Tip 148 ”I couldn’t help but overhear you.”　無料ビジネス英語学習

無料ビジネス英語学習 Words & Phrases 第148弾は、”I couldn’t help but overhear you.” です。

聞くつもりはなかったけれど、たまたま会話の断片が耳に入ってくることってありますよね。今回はそんな場面で使える表現を紹介します。

例えば、ヒカは同僚のユウジに
“Yeah, so I heard Tim will be fired.”「そう、ティムが解雇されるって聞いたんだけど。」と言いました。
それをたまたま近くの席に座っていたタロウが聞き「たまたま聞こえちゃったんだけど、、、」と会話に入る場合、あなたがタロウなら英語で何と言いますか？

“Sorry, I listen to your talking by accident. But…”「ごめん、たまたま聞きました。だけど、、、」
でも伝わりますが、より自然な言い回しがあります。

そこで
“I couldn’t help but overhear you. But…”「たまたま聞こえちゃったんだけど、、、」
と言ってみましょう。

発音もビデオでチェック！
ぜひこの表現を使ってみて下さい。

Hello and welcome to this Bizmates
words and phrases

video series and today's phrase

is "I couldn't help but over here you."

I couldn't help but overhear you. what
does this mean? We will find out

but first let's do our test. So,

I'm gonna ask let's imagine you quit

your company, that you worked for for
many years

and I ask you "What was it like to quit
your last company?

you know you were there for many years."
You say?

That's right! "Well,

it was a bittersweet experience." just
like that.

Okay so let's go on to today's phrase

I couldn't help but overhear you.

You know here's what I sometimes hear so

let's imagine that I am talking,

not to Taro this time, to another
person

Okay we're kind of talking about a rumor

and I say: "Yeah, yeah..." so let's say

Yuji. "Yeah Yuji, Yuji I so I heard

Tim will be fired."

And Taro accidentally

listens to this conversation. Okay,

so what does he say? He says: "Oh sorry

I listen to your talking by

accident. But it's not true..."

Okay, so Taro is

interrupting the conversation and he
wants to do it naturally

and he says "Sorry I listened to your

talking by accident." It's a really strange...

you know, sentence. We don't say
this

I listen to your talking by accident.
Yeah

So how can we naturally interrupt

a conversation that we accidentally

listened to? okay well we use the word overhear

like this... so I'm talking to Yuji.

"Yeah Yuji, so I heard Tim will get fired.

"

"I couldn't help but overhear you

"

to interrupt the conversation, okay. "I
couldn't help but overhear you"

means "I accidentally listened to
your conversation

and I want to correct you" you know,
but...

Alright, very natural. So let's look at
pronunciation

its I could... and we say quickly. it's not I
couldn't

help but... I couldn' help -- I couldn' help butoverhear you

I couldn' help butoverhear you but...

"I couldn' help but overhear
you, but..."

You try. Good! Okay with my sentence

"Yeah, you know, I heard Tim will be fired

"

Okay so next time I will say, you know
I'll be talking to someone

Yeah so I heard Tim will be fired and...
And you say?

That's right.

I couldn't help but overhear you but... and then interrupt

Okay please remember this and we will
see you

next time. Thank you