Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak with me, Feifei…
Roy …and me, Roy.
Feifei We may sound a little different – that’s because we are not able to record in our normal studios during the coronavirus outbreak. In this programme we have an expression that means ‘you enjoy something more than anything else you do.’ Roy, you love video games, don’t you?
Roy
Yes, I love them! I play them all the time!
Feifei I know! You live for video games!
Roy No, I’m an English teacher. Teaching English is my job. I don’t play video games for a living!
Feifei Roy, I said live for video games, which means you enjoy them more than anything else. Some people live for art, or they live for sports.
Roy Ahhh got you. I understand – and what do you live for Feifei?
Feifei I live for music. That’s why I always listen to my MP3 player when you’re speaking! Now, let’s have a look at these examples.
Examples
Martin loves art so much. He lives for painting. Have you seen his new collection?
Cassandra adores doing sports. She lives for football.
Denzel loves playing and looking after his kids. He lives for his children. He’s an amazing stay-at-home dad.
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the expression ‘to live for something’ which means you really enjoy something. A lot of people also use it to say how excited they are for a specific event.
Roy Yes, for example you might say ‘I’m living for the weekend’, or ‘I’m living for a party’.
Feifei Oh, did Neil invite you to his party? I’m living for it!
Roy I thought we couldn’t have parties!? We all have to stay at home at the moment.
Feifei Don’t be silly Roy. It’s a virtual party. All the cool people are doing it. Maybe that’s why you didn’t get invited. I’ll let you come to the virtual party as long as you don’t do anything silly like last time!
Roy That wasn’t my fault! I misunderstood the invite. I thought it was a fancy-dress party.
Feifei It was Piotr’s wedding! You came dressed like Frankenstein’s monster!
Roy Oh well, at least I looked cool. Some people said I was more interesting to look at than the bride!
Feifei You looked ridiculous – no wonder people couldn’t stop staring at you!
Roy Well, I am living for our chat on Friday at the virtual party, Feifei!
Feifei Well, I might not hear you speaking, because I’ll be listening to my MP3 player! Bye, Roy.
Roy Bye.