Hi and welcome back to Love English. In today's lesson i want to share with you 10 proverbs,
10 proverbs that i think will help you sound more natural native and really immerse yourself in
the English culture proverbs a sentence with meaning often to give advice to share wisdom
are common amongst all languages and in fact many of these proverbs you may have similar in your
language if not exactly the same so do comment below and let me know but the important thing to
remember about any language whether that's english french spanish german whatever the
language might be is that it's not all about grammar it's not just about the structures
learning lots of vocabulary and perfecting your pronunciation immersing yourself in a language
becoming native and fluent means understanding the language in a cultural context all of these
10 proverbs i'm going to share with you today can be used in day-to-day english they're not
particularly special they are commonly used so why don't you try and use one of these proverbs
in the comments box below put it into a context make it personal to you and really help develop
your english language to a much higher level now if you would like to learn more expressions like
these whether phrasal verbs idiomatic and of course proverbs then do make sure you follow us
on instagram you can check us out there we've got plenty of reels and more english for you to study
and of course you can find us on facebook and our website www.loveenglish.com uk right on with the
lesson 10 proverbs that you can use in day to day english to help you immerse yourself in the
language become more aware of the english culture and of course hopefully give some great advice
right number one nothing ventured nothing gained nothing ventured nothing gained now
think of venture coming from the word adventure and you might start to understand this proverb
essentially if you don't try to do something you won't know if you can achieve it or benefit from
it as an example oh i really don't know whether i should bother applying for that job i don't
think i have enough experience come on nothing ventured nothing gained you can only do your best
number two out of the frying pan and into the fire out of the frying pan and into the fire
this is a particularly i think more advanced and you might find it a bit of a challenge to use but
keep going bear with me and see if you're able to understand this out of the frying pan and
into the fire essentially means going from one problem to another and in fact the problem the
next problem that you go to is usually bigger worse than the original basically by your own
effort you've gone from one bad situation to another but the other is much worse
now an example of this could be relationships you might have a boyfriend or a girlfriend who you're
not very happy with so you break up with them and then you start a new relationship except
this relationship is actually not very nice maybe the person doesn't treat you very well
or is never around but basically the relationship you find yourself in is even worse than the one
you had previously and ended so someone might say to you well out of the frying pan and into the
fire or it could even be in a work situation maybe you've quit your job you weren't happy there and
you go to find another job you start that job and you find actually this job is much worse your boss
is much more bossy your colleagues are really lazy and you're really really not happy in this new job
out of the frying pan and into the fire so you have made a choice to make a bad situation
even worse number three don't look a gift horse in the mouth don't look a gift horse in the mouth
sounds weird yes these next two are particularly strange because they're related to horses and it
sounds a little bit odd but you'll get the idea in just a second basically don't question good luck
don't find fault with something where someone has offered you a gift or a favor to help you
as an example perhaps you are desperate to get to the airport but don't know how
you need a lift or you need to get the coach or the train and someone offers to give you
a lift hey i'm going to london on that day why don't i take you to the airport
wow well i'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth thank you my teacher gave me the option of
having an extension on my essay well i wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth was i
number four another horsey proverb perhaps one that you've heard before you can lead a horse to
water but you can't make it drink now often we would just shorten this down because we know it
so well and say well you can lead a horse to water but when we use this whether in the short form or
the longer form you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink you're essentially saying
you can guide someone you can give them all the support and advice that they could possibly need
but it doesn't mean they are going to take it or accept it or make the right decisions
you can give them a chance but it is their choice to take it honestly i have done everything i
possibly can to help my students through the exam but still some of them aren't turning up to lessen
you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink number five is a great proverb and i
think it's actually one of my favorite because my grandmother uses it so much and it's such
a good piece of advice we'll cross that bridge when we come to it or you can cross that bridge
when you come to it basically don't fret and worry about a problem until it's actually
there until there really is a problem to worry about and at that point
you'll find a solution a bridge to get across the problem so as an example i'm really worried
i'm not going to pass my exams and i won't get into university what am i going to do
really why don't we just cross that bridge when we come to it if you don't pass the exam
we'll find a solution there might be another way around another university to go to or perhaps you
can have a retake on the exam but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it is saying wait there
isn't a problem just yet let's see what happens until we need to actually find a solution for that
problem that doesn't exist quite yet number six the straw that broke the camel's back or it was
the straw that broke the camel's back or we could even shorten this down to it was the last straw in
this case we're saying there is a limit to what i can handle what i can tolerate what i can manage
you may be dealing with screaming children all day or difficult colleagues at work perhaps
you are trying your best to find solutions for everybody but still it keeps coming the problems
keep mounting and eventually you snap you have enough you go crazy you lose your temper or
you simply want to walk away it is the straw that broke the camel's back we have a limit
for example you might be working really hard in the office trying to get a presentation ready and
someone keeps letting you down eventually they call up again and say they're late
and that's it it's the straw that breaks the camel's back you've had it up to here another
expression for you and you might tell them look you're being unreliable you're not helping
come on this is the last straw meaning this is as much as i can tolerate this can be used in
so many different situations in life and often is used by people to tell others that they're
essentially they can't cope with any more that they won't manage to deal with any more of these
problems or this behavior that's the last straw the children were screaming and shouting all day
and then they decided to spill all the food over the table it was the straw that broke the camel's
back i just had to shout and scream at them i didn't know what else to do when you want to be
determined or you want to encourage someone else to be determined you could say where there's a
will there's a way where there's a will there's a way now in this case we're using will not as
a modal verb but we're actually referring to our own will our ability our strength that we have to
keep going to do something that is what we're referring to when we talk about our will it's
actually a noun in this context it's your strength your determination to do something you can refer
to someone as being strong-willed when they're very stubborn maybe or determined so where
there's a will there's a way it means basically if you're determined if you want to do something you
can and you can achieve it how can we convince her this is the best option for the business
i'm really not sure she's going to listen come on where there's a will there's a way i'm sure we can
convince her number eight better late than never better late than never this is actually quite
optimistic i suppose it's trying to see things in a more positive light so even if something has
happened transpired later than you would have liked then it's good it's it's still there it
still happened as an example it might be that you think someone's forgotten your birthday but they
send you a text message at the last minute 11 30 and you say oh well better late than never
so you're saying you know you've told me and at least you've remembered happy birthday now this
isn't always the case obviously if you're handing in essays past the deadline better late than never
not necessarily true because you could be losing marks but your teacher still might say better late
than never you'll lose some marks but you won't fail the essay as an example number nine beggars
can't be choosers beggars can't be choosers now a beggar is usually when we refer to somebody on
the street asking for money who are homeless not particularly nice in this case we're not actually
referring to homeless people we're referring to when you're kind of desperate for something as
an example i might want to go on holiday because i haven't been on holiday for such a long time
and all my husband books is a staycation down the road in an old hotel i might say well
beggars can't be choosers i need to go on holiday i need a break and it's better than nothing or
perhaps you need to borrow money from your mom and dad and you ask them for 100 euros and they
can only give you 50. well again beggars can't be choosers better than nothing you need the money to
go on holiday or pay for some clothes beggars can't be choosers you can take what you can get
and number 10 actions speak louder than words actions speak louder than words meaning it's
all very well saying i'm sorry or i love you but unless you actually act in a way to show this
or change your behavior if you have done something wrong actions speak louder than words just saying
these things but continuing with the same behavior really doesn't make a big difference
so as an example i'm really sorry i promise i'm going to do the washing up every day from now on
well actions speak louder than words i'd like to see you actually do it first so there we have it
10 proverbs that i hope you'll be able to use daily in english now i'm sure many of these you
might have already known or perhaps there are a few that i didn't mention that you do know so
comment below and share those proverbs and indeed why not share one or two from your language
perhaps you have something similar to express
similar things that i've discussed in this lesson proverbs are a great way to understand a language
and culture and i highly recommend you take more time to learn even more proverbs in english
to boost your language fluency thank you so much for watching i hope to see you very soon
with lots of lessons from love english and remember nothing ventured nothing gained