The English We Speak: A big ask
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 ⢠1.2K Ratings
đď¸ 10 February 2026
âąď¸ 3 minutes
đď¸ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Sometimes people ask for too much. Listen to examples of this phrase being use and learn how to use it for those moments.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are you scared of speaking English? You're not alone. I am Hanan. And I'm Georgie. And our new series, beating speaking anxiety, helps you fight your fears of speaking English. |
| 0:18.0 | Hear from learners and experts and get practical advice about how to improve your |
| 0:23.0 | speaking skills. Find beating speaking anxiety on our website, BBC learningenglish.com. |
| 0:30.3 | Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases and expressions used by |
| 0:36.7 | fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. |
| 0:40.7 | I'm Faye Faye. |
| 0:41.6 | And I'm Phil. |
| 0:42.9 | Can I ask you something, Faye Faye? |
| 0:44.7 | Yes, sure. |
| 0:45.7 | Okay. |
| 0:46.5 | You know, you were going to take next week off work and I was going to take the week after that off. |
| 0:54.1 | Turns out I mixed up the dates. |
| 0:56.8 | I booked flights for next week. |
| 0:59.5 | Could I swap weeks with you and take next week off? |
| 1:03.8 | I know it's a big ask. |
| 1:05.7 | Phil, that is a big ask. |
| 1:08.5 | I don't think I can do that. |
| 1:10.0 | I've already got everything planned out. Okay, I get it. It was a big ask. I don't think I can do that. I've already got everything planned out. |
| 1:12.6 | Okay, I get it. It was a big ask. Should we just explain this expression? A big ask. |
| 1:19.0 | Well, that's not such a big ask. Let's do that. Okay, so a big ask is a request for something that you |
| 1:25.6 | know will be difficult for the person that you are asking. |
| 1:29.8 | You asking me to change my holiday was too big an ask. I just can't do it. That was probably an |
... |
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