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Engagement is the time period spent before getting married. In this lesson, we will learn about English when asking someone to marry and the terminologies when becoming engaged.

When a friend has been together with a boyfriend or girlfriend a long time, they usually ask when they are going to get married, or when they are going to get engaged.

When are you going to get married?"
When are you going to tie the knot?"
When are you going to settle down?"
When are you going to propose to her?"
When are you going to ask her to marry you?"
When do you think he is going to propose?"

After the big question is asked, then the two people are engaged.

We got engaged last week."
I got engaged about a month ago."
We're going to have a short engagement."
Our engagement is for about 6 months."
We had an engagement party at a restaurant with both families."
We really didn't have a formal engagement dinner."

You can get creative in the ways to ask your significant other to marry you, but the most general way is to simply say,

Will you marry me?"

These four words cannot be replaced really. Mostly, it is how you ask it and in what situation.

When two people are engaged, then they are not boyfriend and girlfriend, instead, they refer to each other as fiancé.

This is my fiancée."
She is my fiancée."
He is my fiancé."
Where is your fiancé?"
I want to meet your fiancé."

Engagement - Proposing

Other common type of questions regarding pre-marriage is how a person proposes. Here are some examples:

How are you going to propose to her?"
How do you think he will propose to you?"

I'll list a few answers I heard from other people.

I'm going to take her to dinner and I'm going to put the ring on top of the dessert. So when the cake comes out, she will see the ring."

I'm going to take her to our favorite restaurant and ask her there."

I'm going all out. First, I'm going to send her to a massage. Then, I'm going to have her relax at a coffee shop where I'll send her some flowers. After that, I'm going to have her picked up in a limo to a restaurant where I'll be waiting in the entrance on my knees."

When my husband asked me to marry, he put a ring inside a fortune cookie with a message asking, will you marry me in the cookie."

Some other types of questions that you might hear:

Are you nervous about proposing to her?"
Are you sure she is going to say yes?"
Are you sure about this?"
How long have you been engaged?"
What are you thinking?"
You're too young to get married."
What did you do for your engagement party?"
Did you guys have an engagement party?"

A friend might ask you questions regarding your relationship when the marriage topic comes up.

How long have you been with her?"
What made you decide to get married?"
Are you sure she is the right one?"
When did you know he was the right one?"
Did you see a sign or how did you know?"

Engagement - Best man and Maid of honor

Preparing for marriage is a time consuming thing with so much to do. I'll explain most of it in the next lesson, but I wanted to explain one difference in this lesson. In the western culture, they have friends standing next to the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony. At a minimum, it is one person. That person is called the best man. For the lady side, that person is called maid of honor. But if you have more than one, you usually have one best man, and multiple grooms men. For the ladies, they are called brides maid.

Best man - Best friend or relative of groom usually holding the ring
Grooms men - Other friends or siblings standing next to the best man
Maid of honor - Best friend or relative of the bride usually holding the ring
Brides maid - Other friends or relative standing next to the Maid of honor.

The best man and maid of honor have responsibilities such as taking care of the bride and groom, planning for parties and taking care of the presents, and many other things. We'll discuss more about this in the next session. Let's move on to practicing the material in this lesson.

Engagement - Interactive Practice

Click on Listen All and follow along. After becoming comfortable with the entire conversation, become Person A by clicking on the Person A button. You will hear only Person B through the audio file. There will be a silence for you to repeat the sentences of Person A. Do the same for Person B. The speed of the conversation is native speed. Use the pause button if the pause between each sentence is too fast for you. After practicing several times, you will be able to speak as fast as a native.