AE 932 - Aussie Slang: Ay

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These are conversations with my old man Ian Smissen for you to learn more about Australian culture, news, and current affairs. 

In today's episode...

Learn Australian English in this episode of the Aussie Slang series where I teach you how to use Australian slang - like a fair dinkum Australian!

In this episode, we talk about the Aussie slang word "ay". Eh, nope, this is different from the word "aye" - careful, ay!

Learn what it means and how you can use it in your daily conversations.

Improve your listening skills today - listen, play & pause this episode - and start speaking like a native English speaker!

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Improve your listening skills today – listen, play, & pause this episode – and start speaking like a native English speaker!

Transcript of AE 932 - Aussie Slang: Ay

G'day, you mob. How's it going? I'm Pete, and this is Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English, culture, news, current affairs, history, all that jazz. So, today is another instalment of the Aussie Slang series. And I'm going to be teaching you how to use the term, the word "ay". "Ay". Now, I mean, you know, this has a bunch of different uses.

You could say this when you are, you know, annoyed with someone, "ay, ay", you know, to try and get their attention. But there's something interesting that happens when you go north in Australia towards a state called Queensland.

You're going to notice people put this on the end of sentences quite a lot more than other places in Australia, at least that's what I've noticed when I've gone to Queensland and I end up picking this up and saying it as well. It's kind of like a verbal tick. So, what they do is they put this on the end of phrases that are usually statements and it sort of turns it into a question to ask for agreement.

So, it's kind of like, do you agree? Tell me your opinion. So, an example might be "it's a pretty good day, ay?" "The weather's nice, ay?" "I might go to the beach, ay?" So, you can throw this on the end of sentences if you want to sound like a Queenslander. And it's kind of a way of encouraging people to give you their opinions.

Yeah so, if I was having a conversation with a Queenslander and they said, you know, "oh man, the weather is beautiful today, ay?" I would say, "yeah, man, I agree. It's definitely beautiful. It's a great day." I would be, you know, inclined to reply to that person. So, that's how you would use "ay" in Queensland. You could probably use it elsewhere in Australia, people are going to understand you. "Just don't overdo it, ay?"

"Don't add it to every sentence, ay?" "Because it can get a little annoying, ay?" So anyway, guys, my challenge for you is to leave a statement or question below, use "ay" in that phrase and let's see if you've understood this episode. And besides that, don't forget that every single week I release another episode of the Aussie Slang series, and this is available for premium podcast members and Academy members.

You can get access to that up here or you can go down below, or you can go to the website AussieEnglish.com.au. All the content inside those memberships are designed to help you level up your Australian English even faster. So, as usual, thank you so much for joining me, guys. I hope you got a lot out of this episode, and I'll see you next time. Peace.