5 Daily NATIVE Phrases! | spoken English! | British English

hi there everyone welcome to English with Catherine if you're new here welcome thank you so much for being here I'm going to share with you today five phrases that we use in native English so what I've done is just been really aware recently of things that we say every day really kind of basic responses reactions if you start using these phrases you will definitely sound much more natural less formal much more friendly and easy to talk to I think I've told you before that when you come to the UK you will notice that the English that we speak is not the English that you learned at school it's spoken English and spoken English has phrasal verbs idioms and many many things like little Expressions that we just don't use in writing and we don't learn at school generally so here I am making your life easier if you come to the UK and you use a couple of these phrases you'll definitely fit in number one is the thing is the thing is the thing is we use this all the time and what it means is the issue is the problem is in British culture we really really don't like to say when there's a problem or we don't really like to say no either we're kind of terrified of Confrontation and sort of causing a fuss or offending someone so there's so much you need to learn about how to behave here is just I mean I have many more videos let's just say that so to give you some examples of how to use the thing is we can say the flat is so beautiful the thing is the traffic sound coming from the road really puts me off so here you're saying the flat is really nice maybe you're looking at a flat you're wanting to rent it or buy it and you're saying the flat is lovely but the traffic sounds coming from the road is kind of a negative and it's kind of making you not like the flat as much it's not a very direct way to express this it's a typically British way to express this we also use it to soften the blow or reduce the impact or the effect of saying something negative to someone maybe something that is maybe quite offensive or a bit difficult for them to hear for example when a manager is addressing his employee about a situation an issue something that's wrong he could say you're doing really well in this job the thing is a few colleagues have noticed you've been late a few times this month so this is a good way to bring up a problem with that employee that will not automatically offend them it will give them time to process the information so that they don't immediately get offended and look red in the face Etc so it's a really good way to soften the blow of that kind of criticism another example of softening the blow is just saying no to someone in that something just isn't possible or isn't logical or isn't rational and you want to say no in the best way for example the thing is Karen we just can't afford to have six swimming pools in the garden we just can't afford it right so that example is a bit silly but you know what I mean it's about saying no it's about softening the blow that's another expression you've learned today to soften the blow means to reduce the impact or the effect of something negative number two is fair enough fair enough fair enough so we say this as a response to something that we see as acceptable logical understandable reasonable for example I can't come tonight because I'm working late the response would be fair enough it's very very common to hear this every day in conversation amongst friends or family and really it's a very useful response because it's only two words another example I'll do the dishes tonight if you do the dishes tomorrow response would be fair enough great great idea now we say do the dishes by the way it means to wash the dishes that's a collocation with do number three is what a shame what a shame what a shame so this is another response but this time it's When someone tells you something disappointing almost sad annoying for them and you want to respond in the right way now if it's something really sad and really serious you can't say what a shame because you're going to need something a bit more serious and a bit stronger but for example if someone says to you my auntie can't come to visit anymore because of the train strikes you can say oh what a shame what a shame that means oh that's that really that's a shame you know that's disappointing that's sad for you another example is oh I dropped my favorite necklace in the river when I was bending over the bridge you can say oh what a shame that's that's a real shame you know for you so it's it helps to be understanding show sympathy for someone it's really nice actually it's a nice expression it shows that you care and that you're listening to what they're saying about their problem so use what a shame if you want to sound a little bit more native number four is a complete nightmare a complete nightmare a complete nightmare now you'll notice that I'm saying this with quite a lot of drama and energy and that's because it helps to describe a feeling of being angry about something now in British culture we do love to complain We complain about a lot of things but this phrase a complete nightmare we usually use to complain about the traffic so a lot of heavy traffic when you're trying to get home after a long day at work perhaps you have to drive home and you get stuck in traffic our roads are notoriously busy we have a lot of cars on the roads so it's very common to get stuck in traffic or we use this phrase to complain about the trains the trains in Britain are notoriously very very bad sorry to say that but they are often canceled or very delayed and they often don't really give you much warning but I have to say the underground trains in London are absolutely amazing we also use this phrase to complain about cueing now in British culture queuing is very important we do always queue and if someone is trying to queue jump it is always a massive problem so some examples using this phrase the trains were a complete nightmare yesterday it took me over an hour to get home when it would normally take me 20 minutes what a nightmare okay very dramatic that's very true um but yes this is very very common especially if you just want to describe that annoyance that you felt because of the trains it was absolute gridlock on the motorway yesterday it was an absolute nightmare getting home now gridlock means solid traffic so Kaka Lori Lori car Laurie Carr nothing moving nothing moving and an example for cueing it will be a nightmare tomorrow we will have to queue for hours so here we are here predicting the future and worrying about queuing in the future which is by the way another thing that we do we worry about the future we're always thinking what's coming what's coming so it will be a nightmare tomorrow we will have to queue for hours number five is what have you been up to what have you been up to what have you been up to now this is very common in British small talk when you haven't seen a friend or a colleague or a family member for a while we often ask this in small talk when we see them and it means what have you been doing how have you been filling your time have you been playing tennis have you been at the pub have you been doing a new hobby have you been working too much you then need to answer the question with what you have been doing you don't answer with up to in the answer it's only for the question okay for example what have you been up to recently well I've been um I don't know just playing the piano a bit I've been going out for walks I've been spending a lot of time with my sister but I've been working far too much we also use up to to ask about what someone is doing in the future so on the weekend typically so what are you up to on the weekend what are you up to on the weekend I use this very often when I'm asking my friends what their plans are either the same evening or on the weekend when I'm maybe going to invite them for a drink or suggest doing something with them I hope you've enjoyed this video about five native phrases maybe it will make it a little bit easier when you come to the UK and you hear these on the streets in conversation in cafes wherever you are so hit the Subscribe button if you feel in the mood too and I'll see you next week for another class thank you

Channel: English with Katharine

Views: 599,981

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Id: 2Mrx2ms-_80

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023