55 Common English Phrases For Daily Conversation

Hey everyone, I'm Andrea your RealLife English fluency coach and in today's lesson you are going to be learning 55 common English phrases that you can start using in conversations to sound more natural when speaking so these phrases that I will teach you today are ones that natives use a lot they are alternatives to very common or more formal ways of expressing yourself maybe the types that you learn in a classroom so we are here to teach you how natives really speak in the real world so you can grab yourself a nice cup of tea or a cup of coffee and a notebook and pen so that you can start jotting these down while you watch the lesson and then you can start learning them and using them. In case you're new here I want to let you know that we are here to guide you beyond the classroom to live and learn and speak English in the real world so be sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell down below so that you don't miss any of our new lessons. Okay so the first phrases that we're going to have a look at are how to ask someone how they are. So you've probably learned that you would say how are you and while we do still use this natives use a lot of other expressions a lot of other phrases to ask this question so the first one is how have you been okay so there i'm pronouncing every single word quite clearly but when we tend to ask this question we do use contractions and connected speech so rather than saying how have you been I would say how have you been so how and have contract to make howv however and it's a lot faster it's a lot more natural and this is the way that natives speak also what tends to happen here is the you isn't really sounded out the way that it is like formally so instead of saying how have you been we would say how have you been so that you sounds a bit more like a ya so that's some connected speech there as well and certainly in America they would do this for sure another way to say this is what have you been up to but again instead of saying and expressing every single word we would say what have you been up to so again we use contractions, I know sometimes learners are afraid of using contractions because they think that it's really informal but i'm here to tell you they are not informal they are a part of everyday speech and you can write using contractions as well just as long as it's not maybe for an essay or some formal writing what have you been up to is also a great way to ask this question because rather than how are you which can be quite a closed question what have you been up to makes you think of a longer length of time and you can really answer this question in a more open way so it's a great one to use so the next three phrases are really useful they're quite simple but can be used both in the US and the UK and natives use them a lot and you can too and they are how are things how's it going and what's up so very simple but again ones that natives really use so now we're going to look at some ways of responding to these types of questions such as how are you and all the great ones that we just looked at so the first one is can't complain so this is a great way to respond to how are you if you're feeling good or things are generally quite normal you could say can't complain meaning that things are going well you have no complaints there's no negative things happening and this is a great way of responding very simply to a question of how are you another way you could say pretty good so if you're feeling quite good you're feeling happy instead of just saying I'm fine you could say pretty good if things are going really well you could say never been better so this would mean that you're feeling really great nothing negative is happening you're feeling really positive and you've never been better literally like things are going so well however if they're not going so well you could say could be better so we have never been better when things are going really well and you could have could be better if things could go better because they're not going so great at the moment and if you generally don't have much to say when someone is asking you how you are you might say same old and this doesn't necessarily mean that things are negative just means you've been doing the same nothing different has really been happening so nothing really exciting to report so you just say same old or same old really there's nothing wrong with that so next we're going to look at phrases that you can use to say thank you so instead you could say to someone you're a star or you're the best or even you're an angel so if you want to say thank you to someone without using those two words these three are great ways of showing gratitude. You could even say I owe you one because that would mean that you owe them a favor because maybe they helped you out in some way they did you a favor and you want to repay them so by saying I owe you one that's another way of saying thank you because someone did something kind for you or helped you out and you want to repay that kindness back you could also say I appreciate it so that's how I would say in British English but for sure in American English they would say more like I appreciate it so you have that tap t sound I appreciate it whereas in British English we say I appreciate it. And if I'm not pronouncing the T with a true T but instead with a glottal T I might say I appreciate it so in both those t's they're in appreciate and in it there's a glottal t there so i'm not pronouncing it but there is a sound there where I am stopping the flow of air and then releasing it. So we could say I appreciate it with a true T and we could say I appreciate it with a glottal t you could also simply say that's fantastic or that's brilliant or that's great so do keep in mind that brilliant is quite a british word so you probably won't hear in America that much but you certainly will in the UK if you haven't seen it already I highly recommend a lesson that Ethan did over on our Learn English with TV Series channel: Alternatives to Good, so the lesson is don't say good say this instead so there's lots of vocabulary there that you can learn for alternative ways of saying good which I highly recommend that you check out because you'll learn lots of new vocabulary if you're feeling a bit stuck with your English and need that extra push or that extra guidance then I highly recommend our RealLife Native Immersion course this course will take you on a 41 week RealLife English adventure and it will be based on our goals to help you use and understand english in the real world in a fun natural and convenient way and the best part is you can try it right now for free with our three-part power learning series all you have to do is click up here or in the description box below to learn more and sign up now we look forward to seeing you there. So now we're going to look at how to respond to thank you so instead of saying you're welcome you could say it's a pleasure or it's my pleasure which is a really friendly way of responding to thank you you could also say no worries so don't worry about it don't mention it these are kind of similar but all really great ways of responding to thank you so you could say no worries or don't mention it or even it's nothing you know so someone is saying thank you to you because they're really grateful for the way that you've helped them but for you it was nothing or it was a pleasure or don't even mention it Happy to help, another way is instead of saying you're welcome you could say you're so welcome you know if you really want to tell that person it was a pleasure for you you could say you're so welcome so these are all great alternatives to saying you're welcome and great ways of responding to thank you okay so next some phrases that you can use when you agree with someone so instead of saying I agree with you you could just respond absolutely and hear you mean that you totally agree with that person absolutely there is no doubt in your mind or there is no disagreement there at all absolutely and you can say they're with an exclamation mark or an exclamation point if you're learning American English and this is a great and simple way to respond when you really agree with someone another way of saying this is I totally agree or I totally agree with you you could even just say totally which is probably used more in American English and they wouldn't pronounce it like me they would say it more with a tap t sound so they would say totally so there you hear that tap T i say totally or with a glottal t I might say totally which I probably wouldn't use because I just find it sounds a bit strange but many people speak like this but in America they would use the American T or the tap T as it's called and they would say totally so that t turns more into a d sound a soft d another great way when you completely agree with someone is to say tell me about it and really here you don't mean that you want more information or that that person needs to tell you more about the situation it's just a way of agreeing so it's a very great phrase to use to agree with someone it's very simple but very effective so tell me about it but in America they would probably say tell me about it so again there's that tap t sound there and that connected speech so it sounds a little bit different a couple more great ways to agree with someone is to say exactly so again very exact very precise you agree with that person exactly and finally you could even say you hit the nail on the head and what you mean there is that the person has got it totally right so you completely agree with them they hit the nail on the head this is a great English expression when you want to agree with someone but also saying that they are totally correct. Okay so we've looked at phrases that we can use when we agree with someone but what about when we disagree with someone now here take caution just because you don't want to sound dismissive or argumentative or troublesome when you are responding to someone that you disagree with so do keep that in mind these are some great polite ways of saying that you disagree with someone so the first one is I'm not sure I agree with you so here you're not being rude or cold in any way you're just saying that you're not quite sure that you agree with what they are saying so you're still giving your point you're putting your point across that you disagree but in quite a polite way you could also say not necessarily so again it's a way of saying I don't necessarily agree with you but much shorter and much simply with not necessarily you could even say I don't see it that way so again it's just showing that you have a different point of view or maybe a different opinion not that that person is wrong but again you are expressing that you disagree with what they are saying and finally you could even use some sentences with but so this can be really useful when you want to be polite again you could say that's interesting but and then kind of give your opinion about the situation too okay so next we're going to take a look at some phrases that you can use when someone has changed plans so you've made plans with someone maybe a friend or a family member and then towards the last minute or without much notice they've changed the plans so these are some great ways that you could respond so the first one that you can say is no worries so this is very simple instead of saying don't worry about it a full-blown sentence you could just say two words no worries and you are telling that person not to worry about it because these things happen that's also a great way to respond these things happen don't worry about it no worries they're all really useful ways to respond to this you could even just say things happen you don't even have to say these things happen you might even just say things happen you could also say it can't be helped so if you know that that person is in a situation where they have to cancel your plans you can say it can't be helped so again it's another way of saying don't worry about it there's nothing you could do in this situation and you had to change the plans another alternative to no problem is no biggie so again it's not a big deal so these are all great ways of telling someone not to worry about it if they've changed plans and sometimes what does happen is you tend to use more of these in a sentence or in a conversation with someone because if someone is telling you that they are really sorry about changing plans you want them to feel okay about it so you might say don't worry about it these things happen it's no biggie so already there I used three and that would just be in a small part of a conversation now if someone invites you somewhere and you want to respond to tell them whether or not you can make it these are some great phrases that you can use so very simply you could say sounds good or sounds great if you can make it so that way you are confirming that you can go to the invitation that they are inviting you to whether it's dinner a party or just to catch up also if it's something you're quite excited about you might say i'd love to so this is a great way of responding to show the person that you would love to accept their invitation a polite way of responding that you won't be able to make it is simply saying sorry I can't, you could also say I won't be able to make it or unfortunately I won't be able to make it so you'd really like to be there but you can't another way of saying this is I hate to miss it but and then giving you a reason why you can't go and finally one that's probably a bit more american you could say I think I'll pass but of course they don't have the elongated a so they would say I think I'll pass. Now if you're having a conversation with someone but you really need to end the conversation because you have other things to do there are some really great phrases that you can use to do this in a polite way so one way of saying this is I must make a move so this doesn't mean that you need to make a move on someone but it just means that you need to get going so this is another one that you can use I need to get going or I must make a move or I better get a move on so in the UK we would use this one quite a lot we could say I better get to move on or I better get a move on and in America they might say I better get a move on because you need to get going because you have somewhere else to be you could even be super polite and say I've taken up enough of your time or I've taken up too much of your time so if you're speaking to someone and you've spent quite a lot of time with them this is a really polite way of ending the conversation and finally you could be completely honest and say I have another commitment or I'm sorry I really have to go I have another commitment that way the person knows that you would love to spend more time with them but you have to go because you have something else to do or somewhere else to be so in your classroom you've probably learned the way to say goodbye is by simply saying the word or even by as a shortened version however in the English language there are so many more great ways of saying goodbye and so many more phrases that natives use one that we use a lot in the UK is see you later so if you are saying goodbye to someone even if you're not going to see them later that day you would still say see you later or see you later with the glottal t and in America they would probably shorten it even more just to say later so they wouldn't say it like me of course they would say it with the tap T the American T so it turns into a soft T and they would say later you could even say it was lovely to see you. So when you are saying goodbye to someone you would say it was lovely to see you and off you would go you could even say speak soon and this is probably something that many people also write when they're writing a text message or an email an informal one of course they might rather than saying goodbye just say speak soon so you know you don't know when you're going to speak to the person but it's likely to be quite soon another way of saying this is talk to you later so you can hear again there I'm not really expressing each word individually there is some connected speech there see you later so the u changes it shortens it's more of a sound and it would probably be the same in American English as well but again they would have the American t the tap t sound when they say the word later so talk to you later or talk to you later another great one is stay in touch so a way of saying goodbye but you still want to keep in contact with that person you could say stay in touch and finally one of my favorites you could say take care. So there you have it those are your 55 common English phrases that you can start using now and learning so that you can understand natives better to be honest there were probably a few added bonuses in there as well so it's probably a little bit more than 55 so you've got a whole range of phrases there that you can start learning and using to speak English more naturally. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and if you did I highly recommend that you check out this lesson that Ethan made on School English vs Real-Life English because it really connects well with this lesson where you'll learn real-life English not the classroom English that you might be used to and I will see you guys soon, take care! So in school they probably taught you to say these like Serious Sam Let's see got to, want to have to, going to. However it's pretty uncommon that you will hear natives speak this way most natives will actually speak like my friend Street Stan yeah man I'd say like gotta ,wanna gonna, have to!

Channel: RealLife English

Views: 142,718

Keywords: english phrases for daily conversation, english phrases for daily use, english phrases for daily use - basic speaking english, english phrases for speaking, english phrases, daily conversation english speaking, phrases for conversation, common english phrases, common english phrases to use in conversation, english conversation, english speaking, english vocabulary, phrases to use in conversation, fluent english, learn english speaking, speak fluent english

Id: EhRtGlnxTNc

Length: 19min 53sec (1193 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 16 2020