this is my friend Anna we haven’t seen each other in a while so we’re just gonna have a coffee and catch up. you want to come?

did you hear me say the phrasal verb “catch up” it means to talk to someone you haven’t seen for a while and find out what they’ve been doing

This place is nice. it is its one of my favorites have you been here before?

Few times yeh

so what can you recommend?

hmmm usually I like the nasi lemak that’s delicious and they do really good coffee and smoothies

“what do you recommend“ I asked Anna what she recommends because she has been to this restaurant before

so she knows what’s good to eat

okay I’m gonna have the nasi lemak set with a coffee and what do you want?

ahhh do you mind if I share that with you?

sure!

and I’ll get an iced latte

yeah that’s good

and what do you want?

can you think of an answer?

the grammatically correct way to answer that question is “I want an iced latte“

but in real life native English speakers use a few different verbs when they’re in a cafe or restaurant in this context they all have the same or very similar meanings so you might hear ;

I want an iced latte

I’ll have an orange juice

I’ll take a peppermint tea

I’ll get a pineapple smoothie

let’s order and it’s my shout I’m getting this.

you sure?

yes, you got the last one

thank you

“it’s my shout I’m getting this”

here I’m telling Anna that I want to pay for her meal

this is my shout

I’m getting this

I’ll get this

these are informal ways of offering to pay the bill for someone. “thank you are you sure you want to buy my lunch?” Anna is politely checking that I’m happy to pay the bill

I got the juice because that’s part of my set. thank you Oh here comes iced lattes they look good too. okay look at all this.

so Anna how’s your week been?

pretty good, pretty busy coming up to the end of the year got a bit much,

trying to cut down

did you hear what Anna said when she was putting sugar in her coffee “she’s trying to cut down”, to cut down means to start doing less of something especially because it’s bad for your health so Anna is trying to cut down on sugar to eat less sugar.

have you tried the um the new cafe down the street that’s opened up?

no no yet ,what’s it called?

uh it’s called the Bake house

mm-hmm have to add it to my list

I think it’s good for breakfast and coffees and things like that but I haven’t been but I’ve heard it’s good.

I think there’s a really good band playing this weekend at UM at China house too

oh yeah?

yeah

is it that raggy guy?

yeah

what are you doing this weekend ?

this is your chance to practice the present continuous for future plans so

tell us what you’re doing this weekend

I’m visiting my cousin in Sydney

I’m playing football on Sunday

I’m having my friends over for a barbecue

that was really nice ann, it was good to catch up

and nice to meet you too

see you and bye