ENGSPRESSO – Episode 43

Transcript of my podcast episode (43)

Hello, you! Thanks for your patience! These breaks between one episode and another are way too long, aren’t they? But sometimes I can’t help it, really. In June, I got a 7-week-old puppy, a mongrel, that turned my relatively calm life upside down! With this puppy, two cats, household chores, cooking, and running English lessons, it hasn’t been easy to make time for my ENGSPRESSO. Anyway, things are under control now, and I’m glad she’s part of my family. I’m saying 'she’ because it’s a female dog. We could also say it’s a she-dog. Remember that in English, we normally refer to an animal using the pronoun 'it’, but when talking about our beloved pets, we usually use the pronouns 'he’ or 'she’. And as I already love her to the moon and back, I obviously use the pronoun 'she’.

How about you? Have you got any pets? Would you be able to get both a dog and a cat at the same time? It may be a bit crazy in the beginning, but sooner or later, they’ll get used to each other, and this initial chaos will be gone. By the way, here, I would like to say hi to one of my listeners who comes from my city, Bydgoszcz, and who’s a dog trainer and also an enthusiast of my podcast. Dominika, I hope you’re doing well! Perhaps one day I’ll come up with some dog-related content here.

I also want to tell you that I’ve just released the second part of my best-selling flashcard course online that is going to contain another 365 English idioms, proverbs, and sayings. Currently, there are 245 idioms, so the price of the course is lower and can encourage you to start learning right away. It’s already September, so it’s high time we got the ball rolling! Obviously, you can find the new course in the shop on my website angielskidokawy.pl.

And now it’s time to teach you another two expressions!

The first one is STEP BY STEP. When we do something step by step, we deal with one thing and then another thing in a fixed order. I guess this expression is rather clear to you, but as usual, let’s hear some examples.

For instance: The tutorial walks you through the software installation process step by step. Now, repeat after me.
The translation is: Ten tutorial (inaczej: instrukcja online) przeprowadzi cię przez proces instalacji oprogramowania krok po kroku.

Another example: If you had followed the recipe step by step, you wouldn’t have forgotten to add baking powder.
Gdybyś trzymał się przepisu krok po kroku, nie zapomniałbyś dodać proszku do pieczenia.

The second expression is FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. We say it when we mean that people will receive something or be served in the order in which they ask or arrive. We can also say that something is or will be done on a first-come, first-served basis.

For instance: That 80% discount was available to the first 50 customers only, so I had to be quick – first come, first served!
Ta 80% zniżka była dostępna tylko dla pierwszych 50 klientów, więc musiałam być szybka – kto pierwszy, ten lepszy!

Another example: Students can sign up for these classes on a first-come, first-served basis.
Studenci mogą zapisać się na te zajęcia na zasadzie kto pierwszy, ten lepszy.

And now it’s time for your ENGSPRESSO to go!

Our context for the phrases is:

They’re offering a few free consultations on a first-come, first-served basis, where they’ll answer your questions step by step.
Oferują kilka darmowych konsultacji na zasadzie kto pierwszy, ten lepszy, na których odpowiedzą na twoje pytania krok po kroku.

Perfect! I must tell you that I really like the idea of my ENGSPRESSO to go. Thanks to just one sentence that wraps up every episode, you revise two English expressions at once, which is brilliant, isn’t it? I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Make sure you have a look at the transcript of today’s episode if anything seems to be unclear. You can find the link to it in the description of the episode or directly on my website. You can also follow the automatic transcript that should appear while playing any of my episodes.
Remember, don’t be a stranger and say hi to me in the comments under this episode because I can finally reply to you here on Spotify! You can also send me a message via Instagram or Facebook.

Thank you for tuning in, and this time I just hope to talk to you soon!