Learning English

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Introduction

A word for when you suddenly realise or understand something. Learn it here.

Transcript

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei, and I'm here with Beth. How are you?

Beth
Hi Feifei! I'm great, thanks. And I have a funny story to share with you.

Feifei
Oh, go on!

Beth
So, I was at a fancy-dress party last weekend, and I was talking to a person in a superhero costume. I had no idea who it was. I was talking to them for ages. But then they finally took their mask off and I twigged it was my cousin!

Feifei
Ah, must have been a good costume. And that's a great example of the word we're looking at in this programme - 'twig'. It's an informal British English verb and if you 'twig', it means you realise or understand something, often after some time or confusion.

Beth
Exactly. And you can suddenly twig something, or it can be a slower realisation. Can you give us an example of when you have twigged something, Feifei?

Feifei
Yes, actually. I was in the lift the other day and the person standing next to me looked really familiar, but I didn't know who it was until I got out of the lift. I suddenly twigged it was a famous actor.

Beth
Ah, that's cool!

Feifei
'Twig' can often be used in situations where you've been a bit slow to understand something, like maybe you're watching a mystery film and it's only in the final scene that you guess who the murderer is. You finally twig who it is.

Beth
Yes. And we always 'twig' a thing – the realisation. Here are some more examples of the verb 'twig'.

Examples
So, I know this man in the office, and then I also know a woman in my choir, and I've only just twigged that they're actually siblings.

So, a friend of mine has really smelly breath, and I tried to tell him gently by offering him mints, and I even bought him a toothbrush once, and he finally twigged and sorted it out.

My wife kept telling me stories about her friend who was going out with someone called Dave. It was months later that I twigged it was my friend Dave.

Beth
So, 'twig' is used to describe the moment you finally realise something.

Feifei
Yes. It's really useful for describing those "aha!" moments. For example, the other day I only twigged where my son was hiding when I heard a sneeze from inside a kitchen cupboard!

Beth
Oh, so cute! So, to recap, we’ve learnt 'twig', which we can use when we realise or understand something, often after some time or confusion.

Feifei
And that's all from us. We'll be back next time with another useful English phrase. See you then!

Beth
Bye!

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