Oh, there's free cake in the staff room? Thanks for letting me know. See you there. Yeah, free cake. All right. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson
on writing a business or professional email in English. Now, this is useful for those of you who are
just starting a corporate job, or if you are looking to work in an English environment
where emails are constant. So, I use my email every day. I can tell you 100% that I have used all of
these at one point or another in my emailing career, we'll say. So, I've sent thousands of emails, and I've
used all of these. So, these are phrases that you can use in
internal emails between yourself and your colleagues, or between yourself and someone
who works with your company. So, maybe you know someone who is selling,
you know, technology to your company, like printers or computers; maybe there's someone
who supplies paper for your company and you have to interact with them, so you can use
these phrases and expressions with them. All right? So, first we'll start with the greeting. We have: "Hello", "Hi", "Hey, Steve". Steve - these are all for Steve. So, you notice... If you're wondering: "Why didn't you put 'Dear'? Why didn't you put 'To whom it may concern'?" You could still use those. I guess it depends on your own
personal comfort with formality. Having worked, like, you know, in Canada and
exchanging emails with people in the United States, most people are comfortable
with a "Hello" or a "Hi". Only use a "Hey" for someone you know. So, these are in level of formality. Of these three, "Hello" would be the most
formal; "Hi" would be very neutral; and "Hey" is a very familiar, very informal, so only
use this with people you know well or that you have a good professional relationship
with. Next... All right, so one thing you might do in an
email is to introduce a new topic or to inform someone of something; maybe not just one person,
maybe a group of people, maybe a whole department. So, for example: "This is to inform you that..." Very general. So, maybe someone has received a promotion
in your company. This is something you might see from your
boss; or if you are a boss or a manager, you might send this to your team. "This is to inform you that", you know... Let's say Rosa; you have an employee named Rosa. "This is to inform you that Rosa has been
promoted to the position of..." Okay? So you're giving information to your team. This one: "Just to let you know"... Now, this is very informal. So, only send this to people you know well,
people within your company, maybe a friend in the company. So: "Just to let you know" is a much more
informal, casual way that you can use in an email, instead of: "This is to inform you
that..." Okay? So, for example: "Hey. Just to let you know, I'm not here on Friday. Please see me if you need anything from me
before Friday." Okay? Also, you're introducing a topic, or informing
your company, or someone of something, so: "Hey, Steve. Good news!", "Hey, Steve. Bad news.", "Hey, Steve. I've got good news.", "I've got bad news." Now, you notice, here, I used an exclamation
after "Good news", you know, it's a good idea to make it seem exciting, so: "Good news! You know, I just got promoted." Okay? Or: "Good news! I'm getting a raise." Okay? Something like this. "Bad news. We're not getting pizza for free today.",
"Bad news. I can't make lunch, sorry." Okay? "I can't make lunch." It doesn't mean you're creating lunch, you're
making lunch; it means: "I can't go to lunch with you." Okay? So, you have: "This is to inform you that...",
"Just to let you know...", "Good news!", "Bad news.", "I've got good news.", "I've got bad
news." Okay? Next, if you are following up on a previous
discussion, a previous email... Now, "following up" means you had a conversation
about a topic before, maybe in person, maybe in email, maybe by carrier pigeon-I don't
know-and you want to follow up on that email. A carrier pigeon is a bird who brings a letter. So, you can say: "Hey, Steve. As we discussed,..." or "As discussed,..." You can obviously add to this: "As discussed
yesterday,...", "As discussed at the meeting,...", "As discussed this morning, please remove
your shoes when you enter"-I don't know- "my office"? It's a strange thing, maybe. I don't know, it depends where you are in
the world, perhaps. So, next, instead of saying: "As discussed,..."
you can also say: "To follow up on our meeting,...", "To follow up on our discussion,..." This is the same thing. You know, "As we discussed,..." or "To follow
up,...", "To give an update on the information we discussed,..." You can say, you know: "please come to work on time". Okay? Or: "don't leave your lunch in the fridge
for five days." Other people use the fridge, Steve. So, next: "Regarding", or "In regards to..." Now, you can use either one of these. Okay? So, it just depends how you feel in the moment. So, you know, let's see... What else has Steve done lately? Regarding... Hmm. Sure. "Regarding the quality of your deodorant,
please change it soon; everyone can notice. Everyone notices." Okay? So: "in regards to", maybe Steve wears strong
cologne or strong deodorant and it smells very strong, so, you know, you're just having
fun with Steve in an email. Okay. "As far as _______ goes,..." So, this is similar to saying: "Regarding/In
regards to", but you put the topic here. So, if you are sending an email about your
company budget: "As far as the budget goes, please be careful with your spending." Okay? "As far as, you know, this weekend's tour
goes, it's going to begin at 11 o'clock." Okay? Same here: "On the topic of _______", and
you follow up. Okay? Next, if you want to ask for something, if
you want to request something - many, many, many, many options. All right? So: "I'd like to know if/when/how/who", okay? Any question you can think of. "I'd like to know when the meeting ends.",
"I'd like to know if I should bring anything." Okay? Next, instead of saying: "I'd like to know",
you can also just say: "Hey. Could you let me know if/when/how", etc. Maybe you're collecting money because it's
Rosa's birthday, you know, in the department, and you could say: "Hey. Could you let me know how much money I should
contribute?" You know, for Rosa's present or for Rosa's
gift card, or whatever. All right? Next, a little more serious:
"Could you confirm", right? "Could you, like, 100% let me know (confirm)
if/when/how", etc. So, this is probably a more serious topic;
although you could use it to be funny, because it's a more formal expression. You know: "Could you confirm how much money
I should give or how much money I should contribute?", "Could you confirm if we're getting paid today?" You know, just I want to make sure we're getting
paid. Next: "Do you know if/when/how", etc. Okay? So: "Do you know...?" Okay? So: "Do you know when...? When the money will be in my account?" Okay? "Do you know if the printer needs more ink?" Okay? "Do you have any details/any update on a topic?" Okay? So, if you're ordering promotional material
for your company from another company, and you've been waiting for a long time, maybe
one week, two weeks, which is a long time in most businesses, so: "Hey. Do you have any update on the promotional
material? Do you have any details or any new details
on the promotional material?" And another way to say this... Right? "Hey. Could you give me an update? Could you give me a quote or an estimate?" So, a "quote" is if you are in charge of,
you know, dealing with some of the upper-end parts in your company where you're dealing
with other companies, and you want to know: "Hey. How much money does it cost for you to print
this promotional material for us?" Or: "How much money does it cost for five
new computers? Could you give me a quote?" Basically... Usually a PDF or, you know, maybe some companies
send a physical paper with the breakdown of everything. "Could you let me know how much it costs?" "Could you give me an estimate?" Okay? This means an idea of how much money things
are going to cost. All right, so, so far we've said: "Hey, Steve",
we've introduced a topic, maybe we have followed up on a previous discussion, we've asked some
things, requested some things. And, well, let's see what's next. Stay tuned. Come on. Okay, so next we have saying: "Thanks". So, you can write: "Hey. Thanks for getting back to me." So, you sent an email, they sent an email
back and they answered a question for you, and you want to send another email... This is, like, the third email in the chain,
so you would say: "Hey. Thanks for getting back to me." This means: "Thanks for writing back. Thanks for answering my question." Okay? And then you can use one of the other phrases:
"Regarding this question,..." Right? Okay. "Thanks for the info". "Thanks for the information", if you want
to be more formal. Again, if you are in a company where you know
the people well: "Thanks for the info" is pretty casual, pretty informal; only really
use it with people you know well. "...the information", if it's, like, the owner
of the company - probably "...the information" is better. "Thanks for the heads up." So, this is a little more informal as well. So, "Thanks for the heads up" is usually:
Thanks for the warning, thanks for the update. So, for example, if someone sends you an email
and they say: "Hey. There's going to be a new position opening
next week. Why don't you, you know, update your resume
and get ready? Because I think you would be good for this
job." So, you could say: "Oh, there's going to be
a new position opening in the company. Thanks for the heads up." Right? "Thanks for the warning", so I know before
other people. So, think of "heads up", oh, you can... You can see the information that's in the
future. Okay? All right. "Thanks for the update.", "Thanks for the
email." Very general. "Hey. Thanks for following up on..." or "Thanks
for following up with..." Thanks for, basically, you know, keeping up
to date or getting new information from this person or on this topic. So: "Hey. Thanks for following up with the accounting
department.", "Thanks for following up on our contract." Okay? "...our contract discussion", something like
that. "Thanks for your help.", "Thanks for your
help with" something. "Hey. Thanks for looking into this, into that." If you look into something, it means you,
you know... You research it, you take a deeper look. So, if a colleague asks you to look into something,
they're asking you to get the details of a situation or get the details of something. And if they look into something and they send
you the information, say: "Hey. I got the information. The cost of this is $224." It's like: "Oh, $224. Thanks for looking into this. This cost changes everything." Okay? So, many ways to say thanks; many things to
be thankful for. And finally, closing your email; the ending,
you can say: "All right. I'll get back to you as soon as I can." So, this is if someone has asked you for something,
has made a request, and, you know, you send them some information, you respond, and you
can just end with: "Okay. I'll get back to you." Or, if you want to, you know, be extra polite
and say: "Hey. I'm going to do this": "I'll get back to you
as soon as I can." This is very similar to: "I'll let you know
as soon as I can." Okay? So, this one, very, very common. Okay? "I will let you know. When I know"-okay?-"I'll let you know". "I'll keep you posted." This means: If I have new information, I will
send the information to you. Okay? "I will give you an update when I know something." Okay? And then next, here, you're asking for, you
know... You've asked a question and you want a response,
so you end it with: "Please let me know" or just: "Let me know". Add a "please" if you want to be extra polite. "Please keep me posted". "I'll keep you posted.", "Keep me posted." Keep me updated. If there's any new information, tell me. Okay? Send me an email if there's any new information
on the topic we have discussed. And, you know, there's a lot of talk about:
How should you end your email? What's too formal? What's not formal enough? Do people still use "Sincerely"? I really only use "Sincerely" on, like, government
documents, things that are official from the bank. If you, you know, have a complaint letter
to a landlord where you're renting, you know, your apartment: "Sincerely" works for those
official situations. In most internal company emails, I usually
end mine with: "Thanks". You could say: "Regards", you could say:
"All the best". So: "Thanks" works for internal, "Thanks"
works for somebody you're working with outside the company. "Sincerely" I would just keep it to more official,
official, official situations where you're dealing with government, or banks, or bigger
companies. Okay? All right. Whew, that's it, guys. So, to test your understanding of this material,
as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And what I want to see from you guys is in
the comments write me an email. Use, like, as many of these phrases as you
can, and just send a sample email to me in the comments that I can read, and, you know,
I can... I can see how you guys are doing. All this stuff that I gave you today, except
for the ending, it doesn't have to go in this order. Okay? Like, you might just start an email, saying:
"Hey, Steve. Hey, Rosa. Thanks for getting back to me." This could be the first thing; it doesn't
have to be the introductory part that I did in the previous board. It depends what the email is about, of course,
and what you want to stress. All right? So, write me in the comments, and do the quiz,
which I already said. And then after you do the quiz, after you,
you know, check the comments and all that stuff, go to YouTube, tell your friends. Say: "Hey. I like this video by Alex. Subscribe to his channel. Hey. Who's this person? Huh? Adam? Yeah? Ronnie? Okay? Emma, yeah, I like these people. I like these people. Yeah, they have lots of good information over
here." So, subscribe to them, check us all out on
engVid, and check me out on Facebook, check me out on Twitter... I'm talking way too much and promoting too
much, so one more thing: If you want to support what we do, check out the "Support" link on
engVid, and you can donate and help us do this for a long, long, long, long time. All right? So, thank you very much. Til next time, thanks for clicking. And I'm going to go have that cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake.
