S03E21 - Catch Up, Catch That, Catch On

Hello and welcome back to today's episode of the Gold Forest English podcast. My name is Jordan, and if you've been listening, I apologise for the large gap between the last episode and this episode. I have no excuse.

 Today, I want to talk about three different ways we can use the verb catch. Catch is a very common verb in English, and it's very useful. But when we add a word after it, like up or on, the meaning can change quite a lot. So it can be a little bit difficult to guess what somebody means.

 First, though, let's think about the basic meaning of catch. If somebody throws a ball to you and you take it in your hands, you catch it. So catch is about taking hold of something that's moving. We are using our hands to take something that is moving.

 And we also use the word catch for things like trains and buses. We catch a train, we catch a bus. We get on the bus or the train at the correct time. We get on before it leaves. And of course, we can catch a cold, we're getting sick. Not very nice, but very common phrase in English, catch a cold.

 So today we're going to look at three special ways we can use the word catch. These three phrases are catch up, catch meaning hearing or understanding, and catch on.

 So starting with the first one, catch up. The first meaning is a literal one. Imagine you are running in a race, and another runner is in front of you. You run faster and faster, and finally, you are next to them. You have caught up with them. You were behind, and now you are level in the same place, in the same position.

 Now, we also use this same idea for work, for study. For anything where you've fallen behind, you have lost progress. So imagine you've been ill for a week and you come back to the office after your illness. You probably have lots of emails waiting for you. So you might say, "I need to catch up on my emails."

 You have lost your position. You've lost progress with your emails, your emails are continuing to arrive, but you have not been replying because you've been at home recovering from illness.

 Or maybe you haven't been sleeping well. And your body is tired, but you have not been sleeping enough. You need to catch up on sleep. You need to do extra sleep to get to the correct position.

 So catch up means doing the things that you've missed, the things that you didn't have time for. Doing those things until you are back in the correct position.

 There is also another use for catch up, which is very, very common in British English. And it means to meet somebody. Meeting an old friend, meeting somebody that you haven't seen in a long time. So imagine you meet an old friend that you haven't seen for a few months, you might say, "We should get coffee and catch up."

 In this sentence, catch up means talking about everything that has happened to you since the last time you met. Your news, their news. We even use it as a noun, saying things like, "Let's have a catch-up next week." So catching up with a person is to receive and give news since the last time you spoke.

 So, catch up is being behind and then getting back to the same place, the correct place. Maybe with people, with work, with news.

 Now, our second meaning is catch, just catch on its own, but it has a special meaning. Sometimes catch means hear or understand. So imagine you're at a party. It's noisy, and somebody tells you their name. But you didn't really hear it. You could say, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

 This is very polite, very natural, and it's much softer than saying things like, "I didn't hear you," or "What?"

 And it works the same way on the phone or in person. We can say sentences like, "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say it again?" Maybe the telephone connection is bad, or maybe you are talking with somebody who speaks very fast.

 So this is a very good phrase for English learners, because sometimes people are speaking quickly, and you can't understand because of the speed. So saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," is a good way for them to repeat what they're saying and maybe slow down.

 And we can also use it as a question. You can ask things like, "Did you catch what she said?" Meaning, did you understand what she said? Did you hear it clearly?

 Our third option is catch on. Catch on. So, catch on has two meanings. The first is to understand something, maybe slowly or after some time. You are trying to understand more and more and more, and finally you can understand. This is catching on.

 For example, you're learning to play a new game, like a new card game, and maybe the rules of the game are a bit confusing at the beginning. But after you've played the game a couple of times, practising, you understand how the game works. You have caught on.

 And the second meaning of catch on is to become popular. For example, new fashion, new popular food, new applications on the phone. At first only a few people are using it or eating it. But then more and more people start to use it. And after some time, many, many people are using it. It has caught on.

 So, for example, we could say, "Bubble tea really caught on in Japan a few years ago." So several years ago. Bubble tea with tapioca balls. It wasn't so common in Japan, and slowly it became more and more popular, and now it's very popular. It caught on.

 So these are our three different verbs with catch. We've got:

• catch up, where you were behind, and now you are level again in the correct position.

• catch, meaning hear. For example, "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

• And catch on. You start to understand something, or something starts to become popular.

 So if you can keep these three separate and clear in your mind, it can help your English to sound very natural. Native speakers often use these different phrases in their daily life, especially in conversational English. Things like, "I didn't catch that" is a really, really helpful phrase, especially for students to learn. They're small, friendly phrases, so your English feels relaxed, natural and easy.

 (Okay. All right.) I hope this week hasn't been too busy for you. And if it has been, I hope you get some time to catch up on your work, on your studies, on your sleep. And if you didn't catch everything I said today, you can always listen again. And check the transcript on GoldForestAcademy.com.

 Thank you very much for listening. I'll see you in the next episode, which hopefully won't be a long way away in the future. Thank you again. Goodbye.