How to Talk About Love in English
on October 18, 2017
Love is a very interesting topic that doesn’t go out of season. So, today, we’ll learn a few vocabulary words and expressions that describe love and other emotions related to it. Let’s focus on how to talk about getting dumped and getting over it and moving on to the next person.
“Today has not been a good day. I am sad because I got dumped”.
I GOT (auxiliary verb) DUMPED (past simple tense because it happened only once). This means that the girl I love told me to get lost or disappear from her life.
Now, a friend sees me and asks why I look so down, I’d say, “She dumped me.” This is in the passive voice because the action is happening to me. The other person did it to me or I’m the receiver of the action.
But, if I say “I dumped her”, this is in the active voice because I am the one doing the action. “I did this to another person”.
Let’s continue with the story.
“Because she dumped me and I don’t want to talk to her anymore, my friend James told me to, ‘Calm down’”. This means the bad feelings must go down, that’s why it’s ‘calm DOWN’.
He wants me instead to ‘cheer up’. The good feelings must go up, that’s why it’s ‘cheer UP’.
But, I’m having a bad day and I’m not ready to calm down or cheer up, so James tells me, “Well then, you have to deal with it“. Here, the word DEAL means to be strong, face it with courage, or manage the emotions. IT means the being ‘dumped’. “I’ve been dumped, and so I have to deal with it.”
The other expressions that my friend can use are:
“Get over it.”
This means I have to move on, to not get stuck in that bad emotion, or I need to jump over a bad situation to be able to move on.
“There are plenty more fish in the sea.”
This is another way of saying don’t worry, or I don’t be sad, there are more people to meet out there. Normally, when you’re sad, you don’t think about the future. You’re just sitting there, occupied with the negative emotion, and thinking about the girl who dumped you. So friends will say, “Look forward to the future.”
When I’ve already dealt with it and I’m over it, I can say, “I’m over her. I look forward to go biking this weekend to relax and free my mind.” Or, “I look forward to going to this weekend party.” Or, “I look forward to drinking with my friends at the bar tonight.”
But then I have another friend, Mike, who heard that I got dumped. He then tries to comfort me, or cheer me up, so he keeps sending these text messages asking how I’m doing. It annoys me, so I say, “Mike is getting on my nerves.” This means to make angry, to irritate, or to bother. Now, “getting on my nerves” suggests that my annoyance is for a short period only and for a certain situation only. But when I say, “He gets on my nerves”, it’s more serious. This means that Mike irritates or angers me ALL of the time.
When someone gets on your nerves, you can tell them, “Get off my back”. This is another verbal phrase which means ‘to leave me alone’ or ‘stop annoying me about it’.
Now, because I’m feeling down and getting annoyed with my friend, I go to a party or weekend trip to clear my mind. And there, I meet a new girl. I then say, “I met someone over the weekend. She makes me feel happy!” OR “She makes me feel excited like I’m on cloud nine.” This means, “I’m so happy I’m floating up into the sky”.
In short, my story goes like this. I got dumped. I got over it. My friend annoyed me. I cheered up. I met a new girl. I feel like I’m on cloud nine.
So today, you learned new vocabulary and phrases that will help you express your emotions. You can go ahead and make sample sentences using these expressions. Your LingualBox teacher will also be a great help when you practice these expressions.
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