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PODCAST

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English)

Michael DiGiacomo Happy English

The Happy English Podcast helps English learners learn natural American English with clear lessons, practical phrases, everyday conversation tips, and listening practice.Hosted by American English teacher Michael DiGiacomo, the show features short and practical lessons to help you build vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and speak English confidently in real conversations.Episodes range from quick tips to longer explanations and cover useful topics like phrasal verbs, idioms, pronunciation, grammar,

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All Episodes

7:22

1063 - Don’t Say “Visit To” - Visit vs Go To

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/06/08

Jack visited his parents last weekend. We went to Milan for vacation. I need to go to the doctor. I visited my friend in Brooklyn.Visit and go to. Both words are used to talk about movement, but they are easy to mix up. Can you say, “I visited to New York”? Why do we say, “go to the doctor,” but, “visit the doctor”? And what’s the difference between, “I visited my friend,” and, “I went to my friend’s house”? Yeah… there’s actually more going on here than you might think. So today, we’re going to

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8:50

1052 - How to Use Recommend and Suggest Naturally in...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/18

Can you recommend a good restaurant? I suggest taking the train instead. My doctor recommended drinking less coffee. My friend suggested that I try yoga.Recommend and suggest. These two words seem pretty similar, right? They both mean giving advice or giving an idea. But sometimes, when you try to use them, things can get confusing. Should you say, “I recommended him to try it”? Or, “She suggested me to go”? Yeah… those don’t sound quite right. So today, we’re going to look at how you can actually

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1:29

1051 - Go Get, Go Buy, Go See - English Tips in a Minute

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/16

Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to English Tips in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every week with a short, simple tip to help you speak English more naturally and confidently. Today, let’s look at a really natural American English sentence pattern: go + verb.In English, we often use go before another verb when we mean go somewhere and do something.You can say things like, go get lunch, go buy something, and go see a movieLet’s go get lunch after the meeting.I'm gonna go buy

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8:30

1050 - STOP Doing vs STOP To Do - What’s the Difference?

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/15

I stopped working. I stopped to get coffee. I stopped working to get coffee.These sentences all use the word stop, but the meaning changes depending on what comes after stop. Sometimes the activity completely ends. Sometimes the activity pauses for a different action. And sometimes… one little infinitive completely changes the meaning of the sentence. I'm guessing you've probably learned this grammar, but I wonder if they show you how you can actually use these patterns in real conversation

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8:17

1049 - Appointment, Reservation, Meeting, or Plans?...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/13

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Jack made a reservation for dinner. Oh, and we're having a meeting at 2:00. Sorry, I already have plans tonight.Appointment, Reservation, Meeting, and Plans. These words all talk about arrangements, usually in the future, right? So why can’t you say, “I have a reservation with my dentist”? Or, “I have plans with my boss at work”? And what about this sentence: “I have a promise with my friend.” Yeah… that doesn’t sound natural.So today, we’re going to clear all

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7:14

1048 - How to Actually Use “Actually” in English

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/11

Actually, I already ate. It’s actually pretty good. Well… actually, that’s not what I meant. What’s going on with this word actually? Sometimes it means “in fact.” Sometimes it softens what you say. And sometimes… it sounds rude if you use it the wrong way. So how can you really use actually in everyday conversation? Actually, that's what we're going to look at today.The Happy English PodcastHelping people speak English better since 2014Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads📘 Build your

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8:36

1047 - Stop Mixing Up Say, Tell, Speak, and Talk

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/06

Say, tell, speak, talk… they all mean “to use words,” right? So why do we say, “Say something,” but “Tell me something”? Why is it “Talk to me,” but “Speak with someone”? If you’ve ever felt confused about these four verbs, you’re not alone. And today, we’re going to make this simple and clear. And here’s a simple way to think about it. Use say when you focus on the words. Use tell when you include the person. Use speak for formal situations or languages. And use talk for everyday conversation.The

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6:43

1046 - Everyday Phrases That Make You Sound More Natural

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/04

You grab a coffee. You hit the gym. You head home after work. Wait a second… you hit the gym? You grab a coffee? If you learned English from a textbook, some of these phrases probably sound a little strange. But these are commonly used English expressions that you can learn to use every day. And that's what we're gonna look at today. The Happy English PodcastHelping people speak English better since 2014Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads📘 Build your vocabulary with my free Vocabulary

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1:28

1045 - OUR Sounds Like ARE - Speak Naturally in a Minute

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/05/03

Hey there! It’s Michael here — and welcome back to Speak Naturally in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every week with a quick one-point lesson to help you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and intonationToday, let’s talk about another small word that changes in natural American English: our.In everyday conversational English, this word is pronounced like: "are"Our house is on the corner. Our houseOur dog is noisy. Our dogOur friends are coming over.Our teacher is late.This happens because

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9:31

1033 - Special Uses of AT and IN

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/17

At. In. These are small words, but as you saw in episode 1032, they can be a little tricky. We use both of them to talk about location, and sometimes the meaning feels the same. But there are also some very specific situations where we use at and in in different ways. Like, is it, "Jack is at the hospital" or "Jack is in the hospital?" Or Both? Well, if you’ve ever wondered about that, don’t worry. I've got good news. We’re going to look at all of this today.In the last episode, we talked about the

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9:10

1032 - AT vs. IN - What’s the Difference?

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/15

At. In. Two very small words, right? But these prepositions can be confusing, because we use both of them to talk about location. So how do you know when to use at and when to use in? Like, Jack is in the office. Jack is at the office? If you’ve ever wondered about that, don’t worry - you’re not alone. And the good news is that’s what we’re going to look at today.The Happy English PodcastHelping people speak English better since 2014Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads📘 Build your vocabulary

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8:37

1031 - Good At vs. Good In - What’s the Difference?

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/13

Good at. Good in. These two phrases seem simple, right? But a lot of people get confused about when to use each one. Should you say, “I’m good in English,” or “I’m good at English”? And what’s the real difference between these two? If you’ve ever wondered about that, don’t worry. Because that’s what we’re going to look at today.Let’s start with a simple idea that will help you remember everything. We usually use good at to talk about ability or skill. And we use good in to talk about performance in

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1:53

1030 - Have to → Hafta Speak Naturally in a Minute |...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/12

Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to Speak Naturally in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every week with a quick one-point lesson to help you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.Today, let’s talk about a very common reduction in American English: “have to.” In everyday conversational English, have to usually becomes hafta. That’s because the V sound in HAVE is pronounced like a weak F sound. And TO is pronounced like TUH. So have to become haftaHere are some

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6:24

1027 - Bored vs. Boring - What’s the Difference

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/08

Bored. Boring. Two simple words, right? But this is something that a lot of people mix up all the time. Like, if the party wasn't so good, is it, “I’m boring,” or “I’m bored”? And what about if someone says, that teacher is so boring. If you’ve ever been confused about this, don’t worry - you’re not alone. So let's dive into this today!The Happy English PodcastHelping people speak English better since 2014Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads📘 Build your vocabulary with my free Vocabulary

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1:44

1025 - Don’t you IS Don-cha Speak Naturally in a...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/05

Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to Speak Naturally in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every week with a quick one-point lesson to help you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.Today, let’s look at another very common sound change in American English: “don’t you.” In everyday American English, we usually pronounce don'y you as don-cha. That’s because when the T sound and the Y sound come together, they blend into a CH sound. And the OO of you becomes UH. So..

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1:44

1024 - The Thing Is - English Tips in a Minute |...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/04

Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to English Tips in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every week with a short, simple tip to help you speak English more naturally and confidently. Today, let’s look at a really common conversational phrase - “the thing is…”We use the thing is when we want to explain a situation or give a reason, especially when there’s a problem, a limitation, or something we need to clarify. It’s very similar to here’s the thing, but a little softer and more

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8:34

1022 - Play vs Do vs Go - How to Talk About Sports...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/04/01

Have you ever tried talking about sports in English and suddenly, you get mixed up with using play, do, or go? Is it “I play skiing”? “I do skiing”? “I go skiing”? Or maybe you’ve heard things like, “I play tennis”… but also “I go swimming”… and then someone says, “I do yoga”… and now you’re thinking… wait, what’s the rule here?Don’t worry - you’re not alone. This is one of the most common questions English learners have. So in today’s podcast English lesson, we’re going to look at how to use play,

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9:35

1021 - Win, Lose, Beat - How to Talk About Sports in...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/03/30

Game. Match. Two simple words, right?But then when you watch sports in English, you understand the game… but not always the language.Which one should you use? Sometimes I hear people say things like, “I watched a baseball match,” and yeah… it’s understandable, but not so natural.So what’s the difference? When do you say game, and when do you say match? And how do native speakers actually talk about sports in everyday English? How about win, lose and beat? That’s what we’re going to look at today.The

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7:39

1019 - Just vs Already vs Yet - How to Really Use Them

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/03/27

Just. Already. Yet. Three little words. They should be simple, right?But then when you try to use them in conversation, you’re not really sure which one sounds right.Should you say, “I just finished”? Or “I already finished”? Or “I haven’t finished yet”?These are small words, but they can be kind of confusing. So for today’s podcast English lesson, we’re going to look at how you can actually use just, already, and yet in everyday conversation.The Happy English PodcastHelping people speak English

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8:26

1018 - Practical Uses of Will and Gonna in Everyday...

Happy English Podcast (Natural American English) ·

2026/03/25

Have you ever studied will and be going to and thought… “Okay, I understand the rule… but I still don’t know which one to use when I speak”? Maybe your textbook says something like: “Use will for the future,” and “Use be going to for plans.” And technically… that’s correct. But in real conversations, native speakers are not thinking about grammar rules. We’re reacting in the moment. And depending on the situation, we naturally choose will or gonna.So for today’s podcast English lesson, we’re going

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