30 Common British Conversation Phrases and Expressions

oh wow that hits the spot I was dying for a cuppa Leila says she's on the fence about this new kind of ugh way but I think it's a real winner so guys did you understand those phrases they are of course very natural phrases very natural and probably quite advanced conversational phrases as well so you might find that at this point your fluency is improving you can understand a lot of what native speakers say but you're not quite sounding like one you don't feel you're exactly sounding like a native yet and this could be because you're not necessarily using these natural everyday phrases that we use all the time but pepper our conversations so you need to start using these lovely natural phrases just like we do and today I'm going to give you thirty of these and I'm going to give you sentence examples of how to use them as well [Music] first group of reasons we're going to use today are all about describing time and when things happen so the first one is to do something on the fly on the fly so this is where you do something without a lot of preparation and usually quite quickly if you imagine that we are we're doing it on the fly is in on the go is in I was doing something else as I was doing this so for example we could say I prepared my presentation for work on the fly I was committing to work at the time and I was also talking to a friend so I was doing it on the fly meaning on the go really number two is quite similar number two is on the spur of the moment on the spur of the moment or in the spur of the moment and this means something is done suddenly spontaneously without very much coming so you could say we decided to go on a romantic weekend break on the spur of the moment so in that moment spontaneously on the spur of the moment I really did get married on the spur of the moment we booked the wedding in February and we were walking down the wealth sandy aisle by what was it 30th of April that's right spur-of-the-moment more or less number three is something we say all the time and it means give me some time but actually how we say it is give me a sec or give me a second we might say hang on give me a sec or give me two SEC's anything like that or one sec we often also say as well make sure you're saying that with a you don't want to say it with a different sound so it would be hang on a second give me a sec number four is to be bound to to be bound to and this means something is certain to happen very sure very very likely so if I say you're bound to pass your exam you've been studying so much and you're getting great grades so you're bound to pass I mean you're sure to pass or if I look at the sky and I see gray rain clouds I can say oh it's bound to rain look at those clouds the next section guys is about describe and having interactions with others number five I'm sure you haven't heard and I think it's probably more British than American possibly more British than Australian as well this one is she was funny with me she was funny with me or he was funny with me basically someone was funny with me now this doesn't mean funny haha as in they made a joke this means they were a little bit rude to me perhaps or they were not friendly or they could be off another way we say it as they were off and this means that they were not happy they seemed upset so if I meet my friend and she's not her usual friendly self and I can sense that something is wrong I could say she was a bit off with me today oh she was a bit funny with me when I was younger and sometimes I used to come in later than my mother wanted me to in the morning if she was angry about this she wouldn't necessarily shout at me but she would be funny with me she would be a little bit off with me a bit colder than normal perhaps less willing to make me breakfast or anything like that so she was funny with me number six is a slightly stronger version of this this is to have a go at someone or someone has a go at you to have a go at someone or someone has a go at to you this means that somebody tells you off somebody's angry with you they actually say oh why did you do that or oh I'm upset with you because of this and they actually tell you what they actually shown that they're angry with you by what they say again this is very very British so for example imagine I made a video and I made a lot of grammar mistakes in the video and I taught you guys very bad grammar I know for a fact that Layla she would have a go at me and rightly so I shouldn't do anything like that but she would have a go at me she would say oh my goodness why would you do that number seven is check this out check this out and we say this a lot as well and this is when we're excited about something or we want to show someone something it's interesting or it's funny so we'll say come here check this out so it might be a new YouTube video we love or something we've just recently bought but it's a way of saying come and see but we we don't really say come and see we would say come here check this out it's really funny the next section guys is giving your opinion and responding to others so how we give our opinion and we respond to other people so number eight is no way no way and this is where we're like I can't believe it and it can be that we really can't believe it or it can be just that we're surprised so for example if a friend tells us she got engaged or they got a promotion we could be really happy because that my goodness no way like we can't believe it really surprised it can also be what you really struggle to believe it so you might say no way like that's not possible so it can be used in both ways depending on the tone of voice you use number nine is to be on the fence to be on defense an idiom actually and if you're on the fence this is where you don't have a strong opinion about something either way you're not decided so it's where you're like I can't decide yes or no about this I'm on the fence or I can't I don't really have a strong opinion so I'm gonna say I'm on the fence so it's like imagine that you have two Gardens one either side of the fence and one is agree with this or like this and the other one is the opposite you're on the fence meaning you're in the middle number ten is to play devil's advocate it's a little bit of a complex phrase but again we do use it quite a lot if we play devil's advocate even though we may not believe something we may not think it in an argument or in a debate we will present the opposite view to the one that everyone else is saying so if everyone is saying climate change is really happening it's the worst thing we've got to do something now you can actually say the opposite in order to provoke more debate or in order to broaden people's perspectives even if you're not sure about this yourself it's so that you'd want to encourage and foster debate really so we might often say well to play devil's advocate you know it could be a lot of hype I mean there's been lots of different phases of the world's warming you know it could be more height that's not what I think definitely not but there I'm playing devil's advocate I'm trying to stimulate conversation and get people to consider that as well number 11 is tell me about it tell me about it or you're telling me you're telling me so for example this is when we are really agreeing with somebody wholeheartedly we're saying absolutely I agree so if I say off the traffic was a nightmare to work this morning a person could reply you're telling me we're stuck in it for an hour so it's where you're really really agreeing and embracing what they're saying nice informal but again super useful we use it a lot tell me about it number 12 is I beg to differ I beg to differ and this is quite formal this is probably the most formal phrase I have included but it's where we want to say the opposite is where we're saying we disagree so if you say I beg to differ I'm not sure you're right about that we're saying I don't agree with you I beg to differ number 13 is that's spot on that's spot on and this means that's completely right that's spot on so if somebody says let's do it like this or they describe something and they say it perfectly and you completely agree in self that's right that's spot on yeah that's right so it's a way to sort of say I completely agree and you're right and how you presented it you summarized it perfectly number 14 is not necessarily not necessarily so I could say you guys might not necessarily enjoy learning grammar but it's good for you we can also use this phrase when someone is generalizing and we want to say that it might not always be the case it might not always be true so if I said to one of our lovely Indian students it's true that you guys eat spicy food every day right you might reply so what necessarily you know sometimes we are the kinds of foods as well we don't always have to have a hot meal you can tell me in the comments below guys if I'm right about that or not but it means not all the time soon not necessarily number 15 is as far as I can recall as far as I can recall or even as I recall you can also use that one so as far as I can recall it means as far as I remember as far as I can remember meaning according to what I can remember so we use this when we might not necessarily be saying that we're a hundred percent sure but according to what we can remember up to the point that we can remember we think this so might say well as far as I can recall I think that the students wanted more pronunciation practice number 16 is as far as I know again this one is very similar as far as I know according to what I know at this point so my knowledge up to that point so if we say as far as I know the exam is on Tuesday we're saying according to what I know at this point the exam is on Tuesday but we leave that little bit of room for uncertainty number 17 is a great one this is you hit the nail on the head you hit the nail on the head this is a nail and a nail is of course something which we bang into a wall with a hammer or we bang it into furniture things like that if you say that you hit the nail on the head it means that you're describing exactly the cause of something the reasons to something you've summarized a situation perfectly so exactly you really hit the nail on the head there that's exactly it yeah so a colleague might say I think he really hit the nail on the head when he said we needed a clearer vision for the future so this next group is all about phrases we use when we're encouraging others when we're saying things or we want to inspire others so a number 18 is hang in there hang in there and this is where we're saying don't give up keep going so if I have a student that tells me are finding it difficult to progress in English or I've hit a wall something like this I'll say don't worry hang in there number 19 is give it your best shot give it your best shot and this just means give it your best try do your best so we might say okay don't worry about it just give it your best shot give it your best shot my parents used to often say this to me if I was worried they'd just think but all you can do is give it your best shot number 20 is your on to a winner this is a little bit more unusual this one but we're starting to use it a lot now you're on to a winner and this means you're going in the right direction you've found a good thing so in business we might often use this or about things where we're pursuing an activity and it's going well I might say I think you're onto a winner there so number 21 is my mind's gone blank my mind's gone blank and this is where your mind has gone white you can't remember what you were going to say or you're nervous and you your mind has gone completely blank and you don't know what to say either of those situations you can say I have my mind's gone blank about that I just can't remember my mind's gone blank number 22 is I've had a change of heart I've had a change of heart and I've had a change of part means I've actually changed my mind I'm not sure about this anymore so we could say well have had a change of heart about moving to a different country it's such a big decision I've had a change a part about it I'm not sure number 23 is on second thoughts on second thoughts and we often say this when we quickly change our mind about something and we think no I won't do that I'll do this so it can be about little decisions like what we're going to have for lunch that day or where we're going to go at the weekend we might say I was planning to go to the park but on second thoughts let's go to the beach is such a lovely day number 24 is a bit more formal and this one is I've had a rethink I've had a rethink and this means a game I've changed my mind or I've thought about this and I think we should do it in this way instead so we might say I've had a rethink about the marketing plan and I think we should aim at this segment of the market instead so I've had a rethink I've thought about it again number 25 I love this one I've said this one many times this one is apart see what all the fuss is about or what's all the fuss about a fuss is a lot of attention on something something which gets a lot of air time so people are talking about it a lot making a deal of it so you know making a much bigger thing that is necessary so often this happens with films I often find that there's a lot of fuss about a particular film and sometimes I'm impressed and sometimes it lives up to my expectations but sometimes it doesn't and after I might say God you know what all the fuss was about or when children are getting very upset about something siblings can be fighting and things like that your mum might say karma sort of fuss about meaning what's all this noise what's this big deal that you're making can't believe Sabra is worried about changing a nappy I really don't understand what all the fuss is about it's just baby poo so this group onwards guys are all about natural ways for expressing your desires so the first one is I could kill for I could kill for something very often we're talking about food or drink when we use this or perhaps even a holiday things that feel very urgent needs for us so for example we might say oh I could kill for a diet coke right now or I could kill for a cup of tea oh I'm so hungry I could kill for a burger I'm dying for is another one very very similar although we can use this in a broader sense so we could also say I'm dying for a change of scene or dying for a holiday or I'm dying for something interesting to happen in my life so we can use it in a much broader way whereas I could kill for it's more related to food and drink number 28 is something hits the spot so if we say something has really hit the spot it's really really pleased us it was exactly what we wanted so we could say oh that that cold beer that ice-cold beer wow that hit the spot that was just so delicious exactly what I needed or that lovely hot curry that hit the spot exact what I wanted number 29 is on counting the days until and this means I'm literally counting down I can't wait so you might say I'm counting the days until my wedding I'm counting the days until I leave this job it sucks I'm counting the days until I leave something like this so you're counting down it you can be literal you can literally mean it or you can just mean that you can't wait number 30 this one I use a lot this is just roll-on and this means you want time to pass so that you can get to a particular point so often say oh I'm fed up with this so we might say I fed up with this week at work role on the weekend yeah role on Saturday or role on the holidays for example if you're fed up with school or university you might say oh my goodness I'm fed up with this term role on the holidays number 31 and this is the last one this is I've set my heart on which means I'm focusing this is my strong desire which I have in my sights and my heart is set on it it's fixed on it so we might say I've set my heart on buying a new Audi or I've set my heart on becoming a fluent English speaker and going to live in England wouldn't that be nice I've set my heart on traveling to India this summer right everybody they were 13 natural and advanced English phrases I do hope you enjoyed them please do comment below and tell me what you thought of them and also try and use any of them in a sentence below and I will try and check that for you we'll see you soon guys in the next video bye bye

Channel: Love English with Leila & Sabrah

Views: 48,032

Keywords: Love English with Leila & Sabrah, Love English with Leila & Sabrah YouTube, YouTube Love English with Leila & Sabrah, learn English, love English, English, natural English expressions, british conversation phrases, british conversation expressions, common british expressions, English conversation phrases, English conversation expressions, speak like an English native, common English conversation expressions, natural English phrases, English conversation practice, british english

Id: bXfjpbJbKco

Length: 18min 10sec (1090 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 12 2020