Three Lions English Gozo

18/02/2026

🦁𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲" 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 🇬🇧

🦁If there is one word that defines British culture, history, and daily survival, it isn’t "tea" or "monarchy." 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 "𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆."

In the UK, "Sorry" is 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 and more of a multi-purpose 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝘆 𝗞𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. They use it so much that it has 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 and evolved into a complex 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.

🦁𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞:
To the untrained ear, it sounds as if they were apologizing all the time. To a Brit, here is what they are actually saying:

"𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 is anyone sitting here?" = 𝑀𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛.

"𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆, I didn't quite catch that." = 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑚 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦.

"𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆, but..." = 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛.

"𝗢𝗼𝗵, 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆!" (Said when someone else bumps into you) = 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑚 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒.

🦁𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧
In 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵, "Sorry" is often used as a preemptive strike. It’s 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲, it’s 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁, and it 𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱𝘀 the ultimate British 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗲: a scene.

𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆! 🦁🦁🦁

10/02/2026

🦁𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤" 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 🦁

🤓The Language Lesson:

⛅️𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 is famous for its "𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀." If a Brit says it’s "𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵" outside, they usually mean 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗲𝘀. 🥶

☔️ "𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗲" = It’s raining, but we can see the neighbour's fence.

⛅️"𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆" = The sun has appeared for exactly four minutes.

⛈️🌩️💨 "𝗔 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝘄" = A hurricane is currently removing the roof shingles.

💡𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: Next time you want to sound like a local, don't just say "It's raining." Try: "𝑇𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙, 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑖𝑡? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡."

🦁𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰! 😄

07/02/2026

😁𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭" 𝐭𝐨 "𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞."

Like an 𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗯 😅, we’ve been a bit unpredictable lately.

We took a "brief" hiatus that 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 🏖️, but the 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚 🫖 and found their way back to the keyboard💻 .

🧽We’re 𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳𝗳 the grammar guides and 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 our idioms.

🤼We’re back in 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

🎯The goal remains the same: 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵, 𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗸.

🙏𝙏𝒉𝙖𝒏𝙠𝒔 𝒇𝙤𝒓 𝒔𝙩𝒊𝙘𝒌𝙞𝒏𝙜 𝙖𝒓𝙤𝒖𝙣𝒅. 𝙇𝒆𝙩’𝙨 𝙜𝒆𝙩 𝙗𝒂𝙘𝒌 𝒕𝙤 𝙞𝒕, 𝙨𝒉𝙖𝒍𝙡 𝙬𝒆?😁

06/09/2025

🤓𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞?

💡𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

"I stayed at Mary’s house 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩."

💡𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁.

"First I 𝙝𝙖𝙙 something to eat, then I 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 a movie and then I 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 to bed."

💡𝗔𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁.

"I was cleaning the house when my husband 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙
the door and dirt came in. " The husband interrupts the action. (typical 😆)

🧐𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛?

Easy 😁 - you put an -𝗲𝗱 at the end of a verb (see above:
𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵-𝗲𝗱 and 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻-𝗲𝗱).

𝗛𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥: There are so called 𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗯𝘀 - these, you have to learn (see above 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 which is the irregular form of "go")
You find a list of the irregular verbs in English in every good grammar book.

Next we´ll look at the 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 (or: Continuous) 😁

01/09/2025

🤓𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐯𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧

𝐈𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧:

🗣They say: 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑.
☝️They mean: "𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀.

🗣They say: 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒?
☝️They mean: 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆!

🗣They say: 𝑊𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒.
☝️They mean: 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿!

🗣They say: 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦.
☝️They mean: 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮.

🗣They say: 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒!
☝️They mean: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆!

🗣They say: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.
☝️They mean: 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁!

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 - 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.

Taken from the Business Spotlight magazine 4/25

20/07/2025

07/07/2025

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07/07/2025

𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡? 🥹

At 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐳𝐨🦁🦁🦁, we believe in you! 😀 Forget one-size-fits-all courses. We offer 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐨-𝐨𝐧𝐞 General and Business English training. Whether you're just starting out or looking to polish your advanced skills, our 30 years of professional teaching experience means you're in expert hands.

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01/07/2025

You are most welcome to meet us here on beautiful Gozo 🏝️

01/07/2025

Improve your English in a pleasant and professional environment 💜

01/07/2025

Welcome to Three Lions English 😁