Australian English phrases that you can use every single day in all kinds of
everyday situations to sound much more like a native English speaker.
Before we get into it, guys, if you want to get today's episode as a worksheet that you can
download as a PDF, you can print it out and you can obviously study later
on, make sure that you go in the description below and click the link and follow those
instructions. All right.
So, let's get into it, guys.
Number one, the expression, "are you kidding?
Are you kidding?" The expression, "are you kidding?"
Is used when someone says something surprising.
Well, that seems as if it could not be serious or true.
So, for example, someone might tell you, I just won a million dollars.
And you might be like, "are you kidding?
Are you kidding? Are you joking?
Are you serious?
Is that true? Are you kidding?
" You could say this to show that you are, you know, kind of shocked and surprised, but happy.
"Are you kidding?"
But you could also use this in a kind of sarcastic, I don't believe you kind
of tone or way.
Right. "Are you kidding?
You're kidding?" Another example might be, you know that famous actor that you love
? Yeah. He kind of kicked the bucket.
He died. "You're kidding?
Are you kidding? Are you kidding?
Are you serious? Are you joking?
I hope that's not true. Are you kidding?"
Some synonyms for this phrase, "are you kidding?
" Include, "are you joking?
Are you serious?
For real? Are you for real?
And even fair dinkum.
Fair dinkum." That's a good Aussie slang term for you to use.
"Fair dinkum. Are you serious?
Are you kidding? Fair dinkum." I might add here, too, you may hear reductions of
the expression "are you kidding?" Where you may just hear this contracted to, "you kidding
? You're kidding?
You're kidding?" And we can also do this when it's not inverted.
"You are kidding?" Like, "you are kidding?
You are kidding? That can't be true.
You are kidding?" So, you could say, are you kidding?
You are kidding?
Or you're kidding?
You are kidding?"
Number two, "as if,
as if".
"As if" is a little phrase here that can be used to show disbelief.
Right. To show that you don't believe something is true, that you doubt something.
And I think it would be from the literal construction of "as
if that would be the case" or "as if that is true".
So, we can just shorten that to "as if".
So, for example, someone runs up to you one day and is like, mate, I
just bought a Ferrari.
I bought a Ferrari. And you're thinking this person can definitely not afford a
Ferrari, so you might say, "as if.
As if. As if you bought a Ferrari.
As if. As if that's true.
As if you bought a Ferrari." Another one might be that you go to work one day, and your boss comes
in and says, I'm giving you a raise, I'm going to increase your salary by
100%. So, you're going to make twice as much as you previously did.
If you don't believe them or, you know, you're kind of shocked and surprised, you might be like, "as
if. As if that's true.
That can't be true. As if.
As if." We can also use "as if" at the front of statements
to introduce something that we're doubtful of.
So, for example, "as if I don't like chocolate.
Right. As if I don't like chocolate.
" So, if someone said to you, Pete doesn't like chocolate.
I might say, "as if I didn't like chocolate.
Everyone likes chocolate, as if I don't like chocolate." Another one might be if someone says,
ah, Pete would never want to live in Melbourne.
If I absolutely love Melbourne, I think Melbourne is great and I would definitely love to live
there, I'd be like, "as if I don't want to live in Melbourne.
Why would I not want to live in Melbourne?
As if.
As if. I would love to live there."
Number three, "that's epic, that's epic
." We can use "that's epic" to show shock and surprise that something is
awesome. Something is incredible.
"Wow, that is epic." So, someone might say, I've just
graduated from university.
I spent six years there studying to become an architect and I just
graduated. If you are incredibly enthusiastic and happy and elated
for that person, you might say to them, "mate, that's frickin awesome.
That is epic.
That's epic, dude.
I'm so happy for you.
That's epic." Another one might be that you're really impressed that your
mate's grandmother has just turned 110 years old.
Right. She's 110 years old.
So, he comes and tells you, mate, my nana just turned 110.
You to show that you're shocked, surprised, impressed, might say, "mate, that's
epic. That is insane.
It's phenomenal. That's epic.
" Some synonyms for the phrase "that's epic" might include, "that's awesome.
That rocks. That's great.
That's phenomenal. That's incredible.
" And we can also reduce this to just, "epic".
Right. We can have the "that's epic" little phrase there turn into
just "epic".
So, you know, you might tell someone I went to the surfing competition at Bells Beach
recently and it was just insane.
I wish you could have been there because this guy did like two flips in the air and then landed on
the wave and won.
I'd be like, "epic.
Epic. That sounds epic.
Epic. Awesome.
Incredible. Great."
All right. Number four, this is a common one.
"No worries.
No worries. No worries." This is a very, very
Australian way of saying, "not to worry.
Not a problem.
All good. There's no issue.
" Right. So, maybe you get to work late one day, and you apologise to your boss
, you say, oh, mate. Sorry I'm late.
He might say, "no worries, dude.
Don't worry about it, it's not a problem.
Not to worry. No worries.
" Another example might be your moving house and you've asked your neighbours to give you a hand
because, you know, you're mates with them.
So, they come over, they help you pack all the stuff up into the truck.
You move to the new house, they unpack with you, and you say, thanks so much.
I really appreciate all the help.
And they say, "no worries.
No worries at all, mate. Our pleasure.
No worries."
Some synonyms for no worries include, "all good.
No problem.
You're welcome. And even no wukkas", which has a very
interesting history of itself because it is a contraction of no fucking
worries which got contracted to no wucking forries and
then no wukkers.
Okay, that's an interesting one.
I learnt that in the early 2000s.
Weird. I should also mention that Australians will use "no worries"
sarcastically when they mean the complete opposite.
Right. So, a great example of this that my wife has noticed is that when we're driving in
the car, if we're driving along and someone cuts me off or does
something wrong, you know, breaks the road rules and it irritates me, I might
say, "oh, yeah, no worries, mate.
" You know, like it was a problem.
It was an issue. You should be worried.
But I'm being sarcastic and saying, "oh, yeah, no worries.
No worries, mate. Yeah, go ahead.
Just pull in front of me, steal my parking spot.
No worries. No worries."
Number five, "tough luck, tough
luck." This is used in Australian English to mean "too bad.
Deal with it, I don't care.
What a shame." So, it can be used to show empathy, but it can also be used in a kind of
rough, rude, blunt manner.
Okay. "Tough luck.
Deal with it." I lost a $1,000 at the casino last night.
"Damn tough luck."
So, that's kind of like, "man, that sucks for you.
Right. That's horrible. You had bad luck.
You had tough luck.
You know, I'm sorry to hear that.
Tough luck." But you could also use this in a nasty way.
Right. Like, so the person went to the casino and lost a $1,000 and you say, "haha, tough
luck." You know, kind of like, "sucks to be you.
Deal with it. Too bad.
Haha."
Another example might be that you're a little kid and you've asked your mum for some money to go to
the movies. You know, you said, mum, can I have 20 bucks to go to the movies?
I want to see Wolverine or something.
And she says, "no, tough luck.
You know, I'm not just giving you money.
I'm not just forking out money so that you can do whatever you want.
Did you do some chores?
Where's your money from all of the housework that you normally do?
Right. Where's your pocket money?
You spent it, didn't you. On lollies, didn't you, mate?
Every single week you spend the money on lollies, then you come to me and you're asking me for more
money so that you can go to the movies and buy more lollies for yourself.
This is ridiculous. Tough luck.
Stiff. Deal with it.
You'll have to wait until next week.
We'll make you mow the lawn and then we'll give you, you know, ten bucks or twenty bucks and you can
go to the movies then. But now, tough luck." That was a bit of a rant.
Bit of a rant. All right.
Number six, "catch ya.
Catch ya.
" So, this is short for "catch you later, I will catch you later,
which we use for goodbye, or I will see you later.
" So, synonyms include "goodbye.
See you later. See ya.
Catch you later. I'll catch you later.
" But the most common sort of contraction here, the short version is just "catch ya.
Catch ya." Same as see ya.
See ya. The interesting thing here too, the same with see ya, is that we can use this
with people that we plan to see later that day.
You know, if you go to your mates house and you've got to leave, but you're going to
see him that night at a different party, you might say, "oh, I'll catch you later.
Right. Catch ya.
See ya." But if you meet someone for the first time in the street, you know,
for whatever reason, you're chatting to them.
And then at the end of the conversation, you say goodbye, but you never plan to see them
again, you could still say "catch ya or catch you later or see you, see you later",
even though you never plan to see them again.
Right. So, "catch ya" is a great way of saying goodbye in Australian
English. All right, guys, so we're a little over halfway through.
I want to pause the video now.
I'm going to show you the phrases that we've already learnt.
And my challenge for you is to go down into the comments below and create your own little
scenario or example sentence using one of these phrases.
Right. Use it or lose it.
This is the best way to get it into your brain so that you remember it in the future.
Go down, make a comment with one of these phrases.
I'll give you a few seconds and then we'll keep going.
All right. Good job. Now it's time for number seven.
"Sorry. Sorry." "Sorry" is a really,
really good way of obviously apologising to someone, you know, "I'm sorry that happened.
Sorry." You know, I don't know.
You drove down the street, you ran over someone's cat, and you got out of the car and you're like,
"yeah, sorry." Although you'd probably be a bit more sincere than that.
But we can use "sorry" as a kind of quick way of saying, "pardon
? Or what did you say?
Or even could you please repeat that?" Right.
We can use it to show that we didn't understand something or that we didn't hear something.
So, a good example might be someone says, you know, you're sitting down in
a chair at the movies.
Someone comes by, and they say to you, is anyone sitting in this chair?
If you didn't hear them, you might lean over and say, "sorry.
Sorry." So, you want them to repeat.
And they'll say, is anyone sitting in this chair?
And you're like, yeah, mate.
My girlfriend is going to be sitting here, you know.
Bugger off. Maybe you're at a dinner party and you want someone to pass you the salt.
So, you say, hey, Pete, can you pass me the salt?
But the person doesn't really hear you and they say, "sorry." They want you to repeat what you
said. Can you pass me the salt?
Yeah, no worries. No worries.
We can also use this at the front of sentences to show that we're "sorry" that we didn't
hear something. Right. So, you could say, "sorry.
What did you say? Or sorry.
Could you please repeat that?
" Number eight, "what's going on
? What is going on?" Gets contracted down to "what's going on
?" And even in Australian English, "s'going on?
S'going on?" You can even-"scarnon", "scarnon", you can say "scarnon"
. "S'going on?" So, this is the great informal version of "how
are you?" In Australia English.
"What's going on?" This is like, "what's happening with you?
What's happening in your life?
What's going on in your life?
Right. Tell me your news.
" It can be a pleasantry where people meet and they're just saying hello and you
say to someone, "what's going on?
" And they just say, oh, you know, not much.
Bugger all. Not a lot.
But it can also be something that you use because you want to know more about that person's life.
Right. So, you might say to them, "so what's going on?
You know, what's going on with you?
What's up? What's the- What's your news?
What's going on? Tell me more.
" Remember when we reply to greetings that start with "what" like
, "what's going on?" The response is generally a
negated response.
Right. So, you're going to say, not much.
Not a lot.
Okay. "What's going on?" Not much, mate.
How are you? "What's going on?" Oh, nothing.
Nothing. Some synonyms include, "what's going on with you?
What's going on in your life?
What's happening? What have you been up to?
How are you? Hello?" You get the drift.
Number nine, "chugging along,
chugging along." So, this is like a train "chugging along", right.
Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug.
We use this generally when we're replying to the greeting, how are you
? Or how are you going?
Or how are you doing?
Right. So, it's a kind of cool, informal reply to how are you
going? When someone asks you, you know, how are you going with a
certain activity?
So, if someone came up to me and said, Pete, how's your Portuguese going?
I might say, "yeah, chugging along.
It's chugging along." If someone came over and they saw that I was working in my
garden, you know, digging up some plants, planting some trees, they might say, how's it
going?
Or how are you going?
How are you going? I might say, "yeah, chugging along."
You know, it's kind of like I'm continuing to do something in the same
way as before. Right.
Slow and steady.
It's the same as it was.
Same same. "Chugging along, doing okay, chugging along.
" So, someone might say to you, how's the new job?
"Yeah, chugging along. It's going okay.
Chugging along." How's your son?
He started doing swimming lessons, right?
Is he going okay? How's he going?
"Yeah, he's chugging along nicely.
He's doing well. He's going well."
Number ten, "I'm wrecked.
Oh, I am wrecked.
" This is Australian slang for I am tired.
It is an informal way of saying "you're really tired.
You are wrecked." Right.
Synonyms might include, "your stuffed.
Your cactus. Your buggered.
You are fatigued.
You're tired. I am absolutely wrecked, mate.
" So, imagine that you've been at work all day digging holes, you know, or doing some
labour. You get home and "you are wrecked".
You go to a gym to work out, after your gym session if you've worked out really
hard, you are probably "going to be wrecked.
I am wrecked. So wrecked.
" I need to recuperate.
I need a rest. Number eleven, guys, the very
last one here for you is "I'm 'onna a bail.
I'm going to bail.
I'm 'onna bail." Did you notice how I contracted "I'm going to"?
I'm 'onna, I'm 'onna.
So, we used "to bail" in Australian English to mean to leave.
To leave usually a social event.
"I'm 'onna bail. I'm going to leave.
" So, imagine you go to a party, you're hanging out with your mates, you know, you're having some
drinks, you're getting to know other people.
But then, you know, you've got to leave.
It's seven o'clock, you've got to take the kids home, put them in bed.
You might go up to the person who's hosting the party and say, "it's been great, but I've got
to bail. I'm gonna bail.
I'm 'onna bail. Sorry, I've got to go.
I'm 'onna bail." Another one might be that, you know, you have a friend over
and you're having lunch together and then all of a sudden, he gets a phone call.
Something's happened and he's like, "I can't explain.
I've got to bail. I'm going to bail.
I'm going to leave. Right.
I've got to go. I'm going to leave.
I'm 'onna bail." So, there you go, guys.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
I hope you learned something new.
Make sure that you use these expressions in English so that you can sound much
more natural like a native speaker.
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Thanks for joining me, guys, and I'll see you next time.