hey everyone i'm andrea your real life
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
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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 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 yup 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 tea 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 tea
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
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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 i'm
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 tee
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 tea
or the tapti
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 use
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 r
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 tea the
american tea so it turns into a softie
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 versus 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