Feifei Hello, I’m Feifei, and this is The English We Speak. And joining me is Rob.
Rob Hello, everyone.
Feifei OK, Rob, let’s get on with our piece of real English, shall we?
Rob Yes, let’s! It’s a great expression. It’s one you don’t want to forget…
Feifei Yes, yes…. Come on, Rob. This is the moment everyone is waiting for.
Rob Oh, I’ve forgotten.
Feifei Rob! It’s now or never.
Rob I don’t think that’s the expression.
Feifei No, Rob. I mean this is our only chance to learn it. When we say, it’s now or never we mean something must be done immediately because you might not get another opportunity to do it in the future. So, Rob, get thinking, we have no time to waste!
Rob Let’s have some examples of your phrase first, shall we?
Examples
It’s now or never if you want to buy a cheap ticket to go to the big rock festival.
If you’re thinking of taking a career break, it’s now or never because you won’t get the chance again.
It’s now or never if you want to ask her out – she’s leaving town today.
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and, so far, we’ve heard about the saying it’s now or never, which means ‘do something immediately because you might not get a chance to do it later’. And, Rob, now is the chance to learn a new English phrase.
Rob Can’t we do it later?
Feifei No, it’s now or never!
Rob
Never mind! That’s it – that’s my phrase, which means ‘don’t worry about it’.
Feifei Just in time, Rob – now we’ve learnt two new phrases that we’ll never teach again.
Rob Great. OK, time for coffee? I’ll buy them.
Feifei Yes, definitely – it’s now because Rob will never offer again. Bye.
Rob Bye.