Oh, you are! Well, I see you there

English as a Second Language Listening, speaking, pronunciation and accent
1

Woman: Nice car, Mario, when did you buy it?
Man: I bought it yesterday.
Woman: Yeah, not much good downtown though.
Man: What do you mean?
Woman: Well, I mean downtown there are so many cars you can’t get around very fast. It’s much faster by bicycle.
Man: Oh, yeah?
Woman: Yeah. Anyway, where are you going?
Man: Up to College Street.
Woman: Oh, you are! Well, I see you there. I’ll wait for you.
Man: No, no, no, I’ll wait for you because I’m going to take the subway.

Oh, you are! ← original text

Is it correct? If not, what does she really say?

What does “Oh, you are!” mean?

Thank you

Video link: (11 seconds)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1306fIEZGTFhW6tNEUUnnK6knLcDUollb/view?usp=sharing

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Oh, you are, eh?

This is said as a question. If taken seriously, it is asking for a verification of where he is going. But it’s not really a question. She could say,

“Oh you are, eh?”
"Is that so?
Oh, OK.
Ah, gotcha.
Really?

All of these are common in conversations. They don’t really mean anything. They are just a way to keep the conversation going. After these type of comments, one of them will normally say something “real”. In her case she followed the comment with “Well, I’ll see you there.”

Sometimes the other person will answer the “question”.

Her: Oh, you are eh?
Him: Yea
Her: Well, I’ll see you there.

When he says “yea”, that doesn’t mean anything either. It just keeps the conversation going.

Earlier in the conversation they said:

Woman: … It’s much faster by bicycle.
Man: Oh, yeah?

When he says “Oh yeah?” It’s the same way. It doesn’t really mean anything.

The conversation could have gone like the following with no change in meaning.

Woman: Well, I mean downtown there are so many cars you can’t get around very fast. It’s much faster by bicycle.
Woman: Where are you going?
Man: Up to College Street.
Woman: Well, I’ll see you there. I’ll wait for you.
Man: No, no, no, I’ll wait for you because I’m going to take the subway.

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Thank you so much, NearlyNapping :rose:

Very nice explanation.

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I have another question:

Woman: Yeah, not much good downtown though.

1- Is “not much good downtown though” short for “your car is not much good for downtown though”?

2- What does “though” mean here?

Thanks

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  1. Yes. She is leaving out a lot of words.

  2. “However”. She is contrasting what she is saying with what he said.
    You could express the sentence as
    “Yeah, but your car is not much good for getting around downtown.”

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Thank you so much, Arinker :rose:
Very nice.

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It IS a question. No doubt about it.

What the woman asks is ‘Oh, you are?’ So it needs a question mark and an exclamation mark, as well. She raises her voice a bit. The complete line should be as following:

  • Oh, you are !? Well, I’ll see you there then. I’ll wait for you. However, ‘I’ll wait’ for can be omitted, as far as I’m concerned, because I find it a little redundant. It’s very obvious that when you meet someone at a particular place, that you’ll wait there. By not omitting it, the entire sentence sounds unnatural, if not very un-English.

  • You can also say: ‘…Well then, I’ll see you there.’

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I don’t know why, but I simply wanted to post this clip. The Winner Takes It all.

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Though is the same as although, by the way, I have a pretty good idea that the poster of these messages is someone who already thinks that they have all the answers. Their English is not all too bad.

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Thank you so much, Masme :rose:
Very nice.

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I suppose old habits are hard to break, don’t you think?

1 Like