Introduction
If you want to find out what someone else thinks, you can ask them questions. Sometimes you can do it without them noticing. We have an expression you can use to describe this.
Transcript
Phil
Welcome to The English We Speak, with me Phil…
Feifei
And me, Feifei.
Phil
We have a phrase that is about trying to find out what someone thinks – often without them knowing – it’s ‘sound out’.
Feifei
‘Sound out’. How do we use it?
Phil
I’ve got an idea for a new podcast. I need to sound the boss out about it.
Feifei
Why don’t you just ask him? What do you mean by ‘sound him out’?
Phil
I’m going to ask some questions to see if he’s looking for something new, and what he might be looking for – then I’ll be able to tell if my idea could work, or if should change it a bit. I don’t want to just ask because I’m not sure if my idea is a good one or a bad one yet.
Feifei
So, we can use ‘sound someone out’ when you’re trying to find out what someone thinks indirectly – maybe we don’t want to let people know exactly what we’re thinking.
Phil
If you’re coming up with a plan, it’s a good idea to sound out what the people it will affect think about it. Then you can adjust your plan before presenting it to them. Have a listen to these examples.
Examples
Before we start working on anything new, we should sound out what our customers think about our existing products
They sounded me out about the job before they actually offered it to me.
I sounded out some of her friends about what she liked before asking her out.
Feifei
You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the phrase ‘sound someone out’. This is where you ask someone questions, sometimes indirectly, to see what they think about something.
Phil
It can be indirect, but it isn’t always.
Feifei
No. Didn’t you use to live in Oxford? I’m going there soon. I need to sound you out about the best places to go.
Phil
I can give you all the details! You keep saying that the restaurants are great near where you live – I need to sound you out about the best ones.
Feifei
I also need to sound you out about what we’re going to cover in the next episode – because we’ve come to the end of this one. See you next time! Bye!
Phil
Bye.