Grammar ~19 min of the core left

Introduce yourself and ask someone to repeat

After this lesson you can

I can say hello, say my name, say that I don't understand, and ask someone to repeat something or to spell it.

Start the lesson Core 17–19 min · steps: 7 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

3 min

An English sentence cannot exist without a verb. When we simply say who is who, the verb is the linking verb be — and it is needed even where the meaning is clear without it.

full form short form
speaker I am Anna I'm Anna
person you talk to you are Tom you're Tom

Questions are made by changing the word order; negatives use the word not: Are you Anna? — Yes, I am. / No, I'm not.

Three examples:

  • I am Anna. → I'm Anna.
  • You are Tom. → You're Tom.
  • Are you Maria? — Yes, I am.

I always has a capital letter, anywhere in the sentence: Tom and I are here.

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Language functions

This is why the lesson comes first: without these phrases a conversation stops at the first line you don't understand.

Learn these phrases as whole units, like "thank you". How they work is explained later: questions with do — lesson 8, can — lesson 20. You have nothing to analyse them with yet, and you don't need to. There are three ways to ask someone to repeat, and they differ not in meaning but in politeness: Sorry? / Pardon? — now, Can you repeat that, please? — lesson 20, Could you… — A2.

Phrase When
Hello. / Hi. greeting; the second one is informal
Good morning. / Good afternoon. / Good evening. depends on the time of day
Nice to meet you. when you meet someone for the first time
Sorry? (with a rising tone) you didn't hear — the most common form in real speech
Pardon? the same, more polite
Sorry, I don't understand. you didn't understand at all
How do you spell it? you don't know how it is written
A-N-N-A. the answer to the question above
Goodbye. / Bye. saying goodbye

Common learner errors

written for your language
1

Leaving out be

✗ I Anna

✓ I am Anna

This is a very common error at every level for learners whose language has no verb "to be" in the present, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Indonesian or Bengali. Check every sentence: has it got a verb?

2

Asking for a name is not how

✗ How is your name?

✓ What is your name?

English asks "what", not "how". Many languages ask "how" here — Spanish ¿Cómo te llamas?, French Comment tu t'appelles ?, German Wie heißt du? — and learners copy it.

Pronunciation

3 min

Letter names are not the sounds the letters make in words. Here are six names you need to spell your name aloud:

Letter Name As in the word
E /iː/ see, tree
I /aɪ/ my, five
G /dʒiː/ gym
J /dʒeɪ/ jail
H /eɪtʃ/ hotel
W /ˈdʌbljuː/ water

Intonation decides whether it is an apology or a request to repeat. Sorry. with a falling tone means "I apologise"; Sorry? with a rising tone means "I didn't hear, say it again". One word, two meanings. This cannot be checked automatically: you get a model and repeat after it.

written for your language

In many languages the letter E is called [e] and I is called [i] (Spanish, Italian, German, Indonesian…). In English E is /iː/ and I is /aɪ/. G and J differ only in the vowel: /dʒiː/ and /dʒeɪ/ — mix them up and you spell a different name. French speakers swap them easily, because French G is [ʒe] and J is [ʒi].

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Text

3 min

The dialogue is read in two voices and checked by reading aloud.

Hello. I'm Anna.

Hi, Anna. I'm Tom.

Sorry? I don't understand.

I'm Tom. T-O-M.

Nice to meet you, Tom.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. I Maria
  2. You Tom
  3. you Tom?
  4. I not here
Show the answers
am, are, Are, am.

2. Multiple choice.

Show the answers
What is your name?; Are you Anna?

3. Word order.

  1. [ Anna / am / I ]
  2. [ you / are / Tom / ? ]
  3. [ meet / nice / you / to ]
Show the answers
I am Anna. Are you Tom? Nice to meet you.

4. Matching.

  1. didn't hear
  2. didn't understand
  3. how it is spelt
Show the answers
didn't hear → Pardon?; didn't understand → Sorry, I don't understand; how it is spelt → How do you spell it?
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Summary

Covered

  • be in the first and second person
  • short forms
  • questions by word order
  • eight phrases of polite conversation (all learnt as whole units)
  • letter names

Next — lesson 2: where you are from and your nationality.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 2

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

12 words
  • hello /həˈləʊ/ a greeting (polite, any time)
  • hi /haɪ/ an informal greeting
  • good morning /ɡʊd ˈmɔːnɪŋ/ a greeting before midday
  • goodbye /ɡʊdˈbaɪ/ what you say when you leave
  • please /pliːz/ the polite word when you ask for something
  • thank you /ˈθæŋk juː/ what you say when someone helps you
  • sorry /ˈsɒri/ what you say to apologise
  • name /neɪm/ what people call you: Anna, Tom
  • nice /naɪs/ pleasant, good
  • meet /miːt/ see someone; get to know someone new
  • again /əˈɡen/ one more time
  • spell /spel/ say or write the letters of a word

Writing

Write three sentences about yourself.

Example

Hello. I'm Anna. Nice to meet you.

Self-check list:

  • has the sentence about you got am (I'm)?
  • is I written with a capital letter?
  • is there a full stop at the end of every sentence?
The draft is saved on this device
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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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