No more fake idioms! 🙏 Here, have 25 real conversation phrases (that British people REALLY use!)

hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy now I love learning idioms in other languages it helps me to fit in it makes me feel like I'm integrating more but my constant fear and anxiety is that I sound weird when I say them or maybe they're really old-fashioned and I do have a confession sometimes I do hear students sounding quite unnatural most British people do not walk around saying how do you do and Cheerio in our everyday lives so that's why I've created this lesson 25 everyday conversation phrases phrases that we actually use that won't make you sound old-fashioned or unnatural I want you to learn these phrases and have them in your toolkit in your vocabulary so that you can use them when you see an opportunity in a conversation to help you with this I have created a free pdf that goes with today's video in it you'll see the 25 everyday conversation phrases from the video in a dialogue so in the video I'm going to teach you 25 everyday conversation phrases in the PDF I show you these phrases in context in a dialogue with a downloadable audio there is also a link to an interactive exercise pack that's only available to people who download the PDF if you would like to get the PDF the audio and the interactive exercise pack just click on the link Link in the description box you enter your name and your email address you sign up to my mailing list and the PDF will arrive directly in your inbox after that you'll automatically receive my free weekly PDFs alongside my news course updates and offers it's a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time also you might be thinking how can I practice my conversation if I don't have a conversation partner or I don't have a teacher to practice with the best way to practice your conversation is with a qualified teacher so that they can give you feedback and correct you on the spot I'm learning Italian this way and my husband will is learning Spanish we both found our tutors on langua talk we love the platform so much that we became a part of it so technically I'm sponsoring myself here the quality of English teachers on The langua Talk platform is insane they accept such a tiny percentage of applicants the majority of teachers offer a free trial lesson and I can also so give you $10 off your first purchase with langua talk all you have to do is message the support team with the code convo 10 after your first purchase the link for langua talk is in the description box okay let's start with conversation phrase number one I'm easy I'm easy this means I don't mind or I'm easy to please we say this when we're happy to do what someone else wants to do or if we're happy for someone else to make a choice what do you fancy for dinner I'm easy number two I have two variations here one is more British and one is slightly more American English we have it's beautiful out and it's glorious outside can you guess which one is more British and which one is more American it's beautiful out is more American it's glorious outside we we also say it's beautiful outside but when we're talking about the weather we really tend to use the adjective glorious it's beautiful out and it's glorious outside mean it's really nice weather a common collocation is glorious Sunshine we don't get a lot of it in the UK so when there is sunshine we are going to talk about it number three is can do can do this is a very common response when someone asks you if you want to do something and you don't want to say yes but it's rude to say no if someone responds with can do they probably aren't very enthusiastic about your idea but it all depends on tone of voice take a look at these examples shall we go to the cinema tonight can do which means uh no can you complete this task for me can do meaning yes I can number four this is an idiom to go down a treat to go down a treat if something goes down a treat it means that people enjoy it very much dad's pasta salad always goes down a treat at parties people really enjoy it number five is something hits the spot to hit the spot this idiom means that something is exactly what is needed or something has the effect it should we often use it with food and drink for example a glass of lemonade with lots of ice always hits the spot on a glorious day there we used it from before number six daylight robbery daylight robbery can you guess what this one means it's a very informal phrase We Ed to describe a situation when something costs a lot more than we think it should unfortunately I feel like I'm using this phrase more and more nowadays with bloody inflation for example I had to pay £4 for a bottle of water daylight robbery note that this tends to be highway robbery in American English number seven is to have a thing about something or somebody if you have a thing about something or somebody you love or hate it or them various options there sometimes you love or hate it or them in a way that isn't reasonable we often say to have got a thing about or to have a thing about he's got a thing about chickens he's terrified of them he's not reasonable but he does have a thing about them he's scared of them or I have a thing about kittens in woolly hats I just love them number eight give me any day give me any day give me something or somebody any day means I much prefer this to whatever you just mentioned you will also hear any time instead of any day for example her new music's fine but give me her stuff from the 0s any day number nine is to throw a spanner in the works to throw a spanner in the works this idiom means to cause problems that delay a plan or stop it from succeeding for example the sudden downpour really threw a spanner in the works for our picnic in American English instead of spanner they tend to say monkey wrench or just wrench to throw a wrench in the works number 10 is to make a dent in something to make a dent in something this common idiom means to reduce the amount of something and we often use it to talk about money or work for example I've been working for hours but I've hardly made a dent in my to-do list list note that we also say to put a dent in something number 11 this is one that my grandparents used to use a lot a little bird told me or sometimes a little birdie told me which is like a way we infantilize the word bird we make it sound cute birdie we use this informal idiom to say that you heard a piece of information from somebody but you don't want to say who for example a little bird told me you're thinking about quitting your job I'm not going to tell you who but I just heard it number 12 one word here spill spill so spill is a shortened form of the idiom to spill the beans or now there's a new one that's crept into our vocabulary to Spill the T both of them mean to tell somebody a secret or the latest gossip spill the tea is interesting I looked into the atmology of it and it comes from black gay and drag culture t meaning truth spill the truth the letter T then became t as in the drink and now T is often used to refer to gossip do you have any te do you have any gossip spill is a shorten down version of both of those beans and tea an example have you heard what happened to Javier yesterday no spill number 13 is a keeper a keeper my husband will is a keeper when we talk about people a keeper is somebody who has good qualities who you could have a long-term relation relationship with you should keep them instead of getting rid of them an example Jamie's been so supportive while my dad's been in hospital he's a keeper number 14 you and me both you and me both this is a common expression used to agree with somebody it tells them that you share the same opinion or had the same experience for example I'm absolutely exhausted today you and me both my son was up all night number 15 a common collocation here absolutely gutted absolutely gutted gutted means disappointed or really sad absolutely intensifies it's a strong adverb adjective collocation gutted is an extremely British word an example I was absolutely gutted when my team didn't make it to the final 16 it is what it is it is what it is I'm using the flat te there it is what it is but in fast speech I'd say it is what it is this is an expression that we use to say that we just accept a situation as it is without trying to change it we often say it is what it is when we want to stop talking about a subject and move on to the next topic do you know what it is what it is let's talk about something else number 17 is just much much it's a determiner I know what you're thinking yeah I know people say much all the time but we can use much at the end of a sentence to emphasize what we have said and it's often used in a funny or comedic way for example you've been talking about your new game for an hour obsessed much or you passed the exam even though you didn't study smug much that's quite a tricky one to use so I've included some more examples in the PDF number 18 a common conversation phrase I say every day do you think it's going to rain later I had to put it in this video cuz I say it every day there is always a chance it will rain later in the UK number 19 slightly more positive we have to brighten up to brighten up that's a phrasal verb this simply means to become brighter more sun will shine if it's been a really rainy day and someone's complaining about it you might say don't worry it will brighten up later the sun will shine later an example there were lots of gray clouds on the morning of my wedding but it brightened up later on number 20 better take a Broly better take a Broly this is the final phrase about whether I promise better take a Broly means I or you or we should probably take an umbrella Broly is slang for umbrella better is short for you had better 21 to cross that bridge when one comes to it or when one gets to it sometimes we even say to cross that bridge when it comes as well this is an idiom meaning to deal with a problem when it becomes necessary rather than worrying about it in advance for example if you want to give up work after the baby's born you can we'll have less money but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it number 22 is to play it by a to play something by ear this idiom means to deal with a situation without a fixed plan deciding what to do as events happen for example I think there will be about 20 students in the class but there could be a lot more we will'll just have to play it by ear 23 for a split second for a split second can you guess what this one means it means for a very short period of time I thought I'd lost my purse for a split second but I found it at the very bottom of my bag note that purse in British English means the wallet you use to hold money and credit cards purse in American English is what we in British English refer to as handbag a larger bag that could contain your purse number 24 I'm not being funny but I'm not being funny but we use this phrase before a statement or opinion often when we want to be honest and don't want to offend people I'm not being funny but could you hurry up the bus is about to leave we often also say no offense but no offense but which is so annoying because whenever you say no offense but you are probably going to cause offense our final everyday conversation phrase 25 is to have a think to to have a think this means to take time to consider something to have in this phrase is what we call a delexical verb it doesn't contribute any meaning to the sentence think about it is another option but to have a think is informal and conversational you can learn more about delexical verbs in the PDF that goes with this lesson an example you don't have to buy it now have a think and call me tomorrow right that's it for this lesson I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something remember to download the PDF and then you'll get access to the conversation the audio and the interactive exercise pack the link to download it is in the description box if you've enjoyed this vocabulary lesson I think you will love my B1 B2 and C1 beautiful British English courses They are packed with vocabulary like this real British English that you can use in everyday life to find out more about my courses visit englishwith lucy.com I will see you soon for another [Music] lesson

Channel: English with Lucy

Views: 289,790

Keywords: #Grammar, #EnglishGrammar, #LearnEnglish

Id: veFTSqn4Gjc

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2024