This mini episode teaches you the useful (and sometimes dramatic!) phrase “Little did I know.”
Episode 215 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful (and sometimes dramatic) phrase “Little did I know.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“This is Theodore Freeman from Toronto, Canada. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 215 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The expression I’m going to teach you today is “Little did I know.” Little did I know. That’s little: l-i-t-t-l-e. Did, I. Know: k-n-o-w. Little did I know.
Actually, this is not always “Little did I know.” It can be “Little did she know,” “Little did he know,” “Little did we know,” “Little did they know,” and so on.
What does “Little did I know” mean? “Little did I know” is a way of introducing something that the person found surprising, or something that the person was not aware of, or something that the person did not expect.
Before I give you an example that will show you how we use this phrase, there’s one more thing I should tell you about “Little did I know.” We use “Little did I know” as a way of adding some drama to what we are talking about. When we use this phrase, it sounds like we are telling a story or trying to make a story more interesting. We’re trying to make something sound more dramatic. We’re trying to take something that happened in real life and make it seem more like a story or more like some kind of drama.
Here is an example of a situation where you might hear someone say, “Little did I know” or “Little did (someone) know.”
“It seemed like a regular Friday as John got ready for work. Little did he know his boss was going to fire him that day.”
In this kind of situation, somebody could have said, “John was getting ready for work. And he didn’t know that his boss was planning on firing him.” Or “John was getting ready for work. And he was not aware that his boss was getting ready to fire him.” Or “He was not expecting to be fired that day.”
But by using the phrase “Little did he know,” we are adding a feeling of drama. We’re adding a feeling of mystery or excitement. Or, at least, I think that’s often how people use this expression. When we use this expression, it’s almost like we are describing somebody as a character in a story. It’s almost like we are saying, “It was a regular Friday, and John was unaware of what was about to happen. His boss was going to fire him. Now . . . let’s watch and see what goes on.”
And that is “Little did I know,” a very useful phrase that I think you should know.
Outro
And that’s the end of episode 215 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Theodore recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.