This lesson is suitable for intermediate-level learners. After listening, test your knowledge with our quiz.
Don’t be shy and try to speak clearly. Repeating out loud is the best way to remember new words and phrases!
Allan: Everything’s getting so expensive lately.
Claire: I know. I’m really feeling the pinch.
Allan: Same. I’m just trying to make ends meet.
Claire: Me too. Rent’s through the roof, and petrol costs a fortune.
Allan: Yeah, I’ve had to cut back and watch every dollar.
Learning notes:
Examples of phrases you can use when talking about money and expenses:
- Everything’s getting so expensive lately.
- Prices are going up everywhere.
- Things aren’t as affordable as they used to be.
- I’m really feeling the pinch.
- Money’s a bit tight at the moment.
- I’m just trying to make ends meet.
- I’m barely getting by.
- Rent’s through the roof.
- Petrol costs a fortune.
- I’ve had to cut back and watch every dollar.
- I’m trying to stick to a budget.
Colloquial expressions:
To feel the pinch means that you feel that it’s getting harder to cover your expenses.
If you say that money is tight, it means you don’t have much money to spend.
To make ends meet is to have just enough money to cover your basic needs like rent, food, and bills. You can use it when you are managing ok, but suggests that it is not easy to do this.
If you’re barely getting by, you only just have enough money to cover your basic needs. You can use it when you are very nearly not managing to cover your expenses.
If something is through the roof, it is very high. For example, rent or prices for petrol can be through the roof.
To cost a fortune means to be very expensive.
To watch every dollar means to be very careful how you spend money.
To stick to a budget means to spend only the money you have planned to spend.
Vocabulary:
A budget is a plan you make for how you will spend your money.
If something is affordable, it means it costs a reasonable amount and you can pay for it without difficulty.
If something is not affordable, it costs too much money and you don’t have enough money to pay for it easily.
To cut back on something means to reduce how much you do, spend, or use something.
Learning Focus:
In English we have different present tenses, that we can choose to use depending on what we want to emphasise: the present continuous. (to be + verb + ing) and the present simple (verb(s)). We use the present continuous when we want to emphasise the actual process or feeing that is going on in the present time. Notice that Allan and Claire use this when they are stressing how difficult they are finding it to manage:
Allan: Everything’s getting so expensive lately. (is getting)
Allan: …I’m just trying to make ends meet (am trying)
Claire: I know. I’m really feeling the pinch. (am feeling)
But when they simply want to say that something is true, they use the present simple:
Claire: Me too. Rent’s through the roof, and petrol costs a fortune. (is, costs)
We also have the present perfect (have/had + past participle), which we can use to talk about something that started in the past but is continuing into the present, as in
Allan: Yeah, I’ve had to cut back and watch every dollar. (have + had)
Allan uses the present perfect because he started having to cut back in the past but he is still having to cut back. If he didn’t have to cut back any more, he would say:
Allan: I had to cut back (but now I don’t have to)
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Credit: Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire and Professor Lynda Yates was our educational consultant.
