YouTube version: https://youtu.be/DLlUsVPj53A

Transcript:


Gotcha.

Hi, Daniel and hello Vocab Man listeners. This is Stephanie from the Geopats Language podcast here with another commonly used phrase "gotcha" (I got you).


This is a tricky one. There's a lot of different informal situations where you can use this, but there's also a lot of ways you can misuse it or you can use it incorrectly.

First of all, it is important to know that this is an informal phrase, this is not something that you will hear, for example, from the BBC news

It's all of the virus. China has warned against politicizing and the attempt to find out how the virus first emerged. Mr. Biden's order highlights just how little we really do know about where the virus came from.

or any formal setting and probably not in a business English setting.

Also, it's usually in response to someone asking you a question and here's the trick. It's usually after something went wrong, when there was a question and answer and the answer was wrong, then there's a question again.

And the answer would be gotcha.

Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. That sounds confusing. Let me give you an example.

Okay. For example, if somebody says, so we're meeting at the train station at 7:00 PM. And you say, no, actually it's 8:00 PM.

Remember we changed it and you say, oh, okay. So it's 7:00 PM. Gotcha. So it means, yes, I understand. I've literally, I've got it. I've got the information in my head. It will not leave. Yeah. So. Gotcha. And so gotcha is G O T C H A is how it's spelled informally. And if you were to break it out into its different bits, it would be got you.

I got you. We are the same. Yeah.

But it changes, it changes spelling, obviously when it's put all together and it's informal form, G O T C H A

Okay, so it can be used with all pronouns. I can say I gotcha. I can just say gotcha. You could say, okay. He got ya. Like, if you're saying something repeatedly to a waiter and you're being a little bit rude, your friend can leave him over and say, Hey, he got ya. Stop. It's okay. It's understood

Another situation that I have personally been in is in a group, in a formal group meeting, like a college club group or something like that, where somebody is going on and on about something and they're not stopping and you want them to stop and you say, okay, we gotcha. Meaning, we understand it's literally in our heads, please stop talking about it.

So that's another way you can use it. The one way we usually don't use. Gotcha. Is in a question we wouldn't say you gotcha. Cause that makes no sense. Cause again, it's about telling the person that you understand. And even though we can say, do you understand? We usually don't say, I'd say 99% of the time we do not say gotcha.

No, I just, it just doesn't make sense. It's just not how we use it anyway. I hope that makes sense. And again, this is Stephanie from Geopats Language Podcast. You can find us on any podcast app it's GEOPATS , G E O P A T S. Thanks so much, Daniel. And bye everybody.

Hey, Stephanie, thank you so much for all of your explanation. It was really great. And we could have a listen to her at episode 58, where she explained the expression to bitch about. So check it out now and by the way, gotcha. Was covered by the Vocab Man on episode 2. Yes, it was the second episode that was published and I've thought it would be a great idea too, to make a newer episode about.

Gotcha. Because sometimes it is really important to revise the expressions that you want to learn too. Right. So at least that's my opinion. So thanks a lot for listening. I am Daniel . The Vocab Man . See you around. Bye.

https://www.stephfuccio.com/geopatslanguage