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What does “those were the days” mean?
Meaning, example sentence and a quick practice question.
B2
Said about a period in the past remembered fondly
“Those were the days, weren't they?”
Say it smoothly: “those-wer-thuh-days”
From the B2 lesson Back in the Day (nostalgia and change).
Quick check
What does “those were the days” mean?
Teaching this phrase?“those were the days” is part of a ready-to-teach lesson, with a reading, three exercises, speaking tasks and an answer key, in Everyday English Chunks B2 Pack 4 (Communication, Decisions and Habits).
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Related phrases
- back in the dayat some time in the past, often used casually
- things have changedsaid when a situation is different from how it used to be
- in the old daysin the past, especially long ago
- look back on (something)to think about something from the past
- a trip down memory lanean experience of remembering happy things from the past
- times have moved onsaid when the world has changed since a particular time
- it's not like it used to besaid when something has changed, usually for the worse
- a lot has changed since thensaid to describe how much has changed over time
- remember when…used to introduce a shared memory