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When Pigs Fly - Conditionals with Unless
When Pigs Fly - Conditionals with Unless English, baby! Video Lesson

Learn a fun new idiom and how to use conditionals with "unless"

Date: Jan 11 2011

Themes: Soap Opera

Grammar: Conditionals with "Unless"

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Some things are just so unlikely, so ridiculous, that you use a completely ridiculous idiom to describe them. That’s where the flying pigs come in.

See, if you want to say something will never happen, you can say it will happen when pigs fly. Because, you know, pigs don’t fly.

If you love to eat pie and someone suggests you eat candy instead, you could say, “Oh, OK, I’ll choose candy instead of pie…when pigs fly!” Or, if some fool thinks you’re on Ebaby! too much, you can say, “I’ll stop using Ebaby! when pigs fly!”

Jason gets to use this fun phrase when Jeff asks him about his relationship. He also finds a few opportunities to use the conditional and the word “unless.”

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jeff

Jeff

Jason

Jason

Dale

Dale

Jeff:  So, yeah, what’s the deal? You called me a while back and wanted to hang out when your leg was broken. What…what’s the deal? Devan wasn’t around to take care of you? Are you guys still together?

Jason:  Yeah, yeah! We’re totally still together! She was just driving me a little nuts when my leg was broken. But, you know. You know how those things go.

Jeff:  But…so you and Devan aren’t…You’re not gonna break up?

Jason:  Oh, yeah, when pigs fly! I mean, I wouldn’t break up with Devan unless something really drastic happened. You know? Unless she…made out with someone else. Um, you know, I wouldn’t break up with her unless she took my credit card and maxed it out, and spent all my money. You know, something like that. It would take something really extreme.

Jeff:  What about if all her hair falls out again?

Jason:  Oh…

Jeff:  That wasn’t good.

Jason:  All of her hair falling out…Well, you know, even that, it would be, like…

Dale:  Hey, that’s a pig! It’s flying! It’s a flying pig! It’s…flying! There’s a pig! It’s flying. It’s a flying pig.

Jason:  Really?

Dale:  That’s a flying pig!

 

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jeff asks Jason if he and Devan are going to break up. He knows they had some difficulties in their relationship recently.

But Jason says everything is fine. In fact, he says he’ll break up with Devan when pigs fly. He goes on to list some extreme cases that might cause him to break up with her, like if she kissed someone else, stole from him or lost all of her hair again. But those things seem so unlikely, they’ll only happen when pigs fly, so Jason and Devan should be OK.

Suddenly, Dale comes and says that he sees a flying a pig out the window. Now, Dale can be a little crazy, it might be nothing, but Jason looks concerned. What do you think is going on? Can you think of something so unlikely that it will happen when pigs fly?

 

Comments

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kimnga

kimnga

Viet Nam

 Yeah, “I’ll stop using Ebaby! when pigs fly!”

06:26 AM Sep 24 2014 |

Odyssee

Odyssee

China

the sun will rises from the west when pigs fly .   haha

05:55 AM Oct 28 2013 |

goodmahsa

goodmahsa

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

when pigs fly Persian will be the national language instead of English.WOOW what a nice flying of pigs it would be for meLaughing

10:33 PM Dec 10 2011 |

dearling

dearling

China

I will leave English Baby ! When pigs fly. Innocent

07:32 AM Jan 13 2011 |

1 person likes this

Stacyann

Stacyann

China

interesting. an idiom in our dialect  has the same meaning.

07:11 AM Jan 12 2011 |

Romio79

Romio79

Russian Federation

Sometimes it seems to me that my country will win world football championship when pigs fly. I hope I'm wrong.

05:35 PM Jan 11 2011 |

wishtolearn

El Salvador

it is just another cool story, i read in here. i love this website cos it makes me think and speak in english…. you guys are awesome !!!!!!!

04:08 PM Jan 11 2011 |

moh_monem43

Saudi Arabia

I wouldn't leave this website unless they rejected me.

 

02:31 PM Jan 11 2011 |

sara_ghal

sara_ghal

Saudi Arabia



I think Jason will accidentally break his leg again and Davan will leave him because she had enough of the "caring" thing! 

01:56 PM Jan 11 2011 |

sofree

sofree

China

So Jason's telling us he's gonna break up Devan? Even pigs fly, it's destiny!!

Hmmm maybe when pigs fly, I can fly too. LOL~

09:19 AM Jan 11 2011 |

andee1

andee1

China

i want to say to Jason that keep calm down, i should just a joke not foreboding. it will happen when pigs fly's thing is 2012.

07:55 AM Jan 11 2011 |

Nicte ha

Nicte ha

Mexico

Beatrice Chiu:

Ohh that's a really nice thought, it gave me a good idea to open a new forum here.

I'm gonna do it now, hehehehe

thx 4 the idea ;)

05:24 AM Jan 11 2011 |

Nicte ha

Nicte ha

Mexico

Yeah, he looks upset, poor Jason, lol,

Well, this is a really nice funny lesson, as for me this new vocabulary is really helpful:

made out

maxed it out

to drive a little nuts

So it has been added to my memory, and also:

unless + past tense +wouldnt +verb

thx Ebaby

;)

05:18 AM Jan 11 2011 |

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