Vanessa: "Come on." "Let's
go." "We don't want to be late." These are phrases that I say every day of my life,
and maybe you do too, but do you know how to say them in English? Well, today in this lesson,
you are going to learn 10 phrases that I say every day, and you probably can too.
Hi, I'm Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com, and like always, I have created a free PDF
worksheet with all of today's vocabulary expressions, definitions, sample sentences.
And at the bottom of the worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question,
so that you never forget what you've learned. You can click on the link in the description
to download this free PDF worksheet today. All right, let's get started at the beginning
of the day and go through these 10 expressions that you can use every day, just like I do.
Expression number one is "To whip up something to eat." This phrasal verb, "to whip up" implies a
fast action. When I whip up something to eat, that means that I'm doing it pretty quickly.
And why am I doing it quickly? Well, in the morning, I don't leave myself much time to
do all the things that I need to do. So when my kids say, "Mom, can you come look at this? Mom,
can you go over here?" I say, "Sorry, kids. I have to whip up something to eat first." I
need to quickly toast some bread, make some eggs. I need to whip up something to eat.
Expression number two. "Come on, let's go." I say this every day. Maybe you
do too in your own language. When we need to get somewhere in the morning, school or work,
well, if you have to gather other people, whether it's your husband or your kids, you probably say,
"Come on, let's go." Especially if you're the one who's ready first. If you're the one who
takes a long time, you might hear someone else say this to you. "Come on, let's go. Are you ready?"
The third expression that I use every day is "We don't want to be late." Or sometimes I say,
"I don't want to be late," because usually it's just me who cares about this. The kids
don't always care about it. But this is giving a reason for why you need to, "Come on. Let's go.
We don't want to be late." It's kind of rude to be late, isn't it? At least in American culture,
it's rude to be late. So it's a good motivator. Daily life expression number four is one that you
can use as you're driving your kids to school or if you're on your way to work. You can say,
"I'm stuck in traffic, but I'm on my way." This is letting the other person know, maybe your
child's teacher, maybe your boss, that you have an excuse. I'm stuck in traffic, but don't worry,
I'm not still at home lying in bed. I'm on my way. With family members, sometimes when we text,
we say "OMW," and this means on my way. This is a common abbreviated expression that if I
am at the store and I'm coming home, I might text my husband "OMW." That means on my way.
Daily life expression that I use almost every day is "I'm gonna run some errands." To run
some errands is a great fixed phrase that you can add to your vocabulary,
and it means doing necessary things like going to the grocery store, going to the post office,
going to the bank. "I'm gonna run some errands and then I need to pick up my kids from school."
Daily life expression number six is "I better run." Is this talking about having some physical
activity and running? No, this is talking about leaving. "I better run. I'm gonna be
late." So if you're chatting with a friend, maybe you're having some coffee together and
you realize it's almost three o'clock, I need to pick up my kids at three o'clock, you might say,
"I better run." And the word better here is not talking about a comparison, this is better than
this. Instead, this is a substitute for the word need. "I need to run." "I need to go." "I
better run." "I better go." Great expression that I use all the time, and you can too.
Daily life expression number seven, you can ask, "How was everyone's day?" This is something you
can ask your kids, you can ask your partner, you can ask, "How was everyone's day?" And our next
eighth expression is kind of a follow-up to that. You might ask, "What did you do today?
What did you do today?" If you ask kids this after school, "What did you do today?" they might just
say "Oh nothing." It's often good to ask a pointed question. So if you know something specific about
your child's day, it's better to ask that. For example, my son who's in first grade, his first
grade teacher gives each student a job for the day. So his job might be what they call energy
saver, and that means it's the person who turns off the lights when they leave the classroom. So
I might ask him, "How was Your day as energy saver? Did you turn off the Lights today?"
And he might say, "Yeah, and then I did ..." and then it kind of continues the conversation
a bit. Instead of asking, "What did you do today?" you can ask a more pointed question.
The ninth expression that I use every day is talking about dinner. When my husband and I
come together at the end of the day and we say, "What are we going to eat?" well, maybe one of
us will have a suggestion. I might say, "Well, I was thinking about making spaghetti. What do you
think ?" Here I'm asking him what's your opinion? What do you think? And if he says, "Nah, you know
what? I think I'm going to make a roast chicken," I might say, "Cool, great, go for it." You can ask
someone's opinion by saying, "What do you think?" And the 10th expression that I use every day is
"To start winding down." Here we have the phrasal verb to wind down. There is the opposite to wind
up, which we'll talk about in just a moment. But when you wind down, you're calming down.
You're trying to prepare for bed, prepare for the end of the day, and try to just calm your
mind. So what I often say to my kids is "All right everyone. Dinner's finished. It's time to
start winding down. We're going to take a bath. I'm going to read you some stories, and then
you're going to go to bed." We're trying to wind down, but sometimes what happens is the opposite.
After my kids take a bath, they just get this burst of energy. I don't know if this has ever
happened to you or to your kids in your house, where they just get wound up. This is the past
irregular tense. Here they get wound up. They get so much energy after a bath, and they're running
around like crazy. So I say," Hey, hey, hey guys. We're going to start winding down. Let's start
calming down your mind and your bodies and get ready for bed. It's time to start winding down."
Well, congratulations on leveling up your vocabulary with these 10 expressions that
I use every day. And now I hope you can too. Let me know in the comments, what time do you
start winding down? Do you start winding down around 8:00 PM or maybe it's at midnight that
you start to wind down and go to bed? Well, don't forget to download the free
PDF worksheet for today's lesson with all of these 10 expressions,
definitions and several sample sentences so that you can use them in your daily life too.
You can click on the link in the description to download that free PDF worksheet today. Well,
thank you so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for
a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching
this video next, where you will learn to think and speak in English about your daily routine,
including why you should never say "I put him to sleep," and instead, you should say,
"I put him to bed." Why is that? Well, I'll see you in that video to find out.