hi I'm Martin welcome to Oxford online
English in this lesson you can learn
some essential phrases to help you
understand native speakers and sound
more natural when you speak English when
you're talking to a native English
speaker you sometimes find they use
phrases and questions which you haven't
heard before
if you've learned English in classrooms
there are probably many simple but
important phrases that you aren't
familiar with will show you a few of
these useful phrases to help you
understand and speak to native English
speakers let's start with a question
what have you been up to have you heard
this question before what does it mean
how do you answer it I ask students this
question all the time and they never
know what it means
so how should you answer it what have
you been up to is like asking what have
you been doing recently it's a common
question after you say hello to someone
especially if you haven't seen that
person in some time for example hey I'm
writin one time no fee-fi good what have
you been up to oh not much just busy
with work and the usual things here are
some other answers you could give
someone asks you what have you been up
to and you could say I've just got back
from my holidays
I've been pretty lazy recently to be
honest I've been working so hard I
haven't had much time for anything what
about you what have you been up to
hey men what common phrases do your
students needs
actually I don't know I'd have to think
about it have you heard or seen the word
- no before it's a short form of don't
know I don't know means I don't know but
actually English has lots of these like
gonna four going to wanna 4 1 2 and so
on however where it's like gonna I
generally used in a sentence that makes
it easier to work out the meaning dono
can be used as a one-word answer in my
experience this can be confusing for
many non-native speakers for example if
you're coming to the wedding
hello what time is it do you know what
does hold are mean hello really okay
well Martin can't help me what about you
what does hold on mean have you heard
this before actually I do know hold on
means wait you might hear it on the
phone you call a company to ask a
question and you might hear can you hold
on for a moment please
this is like saying can you wait for a
moment
it's also common during conversation if
the person you're talking to says
something you don't understand or you
don't agree with you can say
to show this for example so you start by
multiplying the matrices together to get
your vectors hold on what does any of
that mean anyway I told them we'd be
there on Saturday morning hold on I
thought we said we were going on Sunday
you can see that you can use hold on to
interrupt someone else if they say
something you don't understand or that
you don't agree with it's a very useful
uncommon phrase all these teachings
making me thirsty want a cup of tea yeah
why as well if you ask someone a
question and they answer might as well
what are they saying to you might as
well means there's no reason to say no
so it's like saying yes or why not it
can also be used to say yes to something
when you don't feel enthusiastic for
example imagine you miss a train you
have to wait five hours for the next one
your friend asks you if you want to go
to the cinema you don't like the film
which your friend suggested and you
don't want to watch it but you have five
hours until your train and there's
nothing else to do so you say yeah might
as well might as well isn't always
negative like this though it can be used
to say yes to something you actually
want to do for example imagine you're
waiting for a bus your friend says why
don't we walk you think about it it's
not far
you don't know when the bus will come
and it's a beautiful sunny day so why
not you say yeah might as well I'm
getting kind of tired
we should take a five-minute break what
do you reckon we're only halfway we can
take a break later what do you reckon
you can have more than one meaning like
all of these phrases it's a very common
in spoken English first it can mean do
you agree for example our planes at 6:00
we need to be at the airport at 4:30 so
we should leave here at 2:00
what do you reckon here I make a
suggestion we need to leave at 2:00 and
I'm asking if you agree with my
suggestion or not you can also use what
do you reckon to ask what's your opinion
for example maybe I should quit and look
for a new job but I'm not sure what do
you reckon here I'm asking what you
think should I quit and look for a new
job or should I stay where I am I want
to know what you think what do you
reckon is almost always used as a fixed
phrase generally you don't add anything
after it can we have that break now in a
bit you're at work you ask you
to send you something she says yeah I'll
get it to you in a bit
what does she mean
in a bit means a short time later in our
example your colleague is saying to send
you what you need a short time later so
she's saying that she'll do it but not
right now you might also hear in a
little bit where else could you use this
phrase let's see some more examples
when will my computer be fixed we're
working on it now it should be done in a
bit can you come back in half an hour
want to go for dinner I'm not hungry
right now but we can go in a bit so
that's fixed
we'll meet at 6:00 yep see you in a bit
you can also use the phrase see you in a
bit to say goodbye to someone if you
know you're going to see them in the
near future
bad news Martin oh what's that
I don't think we'll have time for that
break oh come right I just asked me a
question do you remember what he said he
asked how come what is this
and how can you answer it asking how
come is like asking why the meaning is
the same however you can't use it in
every situation you can use how come to
ask why if someone tells you something
surprising disappointing or annoying did
you hear they canceled the wedding no
way how come you didn't get me anything
for my birthday
really how come I have to leave three
hours early today that's not easy how
come well we have one more useful phrase
to look at you've finished most of the
lesson how did you find it
this is another very common question
which is often misunderstood how did you
find it means what did you think it's
like asking did you like it you can use
this question to ask about many
different things for example how did you
find the film
I heard you started Aikido lessons how
are you finding it how have you found
the course so far you can see that you
can use this question in different times
and verb tenses so how can you answer
how did you find the film it was kind of
boring actually
I heard you started Aikido lessons are
you finding it really interesting I was
never interested in martial arts but
it's actually very fun have you found a
course so far it's challenging but very
useful so
how did you find this lesson if you want
more practice with these phrases make
sure you check out the full version of
this lesson on our website
oxfordonlineenglish.com you can find a
quiz to help you practise these phrases
as well as many other free English
lessons thanks for watching see you next
time