Hi everyone! And welcome to another video in our series of English expressions
that will impress the native speakers you talk to.
Anyone who has ever tried to learn a foreign language knows that
there are times when you just don't understand,
and in English, the expression that most learners know to express this is, "What?"
Today, I want to tell you why it's an expression you should stop saying,
and give you lots of other vocabulary to use instead.
If you haven't already seen our video about how you need to stop saying "hello" and "goodbye,"
and diversify your vocabulary, be sure to watch that one right after you watch this.
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about learning English and other languages.
Back to today's topic. If you really want to impress the people you speak to
here are some more sophisticated expressions to use when what you really mean is... "What?"
"Say again?", "Say what?", "Pardon?"
"Come again?", "What's that?"
These are short and very easy to remember.
Just be sure to make your voice go up at the end to turn them into questions.
Otherwise, just saying "pardon" or "come again" in the middle of a conversation won't make much sense.
Something I personally say a lot when I don't hear someone very well
or can't understand them is, "Sorry?"
Some of my non-American friends make fun of me for always apologizing
for things, even things that are not my fault.
But in this case it's a nice neutral way to tell someone that you don't understand.
Plus, I believe that it's always better to be too polite than not polite enough.
As a language learner you are probably already familiar with the phrase
"Could you repeat that?"
But a more idiomatic way to say the same thing is:
"I didn't catch that" / "I missed that"
Now, if you understand the words but not their collective meaning, for example,
if someone used an idiomatic expression, or told a joke, or made a cultural reference
that you don't understand, two appropriate expressions in English are:
"I don't get it"
"I don't follow"
And finally, here are two more very polite ways to say "what?":
"Excuse me"
"I beg your pardon?"
Just be careful with these two. If you say them with the wrong tone of voice,
people may think that they have offended you, or made you mad.
Be sure to smile when you say them.
And lastly, two very casual, somewhat impolite ways to say, "What?"
that should only be used among friends and family are:
"Huh?" / "Hm?"
And if you forget all of these expressions, which I hope you won't,
your body language – a quizzical look or a tilt of your head – can also help you express the same idea.
But to make sure you do remember these during your next conversation,
add a few of these expressions as flashcards to your MosaLingua learning stack
and memorize them with our Spaced Repetition System.
By the way, now that I've given you lots of alternatives to saying, "What?"
you might be wondering what the problem with saying "what" is...
After all, it's direct and it gets the message across that you did not understand.
First off, I want to emphasize that saying "what" is better than not saying anything at all.
You might feel like you're inconveniencing the person you're speaking to
by admitting that you didn't understand and asking them to repeat themselves.
But don't be shy! If you just smile and pretend like you understood,
you might run into trouble later on in the conversation.
Plus, you'll miss out on a learning opportunity. So, it's best to be honest.
And if "what" is the only expression you know, it's okay to say it!
However, "what" is very blunt.
It's not the most polite and, depending on who you're talking to, it could be taken the wrong way.
That's all for today!
I'll see you next time!
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