476. Useful English Phrases with Severance | English with TV Shows

Today we are going to learn and practice English with the show Severance. We're going to learn and practice real life phrases and we're going to practice listening connected speech and understanding nuances in a scene simply by analyzing a scene from the show. Hey, you're listening to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, your host, a pronunciation expert, fluency coach and a proud non native speaker. With over 16 years of experience teaching, I am here to share with you all my secrets on how to show up in English clearly with confidence and freedom. On this podcast, I'll provide step by step strategies, lessons, stories and practical tips to keep you inspired and motivated on your English journey. Are you ready? Let's do it. Now let's get started with the scene. Before we watch the clip that we're going to analyze today, I want to talk about the definition of the word severance. Severance means the action of ending a connection or a relationship. But it also is short for severance pay, which is the payment you get when you get dismissed or fired or discharged from your job. Okay, so let's go ahead and watch the scene.

Mark.

What the hell?

Why won't you talk to me?

What do you want to talk about, Helly?

I don't know. Maybe the fact that Ms. Casey's your Audi's wife. What are we gonna do?

No, we're not gonna do anything.

Not gonna do anything. Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

We'll work as a team. Well, figure this out, Will.

There's no we, Helly. What? It doesn't matter. Why? Why?

Yeah, why?

Because they are smarter than us. Okay? They know everything. Me looking for Ms. Casey, us wandering around, meeting other departments, mapping the floor, all of it. They know everything we're doing because Helena told them everything we're doing.

That wasn't me, Mark. Look, I'm not her. I'm not. I'm me. Helly.

And how do I know that?

You. You don't. You just have to trust me. This is real. Not everything here is a lie. I'm stopping a fucking asshole.

So this is a scene. First, I'm going to pull out some of the common phrases that I detected. And. And we're going to practice them together. Okay? These are phrases that you'll probably hear a lot in TV shows, but also in real life if you are surrounded with speakers of English. The first one is what the hell?

What the hell?

That's a phrase that we hear a lot. It usually means. What? What are you talking about? What the hell? What is wrong with you? It's kind of like. It's used to express a lot of frustration and to get someone's attention. Okay. Because they did something. What the hell? Now, if you want to soften it a little bit, you can say what the heck without using the word hell. What the hell? What the. The little trick I can give you here is to connect the t to the th. What tongue is on the t for the t and then you release it for the th. What the. What the. What the what the hell? Or what the heck? The next phrase I detected is what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I hear it a lot in movies. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Now practice it with me. And then you'll notice it when we listen to it again in the scene. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Keep your articulation organs soft. What are we going to? What are we going to? That's what happens when we connect words together, when we reduce vowels. What are we going to do? Okay, you don't want to overly emphasize these words. There's no we. That's another phrase that I hear a lot. There's no we. There's only me. Right? There's no we. We're not in this together. That is the meaning. There's no we. There's no we. Seriously. Again, a word that is commonly used and depending on how you say it, it means different things. Seriously, I'm surprised. Seriously? You're kidding me, right? Seriously? Okay. Rising intonation. Seriously. Sometimes it's used if you're actually surprised and you're asking, really? It's almost like, really, seriously? Or seriously, you're kidding me, right? You're not serious. You're not being serious right now. So one is genuinely surprised, and another one is kind of like a statement or a comment. Come on, come on. When you were trying to encourage someone or when you don't believe someone, you might use that phrase. Come on, come on. When you want to dismiss it. Someone or something. Here, you want to connect it together. Come on, come on, come on. The next one is, we'll figure this out. Figure this out. I love this phrase. To figure it out. Figure, figure. So you can add a little Y sound there, but there is no oo, even though there is the letter U. Figure, figure. We'll figure this out. We'll figure this out. We'll find a solution. We'll figure this out. The next phrase I want you to notice is it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Okay, what you just said doesn't matter. So here you can even drop the t. And doesn't. It doesn't matter. So we connect those two words together. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Okay, good. So now we're going to listen to it part by part, and we're going to talk about it, shadow it if we need to, and look at more definitions and more vocabulary that might be interesting for us.

Mark, what the hell?

Remember this? What the hell? What the hell? Or what the heck?

Why won't you talk to me?

Okay, notice in the word why won't you talk to me? Right here she uses the future form won't, Won't. Won't. Will not. Why will you not talk to me? So won't. Make sure you pronounce the long o sound. Otherwise it might sound like want. Why won't you talk to me? Almost like, why do you want to talk to me? Might sound like a mistake if you mispronounce it. Why won't. Why won't. Whoa, whoa.

Why won't you talk to me? Why won't you talk to me? Why won't you talk to me?

What do you want to talk about? Helly?

I don't know. Maybe the fact that Ms. Casey's your outie's wife.

Okay, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to talk about? Listen to this reduction. What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? What do you want to talk about? Helly? Now she says, I don't know, maybe the fact that Ms. Casey is your Audi's wife. So just for clarity, if you haven't watched the show, I don't want to give you any spoilers and howdy is kind of like the identity, the employee's identity outside of this workplace. It's called Lumen Industries. And in this place, they. It's kind of like they have different identities in their workplace and outside the workplace. So when they're in the workplace and they talk about their other identities, then they refer to it as Audi, your outie's wife. Okay, Just for you to understand, it's not a word that you don't know in English. And then the response is, let's listen to it.

I don't know, maybe the fact that Ms. Casey's your outie's wife.

Maybe the fact that. Maybe the fact that. This is another common phrase that I want you to pay attention to. Maybe the fact that is used when you want to give a Potential reason for something. Okay. You know, why are you so tired? I don't know. Maybe the fact that I didn't sleep all night is why I'm tired. Or maybe the fact that he didn't text you means he is not interested. Maybe the fact that the reason for it. Possibly because. Maybe because. Perhaps. Maybe the fact that. So it's another nice way to say maybe because or possibly because. Maybe the fact that. Now I want you, as an exercise, to think of a sentence with the phrase maybe the fact that. Maybe the fact that. Okay, let's listen to the next part.

What are we going to do?

No, we're not going to do anything.

Okay, what are we going to do? Asking a question, we already practiced this phrase, what are we going to do? And then he responds, not going to do anything. Not going to do anything. So there is a question and then an answer. You'll notice a lot that when people talk and it's an actual dialogue, you'll see that when there is a question, the pitch goes up. Listen to it.

What are we going to do?

So what are we going to do? A question. Pitch goes up. What are we going to do? We already practiced it. Pitch goes up. Because it's a question. And then he answers, no, we're not.

Going to do anything.

We're not going to do anything. No, we're not going to do anything. Going to do. Going to do. Going to do. No, we're not going to do anything. So the answer is with the pitch going down, and then she says, not.

Going to do anything.

So she repeats after him, not going to do anything.

Seriously?

Seriously. Do you really mean that? Are you kidding me? Honestly? So the pitch goes up, but the intonation, the tone of voice is almost like it's not even surprise. It's shocked, right? It's disbelief. That is what I'm hearing, the tone of voice. Seriously? Are you kidding me? Are you serious? Honestly? Really? Right. Like, all these phrases can fit in perfectly. And then your response, yes, seriously. Okay. And he's being genuine, like, yes, seriously, I don't want to do anything about it. Okay. So practice these different tones, different attitudes when saying these words, and you'll notice how each time they might seem like they mean something different. Okay, let's move on.

Come on. We'll work as a team. We'll figure this out.

Okay. Come on, come on, come on. Like an encouragement, right? Don't give up. We can do this. We got this. Come on. So she says, we'll work as a team. We'll figure this out. We'll figure this out. We'll figure this out. We'll figure this out. Okay, she's really trying to encourage him here.

And then out, will, there's no we, helly. What?

And then he's like, he's repeating what she said because she says, we'll figure this out. And he says, well, there's no we, helly. Right? It's only me. It's basically him rejecting her offer to help. He's saying, you're not involved in this. It's also another way to say, stay out of it. Okay, there's no we.

What? It doesn't matter.

Why? It doesn't matter. Now, when we listen to him say it here, we'll notice that he does pronounce a T. It doesn't matter. When people are trying to be very clear or maybe when they're angry, they enunciate every single sound. It doesn't matter. Right? And in a way, you know, you can also say, never mind or forget about it, or it's not important. It doesn't matter. Or it doesn't matter. If you want to connect it, it doesn't matter. Let's listen to the next part. Why?

Why?

Yeah, why?

Okay, so they're kind of like, there is a ping pong here. Why? Why? Yeah, why?

Because they are smarter than us. Okay? They know everything. Me looking for Ms. Casey, us wandering around, meeting other departments, mapping the floor, all of it. They know everything we're doing because Helena told them everything we're doing.

So here we're not going to analyze everything. But I want you to pay attention to this mini monologue that he has here. First of all, the word wandering around. Wandering, wandering. Walking around. Walking down the streets, like looking for things. So distinguish that word. Wandering, that is pronounced with the Oz and father. Wander around versus wonder. That's a cup sound spelled with O. Wonder. I wonder what we're going to do tonight. And then he says, everything we're doing because Helena told them everything we're doing. I don't want to offer a spoiler here, so I won't explain why he's talking about Helena. If you know, you know. Okay, let's move on to the next part.

That wasn't me.

That wasn't me. This is a phrase you can also practice saying. You say that when you don't want to take responsibility, when someone is blaming you for something you did, and you would say, no, it wasn't me. That wasn't me. The T is held. It's kind of like I Didn't do that. I didn't do that. That wasn't me. That wasn't held. T me. You can even drop the T. That was a me. Because it's the same rule when the T is between two consonants, it is often dropped in American English. Okay, next up, Mark.

I'm not her. I'm not. I'm heli.

Okay, so here we can look at the stress patterns that she uses. I'm not her. I'm not. I'm me. So I'm not her. Not me. So the words that she wants to emphasize that she wants to stress are longer, louder, and higher in pitch, which is something that we hear. And we notice in American English that when a word is stressed, it's usually higher in pitch. So let's listen to it. Let's listen to how she does it.

I'm not her.

Her. Right, that's a little more emphasized. I'm not, I'm not.

I'm me.

I'm me. So there is a little push. Usually it's slightly higher in pitch, more intense, more volume and longer. Okay, this is how we stress words in English.

And how do I know that?

And how do I know that? And how do I know that? You know that. But how do I know that? This is why he stresses I. Usually we don't stress I in a sentence unless we want to distinguish I from you, for example, like he does here. And how do I know that? Right. How do I know that? You know that. But how do I know that? Let's look at that connected speech. How do I, how do I, and how do I know that? Notice that when we have the word end, we don't hear the D really? And it connects to the next word. And how do I know that? And then she says, you don't. You don't. Just like the won't at the beginning that had the long O as in go. Don't has it as well. You don't, won't, don't, won't, don't. And then she says, you just have to trust me, okay? You just have to trust me. You just have to trust me. I think this is another phrase you can practice saying quite a few times because this is something I can see people use in their day to day life. And what I like about shadowing and looking at these shows and learning English with those shows is that you can kind of like copy paste phrases because maybe you are saying these things in a different way and you feel limited and you feel like you're not that varied and when you pick and choose those little phrases from TV shows, phrases that are actually used in English in day to day life, then you can just say it. Build the habit of using it continuously, and then you can just start using it more regularly when you speak. You just have to trust me. You just have to trust me. Okay? You just have to trust me. And.

This is real.

Pay attention to the stress words. By the way, this is real, right? Remember, longer, louder, higher in pitch. This is real. She emphasizes this, not the word real. So she means this. What we have here now is what's real, not what is going on in the outside world. This is real.

Not everything here is a lie.

Not everything here is a lie. Try connecting this sentence together. Practice connected speech. Not everything here is a lie.

Stop being a fucking asshole.

Okay, so we might not repeat this entire phrase, but we can just think of the beginning and stop being. Stop being so annoying. Stop being so naughty. Stop being so obnoxious. Stop being a jerk. Stop being right. Like, we hear that phrase a lot when someone is doing something that is really annoying or that you disapprove and you're just telling them to stop. Okay? Stop being a drama queen. Stop being so defensive. Stop being like that. So you can. You can also start noticing it being used. And I bet that now when we highlight these phrases, you'll start noticing it being used a lot more. And when you notice it, you can start using it. Okay, let's go back to practicing some of the key phrases that we learned today or that we practice along with this show. The first one was what the heck? Or what the hell. You choose. What the hell? What the heck? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? There's no we. There's no we. It's just me. There's no we. Seriously. Seriously. Come on. Come on, Will, figure this out. We'll figure this out. It doesn't matter. It's not important. It doesn't matter. Okay, great job. Now let me know in the comments or send me a dm. If you're listening to this on the podcast, let me know what you think. What are the phrases that you haven't used and now are using? And if you have any other shows that you'd like me to analyze and teach you English with, let me know in the comments as well. Thank you so much for watching me. Don't forget to subscribe and to have a beautiful, beautiful day. I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.