15 useful English phrases from Pirates of the Caribbean

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The charismatic Captain Jack Sparrow will appear on the screens of cinemas around the world for the fifth time. In this regard, Lifehacker invites you to review the previous parts of the film series and at the same time learn a few interesting English phrases.

1. If I may?

Can?

Will Turner gave the newly forged saber to Elizabeth's father. Addressing the respected person, Will says “If I may?”, Pointing to the saber. He wants to take it for a minute to demonstrate how balanced it is.

This phrase is very often used in such situations. For example, you see that an elderly lady needs help with her luggage. You can say "If I may?", Thus suggesting to carry her bags. There is another similar phrase "If you would". It is used when you yourself are already asking someone for help or a favor. For example: “If you would do something about my problem, I would really appreciate this” (“I would be very grateful to you if you would do something about my problem”).

2. To have permission

Have permission

Jack Sparrow illegally sneaks aboard the ship. The guard shouts to him: “Hey! You don’t have permission to be aboard! " ("You don't have permission to be on board!").

3. As it were

So to speak

Jack saved Elizabeth when she was drowning. Instead of gratitude, they want to handcuff him. Jack was asked where his ship was, to which he replied: “I’m in the market, as it were” (“I’m just choosing, so to speak”). This expression is used only in British English. It can often be heard in Sherlock or in any classic English work.

4. We are square

We're even

Elizabeth uncuffs Jack and he says, “I saved your life, you saved mine. We’re square”(“I saved your life, and you - mine. Now we are quits”). This phrase is very popular in movies.

5. Did you now?

Oh really?

Elizabeth is held hostage by Barbossa and his team. She says she recognizes the ship since she saw it 8 years ago. Barbossa replies: "Did you now?"

Pay attention to the word now. It's pretty weird to see it in the same sentence with did, isn't it? In fact, there is nothing strange about this. Here now does not mean "now", but serves as something like a question tag (a question with a "tail", like isn’t it, aren’t you, and so on). It is also important to know that did can be replaced by any other auxiliary verb, depending on the original sentence. In our case, Elizabeth was talking about the past, which is why Barbossa used did.

6. There is no point in me keeping it

It makes no sense for me to leave this

Elizabeth checks to see if the amulet that hangs around her neck is really of no interest to the pirates. She removes it from her neck and goes to the side of the ship to allegedly throw it into the water. It was then that she utters this phrase. Remember that in must always be followed by a gerund (that is, the -ing ending).

7. Spitting image

Poured copy

Will confesses to the pirates that his father is Bill. One of the pirates says: "It's the spitting image of Bootstrap Bill!" ("This is a spilled copy of Bootstrap Bill!").

8. Special place

A special place, condition

Elizabeth confesses to her future husband that she really loves Will. Jack exclaims, "We've all come to a very special place."

Interestingly, place does not mean "place" here. It will be easier to explain with an example. Imagine a guy who just told a girl that he loved her and she didn't say the same to him in return. The next thing she might say is, "I'm just not in that place yet." It means that it is too early for her, she needs more time.

Another example: men are talking, one of them says that he cannot stop drinking. Another replies: "You have to stop, I have been to that place, and I thought I'd never get out" …

9. Time's run out

Time is up

Jack sits in the hold, examines the map and suddenly hears a voice: “Time’s run out, Jack”. The phrase run out of something is used to say that something is ending. For example, “I have run out of coffee”.

10. These clothes don’t flatter you

These clothes don't suit you

Elizabeth changed into a man, and Jack didn't appreciate it. The verb flatter translates to “flatter,” but this word can also be used in the context of discussing clothing. For example, if someone looks better in black, then you can say: "Black clothes flatter you".

11. Is his face familiar to you?

Do you know his face?

The pirate, to whom Barbossa and Elizabeth came to ask for help, points to Will that he detained and asks if the heroes know the prisoner. The expression to be familiar is ubiquitous. You might say, “I'm not familiar with this concept”. By the way, you can remember the Russian word "familiarity", which means swagger in communication. In general, the basis of these words is the word family ("family").

12. QED

Ch. T. D

Jack is in the other world, and Barbossa and other team members came to save him. However, Jack has been alone for too long and he is sure that the people he sees are hallucinations. Therefore, he gives Will a logical, in his opinion, chain of inferences, from which it supposedly follows that neither Will nor anyone else simply can be here. He sums up his reasoning with the abbreviation QED (from the Latin expression quod erat demonstrandum - "what was required to prove").

If we use this phrase in Russian somewhere other than mathematics, then most often we pronounce it in full. In English, it is precisely its abbreviation that is used.

13. Honor is a hard thing to come by nowadays

Honor is rare now

The East India Company did not keep a promise to one pirate, and Barbossa said this phrase. He used the expressions come by something, which can be translated as "to meet" (meaning "to be available"). For example: “VHS players are hard to come by now”.

14. We have an accord?

We have agreed to?

Captain Barbossa asks this question to the same pirate, meaning "Have we reached an agreement?" As you can see, accord does not mean "a combination of notes" at all - in English, a musical chord is denoted by the word chord.

15. It's not over

It's not over yet

Elizabeth says this phrase after a lost fight. You probably know the expression game over. The main thing is not to forget about the verb to be in all other cases. For example: “The lesson is over, see you next week”.

And our article isn't quite over yet. As a bonus - a cut of funny moments from the shooting, which in English are called bloopers.