English Listening: I Forgot my Wallet | Episode 14

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Listen to a story about a time when I went grocery shopping, but I forgot my wallet at home!

You’ll also learn two ways to pronounce the article “the.”

 

Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!

Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.

You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.

 

THE STORY

Have you ever gone shopping and forgotten your wallet, but you didn’t know you had forgotten your wallet until you were ready to pay for everything? That happened to me and it was really embarrassing. I went to the grocery store, as I do every week. I put my purse in the cart and went through the entire store. I filled my cart with all the items on my grocery list. I got to the checkout, and as the cashier was scanning all my items, I reached into my purse to get my wallet to pay for everything.

That’s when I realized my wallet was not in my purse! In a flash, I remembered where I had left my wallet. It was sitting next to my computer. Earlier in the day I had been trying to buy tickets over the Internet to a concert. I forgot to put my wallet back in my purse.

I felt so awkward! I quietly explained my situation to the cashier. Luckily she was very sympathetic. She told me to drive home very slowly, obeying all traffic laws, get my wallet, and then come back. I was really nervous about this! My house was only a 15-minute drive away, but it was pouring rain outside, and my driver’s license was in my wallet! It’s illegal to drive without a license!

When I returned to the store with my wallet, I went to the customer service counter. My two bags of groceries were sitting behind the counter. The technology in supermarkets is really advanced! The cashier had saved my bill in her computer. It had been saved with the helpful title, “Melanie who forgot her wallet.” At the customer service counter, the cashier found my bill in her computer, and I was able to pay for the groceries there.

Now, I always make sure I have my wallet before I leave the house!

Learn more: Episode 22: Denied a Credit Card!

 

 

PRONUNCIATION TIP

TWO WAYS TO PRONOUNCE THE ARTICLE “THE”
 
This transcript uses IPA symbols to represent sounds and teach pronunciation. Learn more about the IPA here.
 
Listen to some things I said in the story:

the grocery store
the entire store
all the items
over the Internet
behind the counter

Did you notice that sometimes I said the /ðə/ and sometimes I said /ði/? Do you know why?

Listen again and see if you can hear the difference:

the grocery store
the entire store
all the items
over the Internet
behind the counter

The word the is one of the most commonly-used words in English. There are two ways to pronounce the.

Most of the time, it is pronounced the /ðə/.

However, when the comes before a word that begins with a vowel sound, it’s pronounced /ði/.

Listen carefully:

the entire store
all the items
over the Internet

Sometimes people will say /ði/ when they want to emphasize or exaggerate something, for example:

That was the best ice cream I’ve ever had.
That’s THE David Beckham?
= the famous soccer player David Beckham, not another person named David Beckham

This is just one of many ways you can emphasize or exaggerate something in English.