2025's Most Googled Relationship Questions | English Listening (B2‑C1) 💜 Ep 840

Have you ever used Google or AI to ask questions about your relationship? And have you ever wondered what relationship questions are most commonly asked? Today's podcast was inspired by an article in Vogue magazine called The 5 Most Asked Relationship Questions of 2025. I'll try to give you some answers to these questions from my years of experience as psychotherapist. But guess what? While you're listening to this, you'll also be learning lots of essential English words about love and relationships. Relationships is one of our most popular topics at Adept English. If you want to date in English, you will need this vocabulary and this understanding. And remember, you'll not just be learning the new words, you'll be getting practice at around 1500 English words that your brain is in the process of learning. We call that two birds with one stone. Brilliant. So here are the five relationship questions that Google and I'm sure ChatGPT have been asked in 2025. I think we've all wondered about the answers to these questions at some point. For most people, having romantic relationships is literally part of living, isn't it? First question. How long does the honeymoon phase last in a relationship? Vocabulary here, the word honeymoon refers to the holiday that traditionally couples take once they've got married. The idea is that a honeymoon is blissful. That means very, very happy. And both people have a wonderful time and the relationship is in the best possible place. Do you remember being in a relationship that was new and you just couldn't get enough of the other person? I think most of us experience that a few times in our lives. During this honeymoon phase, we think the other person is the best thing ever. We can talk for hours and in our eyes, they can do no wrong. This is what we mean by the honeymoon phase of a relationship. We think of that other person all the time. We can think of little else. We become very attached and have strong feelings for this person. In my view, to get married during this honeymoon phase is a crazy thing to do. In the UK, most couples know each other really well before they get married. It's likely their honeymoon phase has already happened well before the wedding. If you want to make a relationship which lasts and which will make you happy, you need to be with the other person long enough to discover what their less nice side is, the less good parts of their character. What are they like in an argument? What are they like on a Monday morning when they're tired, stressed and they can't find their socks? What are they like when they're ill? Before you make any big commitments like moving in, sharing finances, buying a house, getting married, having children, you really need to make sure you know the person, the good and the bad. Then, when you really know them and you still want to marry them, great. If you're in a long-term relationship, it's important to have had this honeymoon phase, this honeymoon period. It's such a lovely experience, but it does need to come to an end and it usually does. The honeymoon period is often quite short-lived. Maybe the less suited you are as a couple, the sooner the honeymoon period ends. It may take a week, it may take two years, but it will end. And more importantly, for a long-term relationship, taking some of those honeymoon feelings into the rest of the relationship is important. We often think of our partners with positivity, with our rose-tinted glasses on. We see them more positively, perhaps, than they deserve. Some of this comes from the honeymoon period and it's not necessarily a bad thing, but we're not in our right minds when we're in the honeymoon period. We need to regain our good sense and good judgment before we make major decisions. Now, if you're learning some great English here and you want more content like this to practice your English with, with real-world topics, we have a brilliant subscription service. Adept English subscription gives you eight extra episodes per month, two per week, all without ads. Go to adeptenglish.com to find out more interesting topics while you pick up up-to-date vocabulary. Brilliant. Second most popular question. What is monogamy? You may not know this word, but you will understand its meaning. Monogamy means being with one partner and no one else. Being faithful, if you like. Monogamy comes from the Greek, mono meaning one, and gamos meaning marriage. And quite simple, you might think. Monogamy is most people's expectations in relationship. When I was young, monogamy was the norm. As soon as you were dating someone, it was assumed it was monogamous. Perhaps the main difference in 2025, monogamy is not assumed. Not from the moment you are dating someone. There are stages. If you're dating someone, it means you are exploring the romantic possibilities by meeting up, going for drinks, going for dinner, going for walks and other activities. You're basically getting to know one another. But you may also be going on dates with other people at the same time. If you're seeing someone, that implies it's been longer and you know each other better. It's a bit more serious. But, is it exclusive yet? That word exclusive, E-X-C-L-U-S-I-V-E, is an important one. If you're dating, exclusive in this context means monogamous and no one should assume exclusivity. It needs to be discussed and agreed. Imagine when a couple arrive for therapy and one partner says, I thought we were exclusive, and the other one genuinely believes, oh, we're just casually dating. Both may have made assumptions and ouch, someone got hurt. So, it's important to be clear what the rules are for your relationship. The next two questions are linked. They are, what qualifies as cheating in a relationship? And, what is an open relationship? On to the big stuff now. These are the questions which people most commonly ask Google and ChatGPT. So, this is all to do with the rules of exclusivity. Are you monogamous or not? Firstly, what qualifies as cheating? The verb to cheat, C-H-E-A-T, is what we use when someone who's part of a couple has another relationship, usually in secret. That's cheating. And, what qualifies as cheating? Well, that varies enormously across couples and across the world. We are human beings. It's natural to find other people attractive sometimes, even when you're in relationship. You may have a particular actor or singer that you find really attractive. Or, you may particularly enjoy speaking with someone at work whom you find attractive. I tend to think the actor or singer is not an issue. Nothing is going to happen there. But, the person at work, that can be more problematic. For most people in a monogamous relationship, they have limits, boundaries. You're aware of the danger and you limit your contact with that attractive person. It becomes a problem in relationship when either there are different expectations of the limits or boundaries for a couple, what is okay or not, and people's values vary enormously on this question. So, it's important early on in a relationship to agree what those limits are, where the boundaries should be, and stick to them. Usually, in relationships, there are some definite red lines. To quote our Prime Minister, Theresa May, sleeping with the other person is generally verboten, not okay. In fact, for most people, any sexual contact with another person is not okay. But more than this, developing feelings of attachment to another person. This is where it gets complicated, and that one is the real killer for most relationships. It's that emotional closeness to someone else that really, really hurts people. And once there are feelings, once there's attachment, people find it hard to pull back. It means that feelings and sharing that should be part of the main relationship is happening instead with this other person. Again, ouch. So, if you find yourself developing feelings of attachment for another person, not your partner, don't just go with it. Instead, ask yourself questions. What's happening in my main relationship that means I'm missing something? Is it something that can be addressed? What does this new person give me that my main partner doesn't? Stopping and asking these questions before any damage is done can save a lot of hurt later on. Once you're in two relationships, it gets very complicated, and someone always gets hurt. What about open relationship? Well, this is much more common than it used to be. This is when partners in a relationship have an agreement that they can have other relationships at the same time. They can see other people. They can develop feelings for other people. They can have sex with other people. Most people don't do this. Most people say, this is not for me. But there are some brave people who try to have open relationships. Perhaps it works for some of them. Open relationship sometimes gets called ethical non-monogamy. The ethical part here, E-T-H-I-C-A-L, means they're trying to do it in a way that is fair, that doesn't hurt anyone. I've worked with couples with open relationships. For some people, it seems to work. But I have caution about this. Human beings become emotionally attached to other people. And if this happens, there is no guarantee that rules will be followed. There's much, much more to say about this one, but it's an option some people consider. Final question of the five, am I in a toxic relationship? That's toxic, T-O-X-I-C. The word toxic originally meant something poisonous, like the venom of a snake or a chemical that's in your water, doing you harm that shouldn't be there. That was the meaning of toxic. But now more and more often it's used of relationships. It means relationships that are bad for us, relationships that do us harm. And whole books have been written about toxic relationships and all the different forms they can take. I think the best guidance is if you're in a relationship and it causes you a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, then probably there's something toxic going on. Going all the way back to the beginning of the article in Vogue magazine, I thought this was a wise thought. And I quote, someone once told me that you can tell if someone is in a good relationship because they rarely mention it. I think that's true. And one way to tell if you're in a toxic relationship, your attention is always on your relationship. It's like a roller coaster ride and you may need constant support from your friends in order to manage it. If you're being constantly hurt, that's toxic. I could talk for hours on each of these questions, but I hope that's given you some ideas and some useful words. Excellent up-to-date English vocabulary. Please comment on this podcast. We'd love to hear your views on this one. And if you're with it, happy dating.