Hey there and welcome to Speak English with Christina where you'll have fun becoming fluent in American English. I'm your English coach Christina and you know what's one of the most difficult aspects of English? Nope. Actually, me neither because there are a lot of difficult aspects. But one thing I know a lot of you struggle with phrasal verbs where you have a verb plus a preposition like figure out. And in today's episode I'm going to help you figure out how to use the phrasal verb figure out. Let's get. First, I want to thank Marion and Sandra from the Facebook group Le Franchier à New York who gave me the idea for this episode. They both live in the US and said that Americans use figure out all the time. So they wanted some help to understand what it means and how to use it. And your wish is my command. Sandra and Marion are right. We use figure out in a lot of different ways. Here's one definition. To calculate something. For example, I want to go to the US next summer but I need to figure out how much it'll cost. Alright, let's see Americanairways.com. Lyon. Mississippi. Mm-hmm, two people. Figure out the total. What? It's that expensive. Ah, air travel. Another definition of figure out is to learn something because you took action to find a way. For example, you're watching this video so you can figure out how to use the expression figure out. And that's kind of similar to the third definition of figure out. Which is to finally understand after a lot of thought. For example, after you watch this episode you can tell your friends. Frasal verbs are hard but I finally figured out how to use figure out. So far so good. That means is everything okay for the moment? So far so good. Great. Let's look at some practical examples. This is a common expression. Figure out how. And it means something like find a way or find the solution. Like, you know, when you're trying to assemble furniture from IKEA. Okay, let me see. Looks like I have to figure out how to build bookshelves with this little thingy. And if I tell Roman, I don't know how to do this. He might say to me, well, figure out how. So we can use figure out how with a verb, figure out how to build it, figure out how to do it, figure out how to get there, figure out how to learn English more quickly. And it all means find a way to whatever your verb is. But we can also just use the expression figure out how. What do you mean you can't do it? Figure out how. Another common expression figure out what with a verb, like figure out what to do or figure out what to say. Here, figure out can mean something like to find a solution or to decide on something. Let's say you came to me last week because you had a problem. Christina, I love cats and I want one, but I'm allergic to them. I don't know what to do. I see you a few days later and say, did you figure out what to do about your cat situation? Maybe you found a solution like medicine against cat allergies. Or maybe you decided to get a dog instead. But figure out here, did you figure out what to do? Can be both find a solution and decide what action to take. Figure out another expression that means something like find the answer. Like when you were a kid, did you ever have one of those teachers who wouldn't give you the answer immediately? You said, teacher, teacher, what's the answer to question number three? And they responded, I'm not going to give you the answer, figure it out yourself. You know what kind of teacher I'm talking about, yeah. Yeah, the good ones who make you work to figure it out. Figure it out also means like find a way to do something. And we could also say figure something out. Maybe your colleague says to you, I heard the boss asked you to finish that 200 page report before tomorrow. What are you going to do? And you, not worried, just respond. Oh, I'll figure something out. Don't worry. Yeah, I'm really sick. Yeah, yeah, it's contagious. The report? Well, I guess we could call that figuring out a solution. So basically you got three ways to understand figure out, to calculate. So let me figure out how much a week of vacation in New York will cost. Seriously? That much? To learn or to discover something. Like I figured out a way to learn English in three days. Just kidding. You can't learn a language in three days, unfortunately. And to understand something after a lot of thought or taking action. Aha, I've finally figured out how this thing works. And there are a few very common expressions that are also good to know and use. Figure out how, like figure out how to get there, figure out how to do something. Also figure out what? Like figure out what to do. Figure out what to say. Figure out what to eat for dinner. And that's a very important one. And finally figure it out or figure something out. Like don't worry about the problem. I'll figure something out. Or don't worry. I'll figure it out. Now, what about you? What other phrasal verbs do you want to see in future episodes? Which ones are confusing for you? Let me know in the comments so I can make a video to help you. Do you want three essential lessons for easier conversations in English? Sign up for my top small talk lessons and free worksheets. Just click the image below. And of course subscribe to my channel so you get a new English lesson each week. Thanks so much for watching Speak English with Christina. And I'll see you next time. Bye.