Would you like to learn some different ways to say I don't know to help you sound more fluent
natural and professional in English. Let's get started. First, let's talk about some everyday
ways that you can say. I don't know you can use these and more casual situations and professional
situations. So let's say your friend or co-worker asks you a random question like
how far away way is the Sun and you don't know the answer. How can you reply? The most popular
answer would be I have no idea and this is really to stress the fact that you have no knowledge on
the
topic. Remember, the question is, how far away is the sun? I have no idea. Now,
we can also shorten this and simply say, no idea.
I have no idea, no idea, another common answer is, I'm not sure,
I'm not sure. Now you can expand on this and you can say I'm not too sure. I'm not
too sure. I'm not too sure about that. That meaning the question I'm not too
sure
about how far away the sun is sure about that. Not
sure about what a fun one is simply to say who knows
Who no seriously. Who knows. Do you know, who knows?
You could say, your guess is as good as mine. It's implying that you also don't know the
answer. Your guess is as good as mine. Well, your guess is as good as mine. I created a free
lesson PDF that summarizes all the different ways to say. I don't know, you can look in
the description or the comment section for the link. Now, another one with the word guess is,
If I had to guess, I'd say so you're letting the person know that your answer could be
completely wrong. So how far away is the sun if I had to guess I'd say 100 million miles?
I don't know. Am I right? You let me know in the comments if I'm right. You could say. I
wish I knew that's an interesting piece of knowledge. I wish I know.
No, but I don't, I wish I knew, I wish I could help you. I wish I could help
you with that. I wish I could answer that for you, but I can't. I wish,
I knew Robin. I wish I knew you can also say I can help you with that one. I can't help
you with that question. You could say that's an interesting question, but and then use any of the
Russians. We just learned. That's an interesting question but I have no idea. You could also just
say I've never thought about that before, which is probably true a common way to
answer that question now is simply to take out your phone and say, hey Siri how far
away
is the sun? Hey, I was actually pretty close. It was 149 million miles away and I said,
Jared million miles and I completely guest. I'm pretty proud of that. So that's a great
way to answer. Just ask Siri, or Alexa, or whoever else. There are
two very common idioms that you can use. The first idiom is Beats me that beats me, but we commonly
get
rid of that. And simply say, beats me,
and that's the same as saying. I have no idea beats me. The other idiom
is
I haven't the slightest idea and the slightest is this much, the smallest amount
possible,
but you're saying, you don't even have that. So it's another way of saying I have no idea,
I haven't the slightest idea. Now, instead of
slightest,
you could say foggiest or faintest,
and it means the exact same thing. Or you can say I haven't, uh,
A clue which also means the same thing. So they're just slight
changes to the
same idiom and they're very commonly used
because I haven't the foggiest
idea why? I mean, look at me. Now, let's talk about some more professional Expressions that
you can use when you're asked a question, but you don't know that
answer. So let's say your boss asks, you how many units of a specific
product were sold last month?
You can reply back and say, when do you need to know by and your boss will likely say an hour,
two hours tomorrow next week and tell you when they need the information. Now,
if they say right now, I need it right now then you can reply back and say let
me get that for you, get that that being the answer the information or you could say let me
We find out, let me look into this instead of let me, you could also say, I will,
as a contraction, all I'll find out. I'll look into this. I'll let you know,
I'll get back to you. Another way to reply, is to say, I need to check something and then I'll
get back to you. So you're letting the person know that you just need to do something first instead.
You could say, I need to confirm something. I need to verify something. I need to look
into something and get back to you. You can also specify a specific time or date
when you'll have the information. Let me look into this and I'll get back
to you by 2:00 by the end of the day by tomorrow by next week and let the
The person? No, let me look into it now. If you do want to admit that,
you don't know the answer. Now, you could say something like, I'm not sure offhand. So offhand
is just an expression we use to mean right now. I'm not sure offhand, let me look into this and
I'll get back to you by 2:00. Does that work for you? And you can add, does that work for you too?
Clarify that getting back to them with the information by 2:00 is acceptable.
Your boss will likely say, sure, no problem, or they might say, no, no,
no, I have a meeting in ten minutes and I need this information. Well, then, of course you say,
no problem. I'll find out right now and get back to you in a few minutes. Well, of course,
by the deadline, your boss just told you now instead of saying, I'm not sure offhand, which
Again, is just an expression. I'm not sure offhand, you could say, I'm not sure off the
top of my head. So again, this is another way of just saying right now, off the top of my head,
I'm not sure. Let me find out and I'll email you the information in 10 minutes, so you could also
use in and a Time reference in 10 minutes, in an hour in 20 minutes or you could simply
Lycée ASAP. I'm not sure off the top of my head. Let me check and I'll get back to you
ASAP. That means as soon as possible you can also say ASAP there's two different ways to
say it ASAP or ASAP. They're both acceptable. I think ASAP is more common though. I'll get back
to you ASAP. Look into it, get back to you ASAP. Now you have all the Expressions, you
You need to say, I don't know, what was your favorite expression? Share that in the comments
below and you can keep expanding your vocabulary with this lesson and make sure you download this
free speaking guide where I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently,
you can get it from my website right here. So get started with your next lesson right now.