Good morning, good afternoon and good evening! Welcome to Smashing English! Before we start
this video be sure to subscribe because we make new videos all the time and I don't
want you to miss any and we are really hoping to get to 115,000 subscribers
by the new year so come on help us out! So with that said let's get on with the video!
Hello my name's Bez and I'm Laura. Have you ever been in a situation where all you want to say
is I don't know? Did you know that there are loads of other ways you can say that? Luckily for you
we are going to give you lots of different ways of saying I don't know. When should
we start the video? Oh yeah I don't know! Let's start right now! Okay first up we have beats me
this is a phrase that's quite American but some British people use it as well and it just means
I don't know. your question it beats me. I can't win with this question. I've lost,
it- it's beaten me, I don't know. I don't know off the top of my head, off the top of
your head means without thinking deeply about it so without thinking too much I don't really know
maybe I would know if I thought about it quite a lot but right now in this moment I don't know.
Next up we have I can find out, this one has a bit more hope attached to it compared to I
don't know so if your boss asks you a question if you just say to them I don't know it seems quite
closed off and finished but if you say I can find out it's saying I don't know but I can find out
that's not the end of the story I can find it out. I have no clue or I have no idea
this one is pretty self-explanatory it just means I have no idea not even some clue that I can give
you we could also say I haven't got a clue or I haven't got an idea it's just another way of
saying it bye. I haven't got the faintest idea or I haven't got the foggiest idea so
the faintest idea and the foggiest idea are kind of the same thing so if you think of a faint idea
or a foggy idea it's like it's not clear I can't see it for certain so I don't even have a faint
idea I don't even have a foggy idea I have no idea no clue at all so this one is good if you
really want to exaggerate the fact that you don't know. Next up I'll get back to you on that one,
if you get back to somebody it basically means I will go away, check, find the answer,
then I will return to you and tell you what I know. If somebody asks you what times the film,
I'll get back to you on that one, I will go home check on my computer, oh the film is at 7:30.
Go back to you, go back to you, the film is at 7:30. Great, what film is it? Twilight.
Let me double check and I'll let you know! So we've kind of got two things here we've got
let me double check so if you do a double check you go and check again so you're just going to
make sure that something is correct before you tell them then we've got I'll let you know,
I will let you know it's more common than I will tell you if you let someone know this is
a really common phrase in Britain definitely, I'll let you know, I'll, I'll inform you later.
I've been wondering the same thing. So this uses the present perfect continuous
I have been wondering, wondering: what does that mean? Wondering means thinking,
thinking about something, trying to work it out, so the wondering started in the past
continued to the present and probably will continue in the future I have been wondering. Next
up we have another hopeful answer so instead of saying I don't know we can say I'll look into it,
I'll look into it is I will look into it, if we look into something we don't actually
look we research, we investigate, to look into means to research to investigate, to find out
more, so I'll look into it for you, I'll go and investigate. Here's the next one: search me,
this just means you can search me for an answer but you're not gonna find anything because I don't
know oh I said it! It's beyond me, it's beyond me, just means what you are asking is beyond my
knowledge it's- it's beyond it, I can't I can't do this, sorry I don't have the answer for you,
it is beyond what I can do. Your guess is as good as mine, if you don't know and you're guessing
thinking this, I don't know either so your guess is as good as mine, my guess is not going to be
better, we both don't know. Who knows? This one is very common and it doesn't have a lot of hope
attached to it it's literally saying who knows I don't know anyone who would know the answer to
that question, who knows? No idea! This next one is one of my favourites: haven't got a scooby.
This comes from a Cockney rhyming slang, in Cockney rhyming slang 'Scooby Doo'
means clue, so when we say I don't have a scooby, it means I don't have a clue,
remember before I haven't got a clue it's all connecting! Next up we have no clue or
no idea, these are more casual versions of I haven't got a clue or I haven't got an idea
we just shorten them and say no clue no idea it's very casual very common again it's it doesn't have
a lot of hope so if your boss asked you a question and you said no clue it seems a bit you know
hopeless. Next up: I wish I knew this one doesn't take a lot of explaining, it just means
I wish I knew as well you wish you knew the answer I wish I knew the answer we both wish
we knew the answer, let's go for the next one Laura! This one is a little bit sarcastic,
you're asking me! It's almost like saying you're asking me? It's like a question,
why why do you think I would know that? So again, this one is a bit of a
casual, it's a bit you wouldn't really say it to your to your boss or someone with authority
because it's like saying why do you think I would know that? You're asking me? Don't look at me...
Hey don't look at me stop! This just means don't look at me for the answer, maybe look at somebody
else for the answer maybe ask John, Bob, Simon, I don't know! You're asking the wrong person!
Again this is quite dismissive you are saying to that person straight away I am not the right
person to ask that I don't know you're asking the wrong person go ask someone else! So as always
context is key some of these phrases won't work in some situations and sometimes some of these
phrases are more appropriate in other situations but a lot of the time I don't know is absolutely
fine but it's good to expand your vocabulary so that you have lots of options! Thank you very very
much for watching! Thank you so much for watching, if you enjoyed this video please give it a like,
if you want to join in on our live English lessons there's a link down below, join the Superpeer,
join the Superpeer crew, we're going to have a great time! We also give one-to-one online
English lessons, me and my partner Bez and you can find the link to that down below as well!
Keep learning English you're doing great! Thank you so much for watching, I'll see you next time,
tata! Tata!