Hey there! This is TOP episode 43: Learn English With Adele ‘Send My Love’
My name’s Ola and I am an English teacher. This podcast is for you if you want to start speaking English fearlessly. I help people fight the fear of speaking, become confident, fluent and independent.
In this episode, you’ll practise speaking and in turn boost your vocabulary, brush up your grammar and improve your pronunciation. Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning!
Hello and welcome back, I’m happy to have you here and I promise you’ll learn a lot today. You will also speak. Every episode of my podcast contains sentences for you to repeat. Today it’s going to be Adele’s ‘Send My Love’ lyrics but that’s not only that. We will analyse the lyrics. From time to time we’ll throw in some extra sentences, different meanings, strong collocations. Everything is specially designed for you to help you start speaking. Before we jump into the lyrics let me tell you something about the meaning of this song.
This song is quite different from all Adele songs. It’s energetic, lilting and fun. The topic is rather serious.And it’s about a relationship with a man who couldn’t commit and fulfil his promise of marriage. She wants to move on in her life and she encourages him to do the same. She’s not inconsiderate. Nevertheless, she’s strong in this song, sarcastic, a bit cheeky and dismissive. When she says ‘just the guitar’ at the beginning of the song, it sounds to me as if she didn’t want to make a big fuss about the story. So, she says just let’s make a little song, just the guitar.
Let’s begin, shall we?
This was all you, none of it me
You put your hands all over my body and told me,
You told me you were ready
For the big one, for the big jump
I’d be your last love everlasting you and me
That was what you told me
The problems in this relationship occurred because of him. He is to blame for what happened. He said he was ready for the big one. The big jump. In terms of relationships, it’s understood as a reference to marriage. And now some phrases from this part of the song.
This was all you, none of it me – none means not any. More examples. Listen and repeat.
It’s none of your business.
I have two sisters but none of them lives nearby.
You put your hands – past and past participle of the verb ‘put’ is the same as infinitive: put – put-put. Don’t say puted, It’s put. Listen and repeat:
He entered the room and put his coat on the sofa.
If I put it in the wardrobe, I wouldn’t find it.
told me – we tell someone something. Repeat after me:
Did she tell you her name?
Come closer I want to tell you something.
You told me you were ready – we can add that: You told me that you were ready. It’s not necessary it’s not a mistake to say: You told me you were ready. It’s perfectly fine. I’m going to record an episode on reported speech soon, so stay tuned. As for now, let’s practice some more:
Somebody told me that you had a boyfriend.
She told me they were drunk.
your last love everlasting – everlasting is an adjective, it describes nouns and it means eternal, never changing, lasting forever. Repeat please:
In practice, it’s an everlasting coat.
I believe in everlasting life.
Moving on with the lyrics:
I’m giving you up
I’ve forgiven it all
You set me free, oh
She’s not interested in him anymore. She’s actually happy it turned this way.
giving you up – to give somebody up – to stop hoping that someone or something will change or improve, it also means to stop friendship. Listen and practice repeating:
I’ve been waiting so long, I’d almost given up on you.
She’s given all her friends up, she’s lonely now.
You set me free – to allow someone to be free. Examples:
Stay at home, stay at home, will I ever be set free?
After two years in prison, Jack was set free.
And the next verse:
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We’ve gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain’t kids no more
She’s fine, she wishes him and his new partner all the best. However, I feel she somehow warns her and predicts that she might be treated the same way. They have to act like an adult, we’re ain’t kids no more, they have to move on.
Send my love – this is used to express someone’s good feelings to someone else. Listen and practice:
Ana sends her love.
Send my love to your sister and her kids.
We’ve gotta let go of all of our ghosts – to let go means to stop holding something or someone. It also means to accept what you cannot change and stop worrying about it. Sentences for practice, keep going, you’re doing great:
Let go of my hand, you’re hurting me!
Let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back anymore.
And yes, that was Elsa.
we ain’t kids no more – We aren’t kids anymore. Ain’t means are not, is not, have not, has not, so negation. Let’s see some more examples:
I ain’t done nothing wrong.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Next verse:
I was too strong you were trembling
You couldn’t handle the hot heat rising (rising), umm
Baby, I’m so rising
She was ready for this commitment, he was not. He was scared, falling down, trembling, he couldn’t keep up.
I was too strong you were trembling – to tremble is to shake slightly. For example:
She was still trembling a little inside.
His body was trembling with fear.
You couldn’t handle the hot heat rising – to handle means to deal with something or someone. Listen to an example sentence:
You handled that situation very well.
Next verse:
I was running, you were walking
You couldn’t keep up, you were falling down,
There’s only one way down
You couldn’t keep up – here it means to go as quickly as someone else, but it has more meanings. For example to continue doing something. The last two sentences for practice so do your best. Listen and repeat:
I don’t think I can keep this up any longer.
The rain kept up all morning.
Here you have it. Awesome job, thank you for staying till this very end of today’s episode.
I encourage you to take this episode one step further and download the worksheet with a task. It’s available at teacheola.com/43. Listen to the song, listen to Adele and complete the missing words. If you’d like to check out the transcript it’s also there. Teacherola.com/43
If you know someone who might benefit from my podcast or just this episode, If you know an avid fan of Adele’s music spread the word and let them know about me! Send my love to your friends.
Now, I have a question. Did you like this episode? What other songs would you like to listen about? Leave a comment on my website. Or send me a message.
In the next episode, we’ll be dealing with the third conditional. Grammar I say! Make sure to subscribe and do not miss it!
Have a great week, till next time, happy learning, take care, bye bye!