Awkward greetings and crushes at a party
A2 English listening practice · American English · Curated for beginners
What does “hang out” mean in American English?
Hang out is one of the most common American English phrasal verbs. It means “to spend casual, unstructured time with friends”: no plan, no agenda, just being together. Americans say let’s hang out, we hung out yesterday, you never hang out anymore. The phrase is different from go out (which suggests a planned activity) and meet up (which suggests a specific place). It’s also different from British English, where hang out exists but is less common; Britons might say meet up or spend time together.
In this clip, a teen at a party greets another with the slightly accusing line: “I’m surprised you’re here. You never hang out.”
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this A2 English listening practice listening practice?
General English frequency
Spoken English frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In American teen and college campus conversations
- ▸In American sitcoms about friend groups (Friends, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
- ▸In American group-chat texts and DMs
- ▸In American invitation language (wanna hang out this weekend?)
- ▸In American workplace small-talk among younger coworkers