Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
You're invited to a party. Let's talk about it. Vanessa:
Oh, hey, are you free this weekend? We're going to have a party and I would love to hang out.
Huh? We're free. We don't cost anything. I want to hang out. Are we monkeys?
No. If you've ever been invited to a party in English, well, you've probably heard these words
before, but can you use them yourself? Do you know how they're used in real English conversations.
Well, never fear. Today, I would like to bring you in to a moment where I
invite two of my friends to my son's birthday party. You're going to see me give them a call,
invite them to his birthday party. And you're going to hear someone say no, and someone say yes,
and some of the important daily expressions that we use when declining an invitation and
when accepting an invitation. Like always, I've created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's
expressions, ideas, sample sentences. And you can answer Vanessa's challenge question at the bottom
of the free PDF worksheet. So click on the link in the description to download that worksheet today.
Never forget what you are about to learn. Vanessa:
Let's start by watching the clip of me inviting my brother-in-law,
Ben, to my son's birthday party. You're going to see me give him a call. You're going to hear his
responses and we're going to go over it expression by expression so that you can speak like this too.
All right. Let's watch the first clip and then I'll talk about it. Let's watch. All right. Let's
call Ben and see if he can come. Ben:
Hello? Vanessa:
Hi, Ben. This is Vanessa. Ben:
Oh, hey, Vanessa. Vanessa:
Hey, I was just calling because I was wondering if, by any chance, you are free on Saturday. We're
having a little birthday party for Freddie. Ben:
Oh, Freddie's birthday party. Yeah, let me check my schedule. Yeah, I think we're free. I can bring
the whole family. Vanessa:
You just heard me say, "I was wondering if by any chance, are you free on Saturday?" Here I'm
using a couple expressions to make this a little bit softer. "I was wondering if by any chance,
are you free on Saturday?" I didn't say, "Hey, are you free on Saturday?" I could
have said this. It would be direct. It would be fine. He's my brother-in-law. This is not
a professional invitation. This is just inviting someone from my family.
But instead I decided to make it a little bit more indirect. "I was wondering if by any chance,
are you free on Saturday?" Let's see how we can use by any chance in another context.
Vanessa: By any chance,
can I borrow $10? I forgot my wallet. So you're probably assuming that the other person has
$10 that you can borrow, but you want to be polite. You're a little bit hesitant to ask and
you want to just be kind about it. By any chance, can I borrow $10? I forgot my wallet. Thank you.
Vanessa: And next you heard Ben say this,
"Let me check my schedule." This is extremely common and it's pretty straightforward. So you can
just copy and paste this into your own vocabulary. If someone invites you to a coffee shop with them,
you could say, "Oh, I'd love to have coffee with you. Let me check my schedule,
but I think I am free tomorrow." Though you still want to check, but you kind of think,
"I'll probably be available. Let me check my schedule, but I think I will be free tomorrow."
You just heard me use the word free. And that's also what Ben used. He said, "I think we're free."
This is not talking about payment. You might say that item costs $5 and that item is free. This
is not what we're talking about. We're talking about available. I'm available, it's kind of a
professional way to say this, but you can just say it in daily conversation. I'm free. I'm available.
Vanessa: Let's watch the next
clip of my phone conversation where you're going to hear three lovely expressions. Let's watch.
Vanessa: Oh, great. Well, it's going to be
in the morning. I thought before nap time would probably be best. So it'll be 10:30 to noon-ish.
We'll probably have some lunch at the end. Ben:
Okay, that sounds great. We're open the whole day, so we'll be there.
Vanessa: When I was telling Ben the time of the party,
I said it'll be 10:30 to noon-ish. This little add-on, ish, is common in daily conversation
when we're talking about something approximate. You might say, "That shirt is red-ish." Maybe
it's kind of pink. Maybe it's kind of a slightly brownish red. It could be somewhere in between.
It's red-ish, but we often use this for time as well. The party will end at noon-ish.
If you want to leave early, it's okay. If you stay a little longer, it's okay, but this is the
general time for the party. 10:30 to noon-ish. Vanessa:
Then Ben said, "We're open the whole day." He's not talking about a business that's open. You can
also say this. If you are running a business and you say, "My shop or my business will be open the
whole day." That means customers can come and go, but he's not a business. He's just a guy.
So he said, "We are open the whole day." That means we are free. The expression we talked
about before, or we're available. We have nothing going on, nothing on the schedule,
nothing on our calendar. We are free the whole day. We're open the whole day.
Vanessa: And then he sealed the deal by saying, "We'll be
there." Great. This is an affirmative yes. "We'll be there." It kind of shows also that you're
committing to this. You're excited about this. "Oh, I'm so excited that you invited me to
your wedding. I'll be there. I feel so privileged that you asked me to be part of that special day.
I'll be there." A great phrase. Vanessa:
All right, let's go on to the next clip where we'll hear some more wonderful expressions and
then talk about them. Vanessa:
Cool, cool. And no pressure, you don't need to bring a present or anything. If you really want
to, Freddie loves food and snacks. You're welcome to bring him like a little snack, but no pressure
to bring presents. We'd just love to see you guys. Ben:
Okay, that sounds good. I might bring some donuts.
My favorite donut shop is down the road, but, you know.
Vanessa: Okay.
Ben: I won't bring too much.
Vanessa: Okay, well, more the merrier. And we'll be glad to
see you. Thanks so much for being able to come. Ben:
You're welcome. All right, see you later. Vanessa:
All right. See you Saturday. Bye. Ben:
Bye. Vanessa:
In this final clip of our conversation, you heard three wonderful phrases. You heard us say
this sentence, "No pressure, you don't need to bring a present or anything." No pressure.
Well, if you have ever been a parent who has been invited to many birthday parties for your
kids' friends, it can sometimes be a lot of pressure to choose a present, to always have a
present ready. And oh, you got invited to a party that's tomorrow. "Oh, I don't have a present."
This could be kind of stressful, but really the most important thing is that you are at the party.
Your presence is the most important present. So usually when I invite someone to one of my kids'
birthday parties, I say this, "Hey, no pressure, you don't need to bring a present. Just come to
the party. We'd love to see you." And sometimes people bring a present still and that's okay,
but it's not a requirement. No pressure. I just want you to come and enjoy yourself.
Vanessa: Sometimes for parties,
people ask, "Can I bring anything? Would you like me to bring anything?" Especially if it's like a
dinner party or something like that. So you might say, "Oh yes, please bring your own beer." BYOB,
we say. Or, "Please bring your own lawnchair because we're going to be sitting on the grass. I
don't have enough chairs. Just bring a lawnchair." Something simple like this. So I suggested you're
welcome to bring him, my son, a little snack or something. He loves food. So some people feel
a little bit weird about coming to a birthday party without a present. So I gave a suggestion,
bring him a little snack. He loves food. So a little snack is kind of the perfect present for
him. He will love it. No pressure. Vanessa:
The final phrase from my conversation with Ben is the more the merrier. Usually we use
this when talking about people. The more people that are at a party, the merrier or the happier,
the more joyful it will be. This is the same expression as Merry Christmas, the merrier it
will be. But in this conversation, we were talking about food. Ben suggested bringing some donuts as
a little gift or something to share with other people at the party. So we're talking about more
food. Oh, the more food, the more the merrier. Feel free to bring it. We'd love to have it.
Vanessa: Well, it doesn't always go so well
when you invite someone to a party, sometimes they can't come. They decline your invitation. We're
going to be watching a clip where I call my friend Lauren to invite her to Freddie's birthday party,
but she can't come. You're going to hear some different phrases and some polite ways to say,
"Sorry, I can't come." All right, let's watch the first clip of my conversation with her. And then
we'll break it down together. Vanessa:
All right. We are going to call my friend Lauren and invite her to Freddie's second birthday party.
Here goes. Lauren:
Hello? Vanessa:
Hi, Lauren. It's Vanessa. Lauren:
Hi, Vanessa. How are you today? Vanessa:
Oh, I'm doing well. I have some exciting news. That, as you know, Freddie's going to be two soon
and we're going to have a party. Lauren:
Oh, wonderful. Vanessa:
Yeah, so I wanted to invite you and see if you're free. It's going to be on
Saturday, 10:30 AM till like after lunchtime.
And yeah, are you free to come? Vanessa:
In this first clip where I invited Lauren to Freddie's birthday party, I started off by
using the expression here goes before I called her. I don't know about you, but I sometimes
feel a little bit nervous calling someone on the phone. It's not because I'm nervous to talk to my
friend. It's more that when I call them, I don't want to be interrupting whatever they're doing.
Nowadays with texting, it feels a little more serious to give someone a phone call. So I said,
"Here goes." If you're doing something that you feel a little bit nervous about, maybe you're
asking someone on a date, you might say, "Okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to ask her on
a date. Here goes." Oh, you're kind of preparing yourself to take some kind of risk and trying to
give yourself some courage. Here goes. Vanessa:
At the end of this clip, I asked her the question, "Are you free to come to Freddie's birthday party?
Are you free to come to Freddie's birthday party?" This is another way to invite someone to an event.
And we're using that same word free a lot, because this is what's most used in daily conversation.
Are you free to come next Saturday? Are you free this afternoon? Are you free next month? I was
thinking we could go to the beach together. Are you free? What a beautiful phrase. All right,
let's watch our next clip where you'll hear some more wonderful phrases.
Lauren: I would love to, however,
I will be working during that time. Vanessa:
Oh. Lauren:
Yeah. Where I work is open on Saturdays and in the morning, so unfortunately I'll be working
at that time. Vanessa:
Oh. Lauren:
But I would love to get together with you guys another time to celebrate Freddie's birthday.
Vanessa: You heard Lauren decline my invitation. She said,
"I would love to, however, I'm going to be working during that time." I would love to, but the moment
that you hear this phrase, especially that tone of voice, that kind of sad tone of voice. Oh, I would
love to, but I'm not free tomorrow afternoon. I would love to, but I'm really busy this week. I
would love to, but... This is a really polite way to decline an invitation. Sometimes when
we decline an invitation, we want to kind of show that, "Hey, I still want to see you. I still like
to hang out with you. So let's make alternative plans." And that's kind of what you heard Lauren
suggesting. She said this phrase, "But I would love to get together with you guys another time.
I would love to get together another time." This phrase to get together means just to see each
other, to hang out, to spend time together. Vanessa:
If you are trying to decline an invitation, but you want to create alternative plans,
you might say, "Hey, yeah, I would love to hang out tomorrow,
but I'm busy, but I would love to get together another time. Are you free on Thursday?" Okay,
you can solidify another time to see each other. Vanessa:
I must say that in the US, we sometimes don't have a great reputation for
following through. So if someone says, "Oh, I would love to get together, but I can't, but
maybe we can get together another time," and they don't make a specific plan, don't be disappointed
if they don't follow up and make another plan. Sometimes we just say this to be polite to show,
"Hey, I still like you. It's nothing personal. I just can't come to that event." So sometimes we
say, "Yeah, let's get together another time. Maybe over the summer, we can get together."
And if they never call you, don't worry. It's not personal. Sometimes this is kind of just part of
American culture. Vanessa:
Let's watch the final clip so that you can see how we conclude our conversation in some more
wonderful daily English expressions. Let's watch. Vanessa:
That sounds good. Yeah, I'm sure we'll see you probably sometime over the next week. And, yeah,
we can get together and have dinner. I mean, when you're a kid having multiple birthdays is
the norm. You celebrate all month. Lauren:
And also the dream. Vanessa:
Yeah, that's the dream. We want to keep celebrating birthdays again, and again, and again.
Well, sorry you can't come, but hopefully we'll see you
next week at some point. Lauren:
That would be lovely. Vanessa:
Okay. Well thanks so much. Have a good morning. Lauren:
Thank you, you guys too. And please tell Freddie happy birthday from Lauren.
Vanessa: I will. Thanks so much. Bye.
Lauren: You're welcome. Bye.
Vanessa: Oh, what a bummer.
Well, we see Lauren about once a week, once every other week. So I'm sure we'll have plenty of time
to celebrate, but bummer she can't come. To respond to Lauren I said, "That sounds good.
That sounds good." This simply means, "I agree. I think this is a great idea." You can also use this
in professional situations. If your boss says, "I'd like you to finish this report by 3:00 PM.
I know you're really busy. Do you think you can finish it by 3:00 PM?" You could say, "That sounds
good. I can do it." This is agreeing and saying, "Yes, this is something that I would like."
Vanessa: In this clip you heard me say a really polite
expression. "Sorry, you can't come. Sorry, you can't come." I'm not saying, "All right, Lauren
can't come. I'm excited." No, I want her to know that I wish she could come, but you know what? Our
friendship's not over. It's not the end of the world, but this is a polite thing to say when
someone declines an invitation. "Sorry you can't come, we'll miss you. Sorry you can't come..."
Or the next expression that we're about to talk about, "But hopefully we'll see you at some
point next week." At some point. We didn't make specific plans like, "I will see you on Tuesday."
Instead, I said at some point. Now, because Lauren is my close friend, I'm not trying to just say
something nice. Instead, we will see each other at some point next week, just over that phone call.
We didn't make a specific plan. I'm not being the American stereotype in that situation and pushing
her off. But this is a polite thing to say, "Hey, we'll get together at some point. Don't worry
about it. Enjoy what you've got going on." Vanessa:
And the final expression I said is, "What a bummer. Bummer she can't come." This expression,
what a bummer or just bummer, is a kind of casual or slang way to say,
"That's a shame." Now that's a shame is pretty strong. So in daily conversation for something
like this, that's kind of light. It's not too serious. You can say, "Oh, what a bummer. She
can't come." Let's look at these two phrases because I want to make sure you can use each of
these accurately grammatically. What a bummer that you can't come to Disney World with us.
Or, bummer that you can't come to Disney World with us. You can use just the word bummer,
or you can say what a bummer you can't come to Disney World with us. We'll miss you.
Vanessa: So by any chance, did you
learn how to accept and decline an invitation in English during today's lesson? I hope so. Don't
forget to download the free PDF worksheet that goes with today's lesson so that you can accept
and decline an invitation in English naturally and politely. There's a link in the description
so that you can download the PDF today. Vanessa:
And now I have a question for you. Are you free this weekend to come to my son's birthday
party? Let me know in the comments. You can accept or decline my invitation and you can
practice what you've learned today. Well, thank you so much for learning English with
me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
Vanessa: The next step is
to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master
today's lesson and never forget what you have learned. You can be a confident English speaker.
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.