?

be into something = ser chegado em algo

does that ring a bell? = isso soa familiar, faz lembrar algo ou alguém

Sound familiar? = (Does it) sound familiar?

when it comes to something = quando se trata de algo/alguma coisa

she lives on her own = ela mora/vive sozinha

wrap it up = encerrar, terminar

his friends’ = os (aniversários) dos amigos

Ana
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Maria 07/02/2022

Por favor, onde está “sentença” escreva “frase”. Sentenças são as do tribunal. Fazendo esta pequena correção, o site melhora muito.
Obrigado

Bia 22/11/2021

Hi Ana, I found this site and I love everything here!
Thank you very much for your lessons!

God bles you!

Aldinair Valentim 09/09/2021

wonderfulll

Weslley 22/09/2020

I can’t even play guitar let alone play and sing at once
I aprecciated for this podcast it was great tip.

simone 07/08/2020

My son doesn´t know to ride a bicycle let alone to ride a skateboard.

Bruna 01/08/2020

I can’t even run for 10 minutes, let alone exercise at the gym.

Thanks for this podcast, it has helped me a lot to learn English.

Katri 06/07/2020

I can’t sleep at night, let alone during the day!

Norberto 11/06/2020

Your podcasts are very, very useful. Thank’s

Mamen 09/06/2020

i don’t even watch tv at home, let alone outside.

Diana Cezar 02/06/2020

Firts of all, thanks Ana for your podcast, really help me to practice of inglish and i love how you you create different types of subjects, i really enjoy.

I don’t know how to write Kanji in Japanese language, let alone read kanji!

    Ana 02/06/2020

    You’re welcome :) Great example, Diana!

TANIA DE MADUREIRA 20/05/2020

Hello Ana Luiza! I am a long time fan of yours and I would like to congrat you on your work! What is your instagram channel? Thanks!

    Ana 23/05/2020

    Hi Tania,
    How are you? Thanks for stopping by, and for the nice words :-) We’re not keeping an updated Insta channel at the moment… All on this website!

Marco Antonio 16/05/2020

Gosto muito como os textos são atuais e de fácil compreensão. Aprendo muito coisa no auge dos meus 65 anos e, procuro assimilar com a velocidade que me é facultada o entendimento. Parabéns e obrigado.

    Ana 20/05/2020

    Que maravilha, Marco Antonio. Obrigada por passar por aqui! Abraço.

MARIA APARECIDA DAS GRAÇAS MESSIAS 16/05/2020

Hi, I love your podcasts But I’ve never written a comment. But this is the first one.
“I quite can’t ride a bike, let alone drive a car.”

    Ana 20/05/2020

    Excellent example!! Thanks, Maria.

Vera 14/05/2020

Hi Ana! I’m glad to see you around!

“I can barely stand material people, let alone hypocrites”

Thanks!

    Ana 15/05/2020

    hi Vera, nice to see you too and nice example ;)

Célia Regina Santos de Souza 14/05/2020

“My husband sometimes forget my birthday, let alone his friends”!!

I enjoyed a lot this expression!!!

    Ana 14/05/2020

    Nice, Célia :) Glad you liked it

Priscila 14/05/2020

I was wondering about that expression yesterday and now you send this podcast, though! I love it! :D

    Ana 14/05/2020

    I love when that happens!

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