This content is a language learning lesson using clips from the movie "Despicable Me" to teach English vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, focusing on practical phrases and connected speech for fluency.
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Girls, I want you to meet Mr. Gru.
He's going to adopt you and he's a dentist.
>> I got your leg. I got your leg.
>> Okay, that's enough. Little girl, let go
of my leg. Come on. Just release and
grip. Wow.
>> How do you move them? Is there a
command? Some nonstick spray. Crowbar.
I'm Senior, your real life English
fluency coach, and today we're learning
English with a sweet and hilarious 2010
movie, Despicable Me. So, Gru is a
washed up super villain. This means that
he was once successful and famous, but
he's not anymore. So, he comes up with a
plan that will put him back in the
spotlight. He's going to rob the moon.
However, first he has to steal a shrink
ray. So, as we saw at the start, he
adopts three young girls to help him.
But there is a problem. This super
villain has absolutely zero experience
with children. He lives in a dark lair
full of dangerous weapons and
inventions. Not exactly a kid-friendly
environment. So, let's break down what
happens when he tries to establish some
ground rules. Here's how the lesson will
work. First, you'll watch each scene.
Then, I'll teach you the most useful
expressions, grammar, and pronunciation.
And finally, you'll test yourself by
watching again without subtitles. And
I'll be asking some quiz questions to
make it more challenging. So, let's do this.
As you can see, I have provided
everything a child might need.
All right. Uh, okay. As I was saying, hey,
hey,
>> somebody broke that.
>> Okay. Okay. Clearly, we need to set some
rules. Rule number one, you will not
touch anything.
>> Uh-huh. What about the floor?
Yes, you may touch the floor.
>> What about the air?
>> Yes, you may touch the air.
>> Where did you get that?
>> In that hilarious first scene where Grew
adopts the girls, we already have some
great advanced expressions to learn. And
if you want to remember these
expressions forever, so you can
confidently and naturally use them in
your next conversation, whether at work
or with friends, but let me share you
something that will help you a lot. It's
our magic flash cards on the real life
app. They use science to bring back
words for review right when you're about
to forget them. That way, expressions
like washed up, in the spotlight, lay,
let go, and set some rules will stick in
your head like super glue. You'll speak
much more like a native. Check it out
for free right now with the link in the
description. Now, let's actually learn
all of these everyday expressions.
>> Let go of my leg. Come on. Just release.
>> Let's start off with a common phrasal
verb. Let go means to stop holding on to
something or someone. It's super common
in everyday English. You might hear,
"You need to let go of the past and move
forward." Or, "Let go of me." Check out
this other real life example.
Impatience is fear of the present. Let
go of desire. Let go of fear.
Be in the present. Release the grip is a
more formal way of saying let go. When
you have a grip on something, you're
holding it tightly. To release means to
let something go or set it free. This
phrase is often used in instruction
manuals like release the grip slowly to
avoid injury. As Grrew is an evil
genius, he often uses advanced technical
language like this. And this is part of
the movie's humor because it contrasts
with how most people speak to children
using simpler, cuter language. We see
him continue treating the children like
a technical problem he needs to solve in
the next line.
>> Wow. How do you move them? Is there a command
command
nonstick spray crowbar?
crowbar?
>> All right, let's break down these few
advanced words. A command in this
context would be a specific word or
instruction that makes something happen,
like a computer command. Gre is
wondering if there's a magic word that
makes children let go. In the tech
world, you might hear, "What's the
command to shut down the system?" This
is also common when training a dog. You
might say, "Your puppy knows basic
commands like sit and stay." Nonstick
spray is actually a real product used in
cooking. It's an oil spray you put on
pants so food doesn't stick to them. The
irony here is that Grrew wants something
to make Agnes not stick to his leg,
treating her like food stock to a pen.
Clearly, he knows nothing about kids.
This is a crowbar. It's used to lift
heavy objects off the ground or open
things by force. Often used in
construction or breaking into places.
All right, before we move on to the next
clip, I want to help you understand
fast-peaking natives and speak more
naturally and clearly yourself with
something called connect to speech.
That's how natives cut, reduce, and link
words together in fluent speech. Listen
to how Agnes says this.
>> I got your leg. I got your leg.
>> So, she didn't say a clear got your. She
said it like got. This happens because
when we have a word ending in t followed
by a word like you or your, it morphs
into a ch sound. Got your becomes got
your speaking will only get better with
lots of practice. So listen again and
try to say that just like her.
>> I got your leg. I got your leg. I got
Now, let's jump forward a bit to when
Gru arrives home with the girls and is
giving them a tour.
>> As you can see, I have provided
everything a child might need.
>> This is actually a super useful phrase,
especially if you ever need to give
presentations or explain something to
someone. When you say, "As you can see,"
you are directing someone's attention to
something visible. Basically saying,
"Look at this evidence right in front of
you." For example, in a business
meeting, you might hear, "As you can see
from the graph, sales increased
dramatically last quarter." Check out
this example. As you can see, the
fortress lies so far beneath the
bedrock, it's untouchable.
>> Okay. Okay. Clearly, we need to set some rules.
rules.
>> When something is obvious to everyone,
you can use the word clearly to
emphasize that fact. Like, you're
clearly tired. You should go to bed.
Which means, I can see you're tired.
It's obvious. And here's another example.
example.
>> Are you a ghost? No, it's complicated.
>> But uh clearly you're you're not a human.
human.
>> And what does Grrew want to do? He wants
to set some rules. This means to
establish rules that everyone must
follow. Parents set rules for their
kids. Teachers set rules for their
classrooms. And apparently super
villains set rules for adopted children.
Rule number one, you will not touch anything.
anything.
>> All right, let's pause here for a
grammar moment because this is
important. Notice that Gru says you will
not touch anything instead of you're not
going to touch anything. What's the
difference? When we use will for future
actions, it often sounds more formal,
commanding, or like a threat. It's
perfect for rules, warnings, and
official statements. You'll often see
this on signs like trespassers will be
prosecuted or smoking will activate the
fire suppression system. On the other
hand, going to is more casual and
conversational. It's used for plans or
predictions based on evidence like I'm
going to watch a movie tonight or look
at those clouds. It's going to rain. So,
Gru uses will here because he's trying
to sound authoritative and establish
firm rules. He's basically saying this
is what's going to happen.
>> What about the floor?
>> Learners often confuse three similar but
different words, floor, ground, and
earth. So, let's peel apart their
meaning. The floor is the surface inside
a building that you walk on. For
example, I dropped my keys on the floor.
The ground is the surface outside that
you walk on. Dirt, grass, pavement. If
you have a picnic outside, in most
cases, you'll sit on the ground.
Earth has two meanings. I'm sure you
know it's the planet we live on with a
capital E, but it's also dirt. For
example, we plant the seeds in the
earth. We had another great example of
connected speech in this scene. Check
this out.
>> What about the floor?
>> Natives use this question, what about
all the time? And usually you'll hear it
pronounced this way. When it is between
two vowel sounds in American English, it
morphs into a D sound. This happens with
what and it connected to about. So it's
not what about but what about? What
about? And we heard this two more times
in the scene.
>> What about the air? What about this?
>> Cool. Right now you try. Listen to those
three lines again and practice saying
this question just like a native.
>> What about the floor? What about the
air? What about this?
>> What about the floor? What about the
Moving on, let's hear what Gru's second
Okay. Rule number two, you will not
bother me while I'm working. Rule number
three, you will not cry or whine or
laugh or giggle or sneeze or burp or fart.
fart.
>> So, no, no, no annoying sounds. Right.
Okay. Don't worry. Everything's going to
be fine. We're going to be really happy
Okay, rule number two. You will not
bother me while I'm working.
>> To bother someone means to disturb,
annoy, or interrupts them when they're
trying to do something. It's a super
common word in everyday English. You can
use this term to be polite, like, "Sorry
to bother you, but do you have a
moment?" It's worth noting that bother
is pretty mild. It's not as strong as
harass or annoy, so it's safe to use it
in most situations. Check out these
examples. I will always be here TO MAKE
SURE NOBODY BOTHERS YOU.
>> EXCUSE ME. I'm sorry to bother you, but
uh my my son and I couldn't help but
admire your teddy bear.
>> Rule number three, you will not cry or
whine or laugh or giggle or sneeze or
burp or fart.
>> So, no, no, no annoying sounds, right?
>> Wow. Gru just listed basically every
sound a child makes. Whining is when
someone complains in an annoying,
high-pitched voice. Think of it as
complaining, but in the most irritating
way possible. Check out this example.
>> Come on, stop whining.
Your kids are soft.
You lack discipline.
>> And what do you think giggle means? To
laugh very loudly at something
hilarious. to laugh quietly, usually
because something is funny in a silly
That's right. Little kids giggle a lot.
You might giggle at a funny text message
or when someone tickles you. Finally,
let's tackle these body function words
because they're surprisingly useful.
Sneeze is what happens when your nose
and throat suddenly react to something.
Maybe dust or when you have allergies.
That's a sneeze. By the way, people
usually say bless you or gazun hide
after someone sneezes. You can also use
it as a verb. The pepper made me sneeze.
Children think burping is hilarious. A
burp is when gas comes up from your
stomach and out through your mouth,
usually after drinking soda or eating
too fast. In some cultures, burping
after a meal is actually considered
polite. In English-speaking countries,
though, you usually say excuse me if you
burp accidentally and probably I don't
need to explain fart, right? There are
tons of slang words for this, like pass
gas if you want to be more polite. Does
>> Very.
>> When you ask if something counts as
something else, you're asking whether it
fits into a particular category. Let me
give you more examples. Does this count
as formal wear? Does coffee count as
breakfast? Or does watching a movie
count as English study? The answer can
be a simple yes or no. like grew
sarcastic response here very meaning yes
that definitely counts as annoying and
before we wrap up the lesson I have a
final bit of connected speech to teach you
you
>> okay don't worry everything's going to
be fine
>> we had another instance of the tap t we
saw earlier here instead of to Margaret
says duh and she links all three words
going to be going to be often this would
reduce even more to going to be Check
out this example.
>> It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.
okay.
>> He's going to be fine.
>> You've done awesome today. Now comes the
most important part of the lesson. You
will test everything you learned today
by watching all the clips again without
subtitles. For an extra challenge, I'll
also ask you some quiz questions. And if
you had trouble remembering some of
these new expressions, well, our real
life app will help you with that. After
learning these expressions with our
flashc cards, you'll be able to use them
confidently and naturally next time you
have an English conversation. So, gather
for free right now with the link in the description.
Girls, I want you to meet Mr. Grew.
He's going to adopt you and he's a dentist.
I got your leg. I got your leg.
>> Okay, that's enough. Little girl, let go
of my leg. Come on. Just release a grip.
Wow. How do you remove them? Is there
command nonstick spray crowbar?
Okay, girls. Let's go.
As you can see, I have provided
everything a child might need.
>> Which of these is not an appropriate
situation to use? As you can see, when
presenting data in a meeting, when
showing someone physical evidence, when
all right. Uh okay. As I was saying, hey,
hey,
>> somebody broke that.
>> Okay. Okay. Clearly, we need to set some
rules. Rule number one, you will not
touch anything.
>> True or false? You will not do this and
you're not going to do this mean exactly
the same thing and can always be used interchangeably.
False. Will not is more formal and
commanding, perfect for rules, while not
going to is more casual and conversational.
conversational.
>> Uh-huh. What about the floor?
>> Yes, you may touch the floor.
>> What about the air?
>> Yes, you may touch the air.
>> Where did you get that?
>> Found it.
>> Fill in the blank. Sorry to you, but
>> Sorry to bother you.
>> Okay. Rule number two, you will not
bother me while I'm working. Rule number
three, you will not cry or whine or
laugh or giggle or sneeze or burp or fart.
fart.
>> Match the definition to the word. When
someone complains in an annoying,
high-pitched voice.
When you laugh quietly at something silly.
silly.
When you let go of something you're holding.
>> So, no no no annoying sounds, right?
>> Very.
>> Write a sentence using does this count
as about something in your daily life.
Share your example in the comments. For
example, does scrolling through social
>> Okay, don't worry. Everything's going to
be fine. We're going to be really happy
I had so much fun teaching you with this
hilarious movie. And if you want to
understand fast speaking natives without
getting lost, without missing the jokes,
and without subtitles, we help you do it
with two new lessons every week. Hit the
subscribe button and bell down below to
join our community of over 10 million
global citizens, and you won't miss a
single new lesson.
>> I like to move it, move it. I like to
move it, move it. I LIKE TO MOVE IT. I
LIKE to move it, move it. I like to move
it, move it. I like to move it, move it.
>> Oh yeah. Today we're learning English
with the hilarious animated movie
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