🗒️ Idiom: Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
💬 Meaning
- Time seems to pass quickly when you’re enjoying what you’re doing.
- When people are engaged and focused, they often don’t notice how much time has gone by.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The workshop ended before we knew it — time flies when you’re having fun collaborating with colleagues.
- Time flies when you’re having fun; our team-building day went by in a flash.
- The meeting lasted three hours, but because everyone was contributing ideas, time flew by.
🏛️ Origin
The idea behind this expression is very old. It comes from the ancient Roman poet Virgil. He wrote in Latin “fugit inreparabile tempus,” meaning “time flies and can’t be recovered.” The modern English version is “time flies when you’re having fun.” This became popular in the 1800s. It is used to describe how time seems to pass quickly when we enjoy what we’re doing — for example, during an exciting meeting or a fun company event.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
We were so focused on the project that we didn’t notice it was already 6 p.m.—________________________.
Answer
time flies when you’re having fun
2. Choose the correct option:
What does “time flies when you’re having fun” mean?
a) Time literally moves faster when you are busy
b) Time seems to pass quickly when you are enjoying yourself
c) Time should be managed carefully
Answer
b) Time seems to pass quickly when you are enjoying yourself
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“We didn’t realize how fast the event was over because we were having such a good time.”
Answer
We didn’t realise how fast the event was over because time flies when you’re having fun.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
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