hello. my name is emma, and this is my friend gizmo, andtoday we are going to help you learn english. today's english isall about dogs. okay? so, let's ask some questions togizmo, and we can get some answers. our first question: do we callpets "he", "she", or "it"? what do you think, gizmo? usually for pets we liketo use "he" or "she". so you might ask somebody: "what's her name?"or "what's his name?" when you're talking
about a dog or a cat. we usually use "it" for wild animals, althoughsometimes we also use "he" and "she" if we want to personify them. so, majority of the time we use "he" or"she" when we're talking about pets. okay, question number two:what is pet hair called? do you know the answerto this one, gizmo? it is called fur. f-u-r, fur. as you can see, gizmohas a lot of fur.
we use the word "fur" when we're talkingabout cat hair, dog hair, hamster hair. it's what we call fur. okay, our next question:what are pet hands called? okay, let's show gizmo's off. so gizmo, what is this called? this is a paw. so, dogs and cats have paws. i'm just going to putgizmo down for a second. there you go.
okay, so his handsare called paws. okay, our next question:what does "canine" mean? "canine" is another way to say "dog", but"canine" is more scientific sounding. so if you're reading a science book or somethingthat's formal writing, you will probably see the word "canine". it's the science... scientific word for dog. we also have the word "puppy". what does the word "puppy" mean?
"puppy" means a baby dog. so, when a dog is very small and veryyoung, usually around, you know, two months to one year,we call it a puppy. for kittens, that's what wecall a baby cat, a kitten. okay, our next question is a verygood one: what sound does a dog make? sounds are very cultural. in different cultures, animalsmake different sounds. for dogs, in english, dogs can either bark,they can say: "woof woof", or they can say: "ruff ruff".
is this different than whatdogs say in your language? if you're wondering with cats or with, youknow, all sorts of other animals, you can actually check out ronnie's video which coversa lot of these different animal sounds if you're interested. okay, finally, our last question for vocabulary:what do you call a dog with no home? so a dog that livesin the streets. we call a dog with no home a straydog, or we can also say a street dog. so we would say: "that dog has no owner.he's without a family.
he's a stray dog." or: "he is a street dog." so now let's look at some grammar and pronunciation,and cultural tips about talking about dogs. okay, so our next question is a grammar question,and it's a very important grammar question. okay, so let me hold gizmo. okay. so, gizmo, you seethese two things? "i like dog", "i like dogs". do you know what the differencebetween these two sentences are?
no? okay, well, let me tell you. "i like dog" is very differentthan: "i like dogs". when you want to say you like dogs as in,you know, you think they're really cute and funny, and you enjoy them, yousay: "i like dogs" with an "s". this is different from:"i like dog" with no "s". if you say: "i like dog" it makesit sound like you like to eat dog. and this is true fora lot of animals. if we say: "i like chicken", itmeans i like to eat chicken.
this is very different from: "i like chickens",which means: "i think chickens are cute. i enjoy chickens, and i findthem very interesting." okay, so the next question is apronunciation question, and that is: what is the pronunciation differencebetween "dogs" and "ducks"? so a duck is an animal, you know, that says:"quack quack", at least in english it does, and a lot of students, when they say thesewords they pronounce them the same way. so people don't know if you'retalking about a dog or a duck. so, what is the differencein pronunciation? well, "dog" has a differentvowel sound than "duck".
"dog" is longer, we say: "dawg". compare this to: "duck", whichis very short and a bit sharp. this is an "aw" sound:"dog", versus "uh": "duck". okay? so you notice the vowel sound here isshort, whereas the vowel sound here is long. when we add and "s" to "dog" and an "s" to"duck", we also have a different sound. in "dog", because of the "g", the "s"becomes a "zz" sound, as in a "z". so we say: "dawgz". you might not hear it, but there's a littlebit of a "zz" sound at the end of that. "dogs".
now, this is different from "ducks",which has a "ss" sound or an "s" sound. so there is apronunciation difference. say this one short with a "ss" sound, andthis one is longer with a "zz" sound. okay, great. so now let's look at somecultural questions about dogs. okay, so our next question: whatdo north americans think of dogs? and a lot of people in england thinkabout dogs this way, and australia. and this isn't everybody, but this iswhat a lot of the population think. what is their opinion on dogs?
well, let's get gizmoto help me out. gizmo, come here. okay, i'm going to pick him up. ah, here we go. so, in north american culture, dogs likegizmo are often treated like family members. some people even treat them as if they are theirchildren, although this is not everybody, but they really do care about theirdogs and they treat them like family. all right. this is gizmo's first time on camera, so ifhe's a little nervous, he's never been on
camera before. all right, let's look at thenext question, small talk. so, dogs are actually areally, really good...? oh, you want down, buddy? okay, i'll put you down. sorry. okay, so dogs are actually reallygood topics for small talk. if you ever have a conversation with somebodyand you see they have a dog, talking about their dog is agreat thing to do.
so if you're in the elevator or at the parkand you just want to meet somebody, you can ask them about their dog. here are some greatquestions, you can ask them: "what's your dog's name?","what's his name?", "is your dog a boy or a girl?","is it a male or a female?", "how old is your dog?" "how long have youhad your dog for?" okay, so another really good questionis: "what kind of dog do you have?" so in this case we're askingabout the type or the breed.
so there are many differentbreeds or types of dogs. there are chihuahuas, there are germanshepherds, poodles, you know, dalmatians. there are tons ofdifferent types of dogs. gizmo, in case you're wondering,is a lhasa apso-papillion mix. beautiful breed. and so people do liketalking about this. you can ask themabout their breed. are they mix? are they are purebred?
which means they are only onekind of dog, like a poodle. and there is so many different questions youcan ask about dogs, but it's something people really love talking about. so i highly recommend if you see a personwho has a pet, it's something that's a good thing to talk about. okay, so like i said, our petsare like our family, here. oh, thank you, gizmo,for that kiss. so, one thing i wanted to say is that a lotof the times in north american culture you'll actually see thatdogs are indoor dogs.
they're not outside a lot. they're actually... they actually stayinside with us a lot. sometimes, you know, they sit on ourcouches, and for some people they even... like might share, like, the same bed or theymight sleep on the same bed that, you know, their owner has. one other cultural thing that you might noticeif you ever come to canada or north america is that a lot of dogsactually wear clothes here. and gizmo is also...
he wears clothes, too, especially in thewintertime because it does get very cold. so a lot of dogs have winterboots and winter jackets. so if you come here, don'tbe surprised to see that. sometimes people dress up their dogs for fun,other times it's a necessity because it is very cold during the winter. okay, so gizmo and i would liketo thank you for watching. you know, we've had agreat time today i think. isn't that right, gizmo? yeah, he's a bit sleepy now.
oh. okay. so he's just going to say bye. so we hope you subscribe to our channel, andwe have a lot of other resources there. and if you come check out engvid at www.engvid.com,you can actually take a quiz on everything we learned today. all right? so thank you, gizmo,for your help today. and i hope you'veenjoyed this video. until next time, take care.