hello everyone welcome to idiom 100
where we learn 100 commonly used idioms
by native English speakers
all of the explanations are in English
so it might be challenging for you but
just try to imagine the meanings in your
head and study hard and soon you'll be
able to use these idioms in your
conversations
is everyone ready let's begin hello
everyone welcome back today's idiom is
make heads or tails count to make heads
or tails
alright so in this idiom can't make
heads or tails heads okay this is your
head and what about a tail a tail is
something a dog or a horse an animal has
the tail is the hair at the back of the
animal heads or tails alright so let's
imagine a little girl draws a picture of
a dog okay but the girl is only three
years old so she's not a good artist and
she draws a picture oh it's a dog and
you look at the picture oh it's a dog
okay where's the head where's the tail I
don't know I can't make heads or tails
of it right I really don't understand
this picture I can't make heads or tails
of it head tail leg foot I don't know
all right so let's keep this image in
our head and listen to some examples
thank you for the email but I can't make
heads or tails of the contents what did
you want to write oh I'm sorry I wrote
that in Japanese I'll rewrite it in
English and send it to you all right so
she wrote an email in Japanese and the
other person
didn't know Japanese so what does it say
I can't make heads or tails of it I
don't understand it
alright the next example why didn't you
help that man well he needed directions
but he only spoke German so I couldn't
make heads or tails of what he said all
right so she doesn't speak German and he
was speaking German so she couldn't make
heads or tails of what he was saying
all right so this idiom making heads or
tails or can't make heads or tails means
that you don't understand something yeah
it makes no sense and you don't have any
idea what it means all right so maybe
someone is speaking in a foreign
language or the situation is very
confusing yeah maybe you are you went to
Ikea you went to Ikea and you bought a
big cabinet and it comes in small parts
with many screws and bolts and you don't
know how to put it together so you're
reading the manual the book yeah and it
tells you how to put the Shelf together
but I don't understand the manual what
what should i do first what how do I do
this yeah I can't make heads or tails of
this manual and this shelf how to do it
I can't make heads or tails of it okay
so if you're in a situation when you
don't understand at all you can say you
can't make heads or tails of it and will
understand that you don't understand all
right
and I'll see you next time
you