Today you're going to learn 50 common phrases that you can use
in your daily conversation to sound very fluent and natural.
And I've saved the best for last, so make sure you watch until the end.
Welcome back to JForrest English.
Of course.
I'm Jennifer.
Now let's get started.
First, let's start with some greetings that you must know
to understand native speakers and to sound natural yourself.
How's it going?
This is how a native speaker will say, how are you to a friend, a colleague, a family member.
How's it going?
And if two people haven't seen each other for a longer period of time, you can add on.
How's it going?
Long time no see.
You can reverse them.
Long time no see.
How's it going?
Long time no see.
Here is one that native speakers love, but it confuses students.
What have you been up to lately or recently?
This is in the present perfect.
What have you been up to?
Up to just means doing.
What have you been up to lately or recently?
And you can use all of these together.
How's it going?
Long time no see.
What have you been up to lately?
You will sound so natural.
Now let's talk about how to answer these greetings.
How's it going?
It's going.
And then your adjective.
It's going great.
Long time no see.
You can confirm this by saying I know too long.
I know it's been a long time since we last saw each other.
I know too long.
It's been too long now.
Although what have you been up to lately?
Recently is a long question.
Generally, native speakers will answer by saying not too much, not too much.
And then for all of these you can add on and you
and you to get the reply from the person you're talking to.
Now let's talk about how to say thank you like a native speaker, thanks so much.
Now notice instead of thank you, I'm saying thanks.
You need that as it is required grammatically.
Thanks so much.
Thanks a million thanks a bunch.
These are simply alternative ways to say thank you very much.
Thanks a bunch.
Two of my favorite ways to say thank you are simply by saying you're the best, you're the best.
I also say you rock, you rock, you rock.
So if you want to sound very natural, you can use those two.
You can also say I really appreciate it.
Or you could say that's so nice of you,
that's so kind of you you can use nice or kind, it doesn't matter.
So if you're enjoying this video, why don't you show appreciation right now?
Use one of these expressions, whichever one is your favorite, and put it in the comments.
Thanks a bunch, Jennifer, you rock.
Jennifer, you're the best.
Jennifer, put that in the comments.
To show appreciation for this video and to sound very natural, how about to say you're welcome?
My favorite, and one that's very common is simply no worries, no worries, no worries at all.
No worries.
You could say happy to help or My pleasure or you could say anytime
notice it's one word, anytime, anytime, anytime.
And I will reply back to your comment saying thank you with
one of these natural expressions saying you're welcome in a very natural way.
Now when it's time to say bye, you can say take care, take care, take care.
If someone is getting into a vehicle you can say drive safe or drive safely, drive safe.
Now technically, grammatically you need the adverb which is safely,
but native speakers use drive safe more than drive safely.
So you will absolutely hear both.
Drive safe, drive safely.
You can say talk soon, talk soon or see you soon.
See you soon now.
Let's say someone offers you something like a drink or a piece of cake, but you want to say no.
You want to decline it, but you want to do it politely.
You can say I'm good, I'm good, but thanks anyway.
It's nice to add appreciation.
I'm good, but thanks anyway.
No thanks.
I'm good none for me but thanks anyway.
I'll pass, I'll pass, but thanks, I'll pass.
So definitely add on that.
But thanks or but thanks anyway to sound very polite when you're requesting help,
you can say, can you give me a hand, give me a hand, give me a hand.
You can say, do you mind?
And then you need a gerund verb.
Do you mind helping me, helping me out.
Native speakers like to turn help into a phrasal verb help out.
Do you mind helping me out?
One I use a lot is Got a sack.
Got a sack.
Sack is short per second, which represents a small amount of time that you can make available.
For me.
Got a sack?
You got a sack.
So let me try these expressions with you.
Got a sack.
Do you mind helping me out by liking this video, sharing it with your friends, and subscribing?
It would really help me out.
Now if you're offering help to someone else, you can say need a hand,
but notice you do the rising intonation to make it sound like a question.
Need a hand, Need a hand.
Or you can say it as a statement and you can say I can give you a
hand with that and then you can give them a hand.
You can help them out or as a statement you can say let me help you with that,
let me help with you with that and then you can pick up that heavy box and help your friend out.
Let me help you with that.
It's Friday, so let's talk about the weekend.
You can ask someone what are you up to this weekend?
Again, notice that up to at the beginning.
What have you been up to lately or recently?
And now I'm asking you what are you up to this weekend?
So what are you up to this weekend?
It's very common to ask any plans this weekend and again rising intonation to show it's a question.
So do you have any plans this weekend?
I love the expression on the go, anything on the go this weekend?
It's simply an alternative to plans.
Now if you want to arrange social plans, you can ask are you free?
Are you free on Saturday?
You can make a statement and say we should hang out soon.
We should hang out soon.
Hang out is when you interact with someone socially.
We should hang out soon.
Native speakers love using the verb grab.
Do you want to grab coffee?
Grab dinner.
Do you want to grab dinner sometime?
And then you can add your time reference tonight.
Do you want to grab coffee tonight?
Now, if you're arranging a business meeting you can still use, Are you free?
You might add the verb to me.
Are you free to meet and then a specific time?
Because a meeting takes place at a very specific time on Thursday at 2:00 PM.
You could say I'm available on Thursday at 2:00 PM and then ask, does that work?
Does that work for you?
Or you could ask what works best for you?
What works best for you?
Well, whatever works best for you, Bill.
Now let's say you want to ask for clarification.
You could say sorry, I didn't catch that.
I didn't catch that, sorry, I didn't catch that, sorry, what does X mean?
And then X is whatever the word is that you don't
understand or you could clarify by saying sorry, what do you mean by X?
If you're having trouble understanding someone, you need to be honest.
You can say could you speak up a little?
Speak up means speak louder.
Could you speak up a little?
I'm having trouble hearing you.
Could you speak up, please?
If they're speaking too quickly, you can say could you slow down a little?
I'm having difficulty understanding you.
Oh, slow down, slow down, slow down.
Now let's say you want to confirm understanding
of either something you've said or something the other person has said.
You can say, do you know what I mean?
So you explain something and then say, do you know what I mean?
You know what I mean?
Oh, I know what you mean.
Does that make sense to you?
Does that make sense?
Or you can simply shorten that and say make sense with a rising intonation.
These two you need to put in your vocabulary.
Does that sound good to you?
And then native speakers will often shorten that just to sound good.
With a rising intonation, sound good sounds great.
There's one idiom you could use, and that's to be on the same page.
So you could say are we on the same page and this is used to say that
you agree or that you have a shared understanding.
For example, I could say J Force English is a great resource to help you become fluent.
Are we on the same page?
Do you agree?
Do we have a shared understanding now?
If you do agree, you can say we're on the same page.
We're on the same page, Jennifer,
So put that in the comments to show that you agree we're on the same page.
We're 100% on the same page.
Now you have over 50 expressions that you can use every single day
to sound like a native speaker and to understand one as well.
Now do you want me to make more lessons where I teach you natural expressions?
If you do, then put you rock.
You rock because that's one of my favorite expressions.
Put you rock in the comments and of course, show your appreciation.
Make sure you like this video, share it with your friends and subscribe
so you're notified every time I post a new lesson.
And you can get this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips on how
to speak English fluently and confidently.
You can click here to download it or look for the link in the description.
And if you want to sound really natural,
you should watch this video where I teach you the most common slang I know.
You'll love it, so watch it right now.