Hi guys, welcome back to www.engvid.com , my name's Benjamin, and this is a lesson aimed
at those of you towards the beginning of your journey in English.
Now, a couple of years ago, I went to go and live in Spain, and when I arrived, I knew
no Spanish, and it was very frustrating for me, wanting to join in conversations and not
being able to talk.
So, the purpose of this lesson is just to equip you, to give you some really basic words
and phrases in different contexts that will just help you to join in, to start a conversation
if you don't know very much at all, okay?
So, and just something to add, I think by putting yourself in those situations where
you have to speak English is the best way of making progress, because me, when I went
to a - to go live in a Spanish home, I had to speak Spanish, and that meant that my language
got much quicker in a short period of time, so do find opportunities where you have no
choice but to speak English.
Okay, so we're going to be looking at how to congratulate, how to welcome, how to go,
how to go "thanks", how to go "oh, poor you", we have a few more phrases that are going
to be on the next board, and I am going to test you on this, so make sure you're listening
carefully, okay?
Right.
Congratulate.
When someone does something good, you could say "Congratulations!", yep, so we say it
like we're - we have a smile on our face when we're saying it, congratulations!
It's a happy sound, it's a happy word, so let's say it like that.
In British English, we often say "Cheers!".
Now, we say cheers - maybe someone, you've got some drinks out.
Cheers, nice to see you again.
So typically, you would say that at the beginning of the meal, but it's the host who really
should mean that.
We don't say cheers all of the time.
In formal English, some people say "Cheers" to mean "Thank you", but you don't have to.
It's just good to be aware.
Other ways of saying "congratulations", you could just say "Well done, you, that's amazing",
Well done.
Well done you.
Or, "That's fantastic news!", that's fantastic news, and you could link it to this, well
done you, okay?
Four ways.
This is slightly different because it's in the group context and you're saying - it's
more of a toast than saying "well done", okay?
If a friend comes to your house, you might say "Make yourself at home".
And what that really means is, you know, please feel comfortable, if you want to take your
shoes off, you can.
If you want to lie on the sofa, the settee, the couch, you can.
Make yourself at home, feel at home.
In Spanish: Mi casa es tu casa.
You know, if you want a drink, go and get a drink if you really want one, okay?
Help yourself.
So, maybe your friend is sitting down, and you put some drinks and some food on the table
and you say, "Help yourself", yep, so they take the food and put it on their plate.
They decide how much they want.
Help yourself.
Okay, if you're going out to a restaurant and you want to pay for the person you're
with, you can say "It's on me", yep.
I always like it when I hear that: it's on me.
It means I am going to pay, okay.
It's on me.
Right.
If - we have said, let's go back to this one.
Let's pretend it's a nice cake that you've made and you've said, "Help yourself" to your
friend and they're like "Ooh, I don't know how much to take, should I take a small bit
a big bit?"
You say, "Go for it, go on, have a nice big helping!", so "Go for it" is like encouraging
them to eat a decent amount.
So, when we are all sitting down and we have our food in front of us, you could say "Dig
in!", rather than digging with a spade, you're going to dig with a knife and fork, yep, begin
eating.
Dig and put, dig and put in your mouth.
So, dig in means begin.
I know in French, you have the phrase "Bon appetit", and different languages have an
actual phrase, but "Enjoy your meal" doesn't sound great in English, so I would favor "Dig
in".
Okay?
Whoops!
Whoops is a sound when something has gone wrong.
Whoops.
So, if something does go wrong, you could say "Excuse me, I'm so sorry".
Yep, so we can link these two together, excuse me, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to.
I'll write that down too: I didn't mean to, yep.
So, mean to do something, it was not my intention to pour red wine all over your top.
I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to.
And what does your friend say?
They say "Oh, don't worry, I don't mind."
They probably do mind, but they're being polite.
Don't worry, please don't worry, okay?
So, if this happens to you, then you could say these two.
We get to a door, yep.
It should always be ladies first going through a door, in British culture, anyway.
So, if you want someone to go in front of you, yep, you can hold the door and you say,
"After you", yep, after you.
Thanks.
If someone says "Thanks" to you, then you can be like "Ah, don't mention it."
Mention, to say it, to repeat it, don't mention it, it's fine, I always do this, I like to
cook for my friends.
"Not at all", yep, means the same thing, it's fine, not a problem.
It's not a problem.
Okay.
We're going to look now at how to commiserate, commiserate means if something really bad
happened to your friend or partner or colleague, what do you say to them to help to cheer them
up?
To commiserate, you could say "Bad luck", the way we say it, it shows that we feel sad
for them.
"I'm so sorry", yep, the voice is going down as we say it, woo.
"That's terrible".
You could say all of them together.
You could say "Bad luck, I'm so sorry, that's terrible.", and now you could add a little
word here for emphasis just like we have "so" here, you could say "That's such", that's
going in here, "That's such terrible news".
News, yes, news we watch on television when there are big events like earthquakes and
volcano eruptions, but we also have personal news.
So, your friend might say to you "What's your news", or "What's new?", it's like, what's
happening?
So, if your pet dies, then that is sad or terrible news.
Okay?
Now, if your friend offers to help you, how are you going to reply?
If you want to say yes, you could say "Oh yes please, that would be great!" or you could
just say "Could you?"
So, let's pretend that your friend offers to buy you a drink, you could say "Ah, yes
please, that would be great", or "Could you?"
Yeah, it means yes please, I'd love that.
Now, if you're asking, you can also use "Could you" to ask an actual question, so you could
say "Could you buy me a drink, and I'll get you one next week?"
So, if it's just "Could you?", it's like yeah, please!
But if it's "Could you ...", then you are asking the question, you are asking the favor.
So, your friend says, "Would you like me to buy you a coffee?"
"Oh, that sounds good", or "That sound great!".
Yes, please!
Good or great.
Okay, we're going to have a little bit of practice now, wondering if you can remember
what I've taught you.
So, you're walking down a corridor and here is a person who you work with and it's quite
a narrow doorway, what are you going to say?
"After you", absolutely.
You go for lunch at your friend's house, your friend offers to drive your in their car,
to give you a lift to the station.
You say, yeah, you say one of these: Could you?
That would be great.
Or Yes, please, that would be fantastic, yep.
So, fantastic you could have there, too.
Your friend has just been dumped.
I've got a video on things about being dumped if you want to watch it.
Your friend has been dumped, that's when the relationship has ended.
Sad news - commiserate, yep.
Bad luck, yep, such terrible news.
And in that video I just mentioned, you'll learn phrases like "Plenty more fish in the
sea", meaning life isn't over.
Life ain't over.
Your friend arrives at your house.
You say, "Make yourself at home".
Your partner gets a job, you say "Well done!
That's fantastic!" okay?
You're going to carry on with this learning now by doing the quiz, if you have time, and
if this is the first time you've watched one of my videos, please make sure you're a subscriber.
Well done, and hope to see you again very soon.