In this mini episode, you will learn the interesting sentence “You tell me.” (It’s more interesting than it looks!)
Episode 301 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the sentence “You tell me.” (This sentence is more interesting than it looks!) Send your questions about English and your suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello, everyone. This is Sumin Lee, from South Korea. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 301 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
In this episode, I want to teach you about an interesting sentence. Now, this sentence might not look interesting, but I think it is. Here is the sentence that I have in mind:
“You tell me.” You tell me.
That’s Y-o-u, t-e-l-l, m-e. You tell me.
When do we use this sentence? When might someone say, “You tell me”?
First of all, let me tell you what it means. It doesn’t mean what it looks like. It doesn’t mean “I would like you to tell me something,” or “Please tell me this,” or “Please explain this.” That’s not what it means. What it really means is “Why are you asking me?” That’s what it means. It means “Why do you think I know the answer? Maybe you know more about this than I do, so maybe you should answer that question.”
If that is still a little bit confusing, then maybe this example will help you understand the idea:
Let’s say that you and your friend have decided to go to a certain restaurant for dinner. When you get to the restaurant, you see that it is closed. It’s not open. You cannot eat dinner there. And your friend is a little bit frustrated and disappointed. And she says to you, “Why is the restaurant not open? How come we cannot eat at this restaurant tonight?” And you are also frustrated and disappointed, and you say to your friend, “You tell me.” You tell me. In other words, “Why do you think I know the answer? I don’t know the answer. Maybe you should answer your own question. Maybe you know just as much as I do about it. You tell me.”
I think often when we use this expression, it does sound a little bit frustrated or a little bit annoyed.
One very important thing that you need to know if you want to use this expression is this: the word me is always stressed when we say this sentence. At least, it is always stressed when we say this sentence to mean “Why are you asking me? Why do you think I know the answer?” In those cases, it always sounds like this: You tell me. You tell me. Do you hear how I am stressing the word me? That’s how you need to say this sentence if you want it to have that meaning.
And that is “You tell me,” a very natural-sounding and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 301 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you are interested in private lessons, and if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Sumin recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!