The English We Speak: Rope someone in

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

This phrasal verb is about persuading someone to do something. Learn it here with Georgie and Feifei.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Do you struggle to understand conversations in English?
0:05.4	Want to listen to something that's easy and fun?
0:09.5	In real easy English, our presenters have a real conversation in easy English to help you learn.
0:18.2	Search Learning Easy English on your podcast app or visit our website to watch the video
0:24.6	version, BBC learningenglish.com. Hello and welcome to the English we speak, where we're
0:32.5	explaining expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Faye Faye and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you Georgie?
0:41.7	I'm pretty tired today Faye Faye. My mum roped me into doing lots of gardening at the weekend. I should have said no because I didn't really have much time but she can be very persuasive.
0:52.3	Oh no, you were roped into doing gardening.
0:56.3	Now, I know what a rope is.
0:58.9	It's like a very thick piece of string,
1:01.4	but some of our listeners might not have heard it used
1:04.3	as part of a phrasal verb.
1:06.2	So, Georgie, what does it mean to rope someone in?
1:09.3	Well, it means to persuade someone to do something for you,
1:12.9	often when they don't really want to do it.
1:15.3	So my mum roped me into doing lots of gardening at the weekend.
1:19.3	She persuaded me when I didn't really want to do it.
1:22.5	It might help to think about this visually.
1:25.6	It's like the persuader is throwing a metaphorical rope
1:30.0	around the other person to bring them into the activity. Right. And Faye Faye, when was the last
1:35.7	time you were roped into something? Oh, I was roped into organizing this birthday party. It's
1:41.7	taken three, four weekends. I think it's time to hear from our BBC
	...

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