Weekend with TV (The Classics): How I Met Your Mother

Engramme's Weekend with TV #15 (The Classics#2): How I Met Your Mother (Listening B2-C1)

Welcome to our Weekend with TV series, where every weekend, we choose a scene from a TV series that not only is interesting to watch but also has useful language to focus on when it comes to learning English. And today's choice is...

Watch, Listen & Enjoy

How I Met Your Mother is the name of a now classic CBS TV series in which a father recounts to his children, through a series of flashbacks, the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.

In the following scene (S07E21: Now We're Even), Barney (played by Neil Patrick Harris) tries to entice Ted (played by Josh Radnor) into going out and doing something "legendary" and "memorable" every single night!

Watch the Scene: What activities does Barney propose that he and Ted engage in every night? Which one does Ted refuse?

Let's Learn

In this post, we will be looking at a few whole phrases that can be memorized and used as they are, without much change to their format or structure.

Watch & Listen Again: The challenge is to be able to get down the whole phrase that you hear on paper. Ready? (You may need to listen more than once)

(mouse over the colored words/expressions to see their meaning)

Barney: Guys, I was sitting at home last night, and ___  ___  __  _______, I had a piphany. And my piphany was this… Ted: Actually, it's, uh, it's "epiphany". Barney: No, Ted, this is the piphany. And _____  ___  ___: Make every night legendary. Guys, we've had some pretty legendary nights. But we've also had some nights that weren't so legendary. Lookin' at you, The Night Ted Made Us All Watch Norbit. Ted: Eddie Murphy as a fat lady; what's the problem? Lily: That was Eddie Murphy? Barney: The non-legendary nights are done. From here on in, every single night of our lives will be a night ___’__  ______  _______. Starting tonight. Who's ready for the longest, craziest adventure yet?! Good. The weak have been weeded from our herd. You ready to _____  ____  _____, Ted? Ted: Yeah, I'm going home, too. I'm sensing some costumes coming up here and I'd rather steer clear. Barney: Ted, 20 years from now, when you're ___  ______ and I'm President, you're not gonna remember sitting around your apartment ______  ______. What you will remember is that tonight, this night was The Night We Started a Mariachi Band! Uno, dos, tres, quatro! Ted: Okay, you were right. A memorable night. Barney: That was _______  ________  ___ mañana, amigo. Because mañana is gonna be The Night We Ate Everything on the Menu! Ted: A really memorable night. But tomorrow night… Barney: …is The Night We Brought a Horse into the Bar! Ted: Okay, but tomorrow… Barney: …is The Night We Bungee Jumped off the Statue of Liberty! Ted: Nope!

(Check your answers against the ones in the first comment below)

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Wish You a Great Weekend Ahead! And don't forget to tune in tomorrow for another edition of Engramme's Weekend with Music ;)

Practice the Vocabulary from this lesson HERE

Download a pdf Copy for use in the classroom HERE (teachers' version)