The English We Speak: Moment of truth
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2025
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Use this expression to add drama and suspense to what you're saying. Learn how in this programme.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Have you practised your listening with the listing room yet? |
| 0:10.1 | Listen to real BBC news reports and answer the questions to practice your listening skills. |
| 0:16.5 | From Lionel Messi to guerrilla friendships, you'll find lots to interest you. |
| 0:21.1 | Go to the skills section of our website now, BBClearningEnglish.com, and improve your listening today. |
| 0:28.4 | Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. |
| 0:37.1 | I'm Faye-Fa and I'm joined by Georgie. How's it going? Well, Faye Faye, I've spent the year studying for a Spanish exam. The exam was last month and I've got the results in my hands right now. Shall I open them? Yes, go on. It's the moment of truth. How did you do? |
| 1:01.6 | I passed. Yay! Yay! Now, the moment of truth is the phrase we're learning in this program. |
| 1:05.8 | Now, how is truth related to my Spanish results, Faye Faye? |
| 1:12.5 | Well, the phrase, the moment of truth, means the moment when everything becomes clear and the truth is revealed. It's when you finally see the results after process. Yes, so the grades I have here in |
| 1:18.8 | my hand are the result of a year of studying Spanish. Now, the moment of truth can be used in many |
| 1:25.1 | different contexts, not just exam results. Another example is that recently we've been brainstorming some ideas for a new project at work. And soon we're going to present them to our boss to see if he likes any of them. That will be the moment of truth. Well, hopefully that goes well for you. Let's listen to more examples. |
| 1:51.8 | I've experimented with a new cake recipe and I'm not sure what it's going to be like, |
| 1:54.9 | but it's about to come out the oven. This is the moment of truth. |
| 2:01.2 | It's the moment of truth. This penalty shot will decide who will win the football match. |
| 2:09.3 | It's the moment of truth. I have dyed my hair and I'm about to dry it. So let's see what it looks like. |
| 2:21.6 | So the moment of truth is quite dramatic, isn't it? Yes, it is. We use it to add drama and suspense when the truth is revealed. |
| 2:25.6 | It has this sense that now is the time we have all been waiting for. |
| 2:28.3 | Everyone's wondering, ooh, what's going to happen? |
| 2:30.0 | It's the moment of truth. |
| 2:31.6 | Okay, let's recap. |
| 2:39.2 | We learned the moment of truth, which is the moment that the results of something are revealed after a period of waiting. |
... |
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