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| Hi, everybody! Welcome back to Top Words. My name is Alisha and today, we're going to talk about 10 words and phrases for dating and romantic relationships. Let's go! |
| 1. like |
| The first word is like, like, the verb like. We use like when we initially develop feelings for someone. So we can say, like, I really like the girl in my class or I really like the boy in my class, for example. So, like is like the first feelings, the first feelings of like simple attraction, to like someone. This is a word that's used a lot by children, like junior high school or maybe high school-aged kids. And you can also use it in adult relationships as well like at those first stages of a relationship like I really like you, for example. So using like can express something a little bit stronger, a little bit more romantic if you use it in that way. |
| In a sentence, "I really like him." |
| 2. have a crush on |
| The next word is have a crush on someone, to have a crush on someone. So, to have a crush on someone, this is usually used by, like, teenagers. It's kind of a young-people word. So, to have a crush on someone means you have a really strong attraction to someone, but maybe you don't know them very well yet or you haven't had a chance to speak with them a lot yet. So, this is something like, if you regularly see someone like at your workplace or at, like, another event or at school and maybe you think they're physically really attractive or maybe you've heard them speaking before and you think they're attractive, there's something about them that really, really strongly interests you but maybe you don't know them very well yet. You could say I have a crush on that person like I have a crush on him or I have a crush on her, like you don't really know them so well, but you really, really are interested in them. That's called a crush, a crush. |
| In a sentence, "Do you have a crush on your coworker?" |
| 3. Love |
| The next word is love, love. So, love at least in American English, we tend to use in a more serious situation. So, it's beyond a crush. It's beyond like. Love is a more serious word that we use. Usually when we have known someone for a long time or we have just like this very, very strong and deep attraction to a person. So we can say, "I love you." or like "Do you love me?" that kind of thing. We can say that, but it has kind of like a serious implication. There's a very serious sort of... nuance behind the word love. So, love is stronger than like or crush and it has like a serious feeling about it. |
| We can also use the word love for our friends and our family members too, but the same nuance of like a strong and serious connection remains. When you use it with your friends and your family members though, it doesn't mean romantically. It just means you have like that very close bond with that person, like "I love you guys!" for example with your friends. It's a very common phrase, but saying "I love you." to your partner is quite strong. So, please use this phrase with caution and care. |
| In a sentence, "I think you should tell her you love her." |
| 4. date |
| The next word is date, date. So, to date someone means that you meet someone regularly in, like, a romantic way. So, traditionally like dates could be like dinner and a movie or going out for coffee together, or enjoying dinner together, going to the park or the beach or maybe traveling somewhere. So a date is time with only the two of you to get to know each other and to get to know each other more romantically. So, we can use the word date a little bit loosely. If I say for example I'm going on a date with my girlfriends today, girlfriends in the plural, it means I'm going out for a fun… a fun afternoon maybe or a fun evening with the women in my life who are closest to me, very close to me, my girlfriends, so my close girlfriends. |
| So, we can use the word date for friends as well, but if you say, like, I'm going on a date with my boyfriend or I'm going on a date with my wife, it sounds like intimate time for the two of you to be together, a date. |
| A date can be used as a noun and we can use it as a verb like how long have you been dating? In a sentence, we've been dating for about six months. |
| 5. see |
| The next word is see, see. This is an important word at least in American English because it means to be in a relationship with someone. We use the word see in the same way that we use the word date, like "I've been seeing this guy for 6 months." or "Are you seeing anyone?" or "I'm thinking about seeing someone new." So, see in this way, means like to spend time with romantically like going on dates with a person. So if you hear someone use see in this way about a person, it means like a romantic relationship with that person. |
| In a sentence, "Are you seeing anyone?" |
| 6. exclusive |
| The next word is exclusive, exclusive. So exclusive, depending on the relationship and depending on how you know that person, exclusive means you are only seeing that person. So, perhaps when a relationship is not so serious, maybe at the beginning stages, maybe you or your partner perhaps might have, I don't know, someone else in their life that they're thinking of maybe dating seriously or maybe there are a couple of other people that you might be thinking, hmm, I could see myself spending time with that person seriously. But, again every relationship is different, I don't know, but some people might use the word exclusive to mean I only want to see this person and I want this person to only see me, like to be exclusive means like these two people only see each other. They are exclusive to each other, essentially. Some people have exclusive relationships. The opposite then of an exclusive relationship could be an open relationship. Some people agree to have an open relationship where their partners can see other people, I don't know. There are many people in the world. |
| 7. break up |
| The next word is break up, break up. To break up means to end a relationship. So we use break up before marriage, if a couple is just dating, they're just seeing each other and they decide to finish the relationship, they decide to stop seeing each other, we use the word break up to describe that. So like, "I broke up with my boyfriend last night." or like "Don't break up with me!" or "I think we should break up." These all words… these are all expressions that we use with regard to ending a relationship. Ending a relationship is called breaking up. |
| In a sentence, "I think we should break up." |
| 8. propose |
| The next word is propose, to propose. So, to propose if a relationship is continuing well and everything is great presumably or I don't know, for any number of reasons, the couple decides they would like to get married, we use the verb to propose which is like a short way of saying to propose marriage. So, to propose means, like, to set out an idea, to give someone an idea for something. So, traditionally this comes from the man like the man will propose to the woman in the relationship, though I've heard of cases where women propose to men as well. So, to propose means to suggest marriage to the other person, to propose. |
| In a sentence, "What do you think is the best way to propose?" |
| 9. cheat |
| So to cheat is a word we use. This is typically for like exclusive relationships, but to cheat means one partner or perhaps both partners see or date or spend time with another romantic partner when they are not supposed to. So, person A and person B are in an exclusive relationship and person B meets someone else romantically, that's called cheating, they are cheating. So, it's typically considered a negative thing in most cultures. Cheating is typically bad. |
| In a sentence, "My roommate was cheating on her boyfriend." |
| 10. marry |
| The last word, the next word is marry, marry. So, to marry or you might also hear to get married, we use both of these to refer to that ceremony where the couple decides they're going to spend forever together and legally they become a family. So, please be careful. We don't say get married with... someone. Sometimes I hear students say this. We don't say, "I want to get married with…" or "My brother got married with…" We use the preposition to. So, "My brother got married to his high school girlfriend." that's true, or "What kind of person do you want to marry?" I want to marry a kind person. So, please be careful. When you use the verb marry, just marry, no get married like I want to marry someone, I don't want to marry someone, we're probably going to follow the verb marry with a person or a kind of person. If we're saying I want to get married, we'll follow it with to, the preposition to and then the extra information. So I want to get married to a certain kind of person |
| You can also describe the location of like a wedding like, "I want to get married in… a church.," "I want to get married on... the beach." So keep in mind there's some variation. There are many different ways we can use marry and get married, but those are just a couple of points. |
| In a sentence, "My friend has finally decided to marry his long-time girlfriend." |
| So, those are 10 words for dating and romantic relationships. I hope that those were useful for you. If you have any expressions that you like to use or maybe something that you have found useful when dating or in romantic relationships or even in good friendly relationships, let us know in the comments. Thanks very much for watching this episode of Top Words and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye! |
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