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5 MOST USEFUL English expressions that you didn’t learn at school!

You’ve been studying English a long time. You know you’re good, but then you visit an English-speaking country, and you’re like, I know my English is good; why don’t I understand you and you? I don’t understand you, you in the back, I don’t understand you. Well, we have a few English expressions which you probably didn’t learn in school, but we use all the time. So here are five really useful, really common English expressions.

Number one is “not fussed”/”not bothered”. What does it mean? You want to go for dinner and your friend says, where shall we go for dinner? Italian food, Thai food, what kind of food? And you want to say, everything sounds great. This is good. This is good. This is good. I have no preference. You could say, I’m not fussed. Usually we contract it to, not fussed. Pronunciation, that sounds like a “t”. Fussed, not facet, no, and eat the “t” so, not fussed, not fussed. Where do you want to go? not fussed or not bothered, not bothered, not fast. This is a super common way to say, I have no preference. Whatever you suggest, I’m happy with it. And personally, I am terrible at making decisions so I use that expression all the time. Where do you want to go? I’m not fussed. What do you want to do today Aly? I’m not bothered. You’re really not helpful. Hmm. This is basically every conversation I ever have with my friends.

Number two, fair enough. Pronunciation, be careful of that end “R”. Remember British English has linking “R”, so that end “R” sound links into the next word, fair enough, fair enough. Say with me, fair enough. When do we use it? We want to say, that’s acceptable, that’s okay, I accept that, that’s, that’s fine. It’s your birthday party but one friend cannot come. Why? Because they’re working. I mean it’s bad but… You’re not going to be angry with your friend for working, they have to work. So your response is going to be: That’s, that’s fair enough. You have to work, I understand, hmm. Now, the whole sentence is, that’s fair enough, but most commonly we lose that’s. You have to work? fair enough. So in arguments, this is a great way to stop an argument when you don’t want to continue arguing. Maybe you and another person have different opinions on religion, politics, whatever; you want to stop the argument. For example, I love Trupm. Very simply, you can say, You love Trump, fair enough, fair enough. This stops an argument because you’re saying okay, your, that’s your opinion, this is my opinion. You’re not going to change my mind. I’m not going to change your mind. Let’s stop, done.

The next one is to say, I suppose so. Commonly, we lose the I, we just say, suppose so. But in conversation, we speak fast so it sounds like, suppose so, yeah, suppose so. But what does it mean? One reason is when you agree to do something and you’re saying, hmm, I don’t see why not, why not, okay fine. For example, perhaps a young boy is saying to his mum, can we get some ice cream? And the mum wants to say, okay, why not, sure. Yeah, I suppose so. So maybe she doesn’t completely want to, but she’s also saying, I don’t see a reason why not. Remember you agree with something so it could be someone says something, oh, I think he’s a zombie and you want to say, hmm, yeah, I think that’s true; I think you’re right. You could say, Hmm, yeah, I suppose so, looks pretty zombie. Remember the pronunciation, the “u”, we usually drop it. Sounds more like, suppose, suppose, suppose so.

Next one, I’m afraid, Blah blah blah. Remember that, I’m afraid means I’m scared, yeah. But in another context, you can use it to say, in a polite way, I’m sorry, but Blah Blah. So it could be to refuse something it could be to give information which is, maybe bad news. If someone invites you to something, can you come to my party? But you want to say, ah, I’m so sorry, I can’t. Then you could say this, ah, I’m afraid, I can’t. The pronunciation, we’ve got the schwa, afraid, afraid, I’m afraid. I’m afraid, I can’t. Pronunciation, be very careful, I. Say with me, I can’t. I’m Afraid, I can’t. I’m afraid, I can’t. Remember of course in this context, I’m afraid means I’m sorry, not I’m scared. Now we’re missing a word here. I’m Afraid that I can’t but typically we don’t usually put “that”. We just say, I’m afraid, I can’t. I’m afraid, he can’t, she can’t. Or much more simple and more versatile, I’m afraid, not. I’m sorry, no. Do you want to come out tonight? I’m afraid, not.

Are you feeling super British now? Well, you should, after this fifth expression which is this, May as well or might as well. This expression is super super common, you definitely need to learn it. So what does it mean? How do we use it? You arrive at a party and the party is rubbish. There’s like one person you don’t like and the music is rubbish, and you’re thinking, oh if I had stayed at home that would have been better than here or at least no different; no more or less level of fun, then you can say this. Ah, I might as well have stayed at home. Pronunciation, eat the tea. I might as well, might as well. Say it with me, might as well. I might as well. Grammar, have stayed, we’ve got present perfect. That is because it’s a past action. To stay at home, that would be a past action so have stayed. And remember of course, you can say, I may as well, may as well have stayed at home. This also could be a response to a suggestion. When you want to say, well, there’s nothing better to do then you can also use this. Should we just, should we go home? He can say, yeah, might as well. Now, this is the short version, what’s the long version? We might as well go home. So notice in the previous example we said, I might as well have stayed at home. Have stayed because it’s a past action which was better. This action is a future action. Might as well go home, in the future. There’s no have, might as well go home. And that verb will not change whether it’s he/she/it, doesn’t matter. It’s always in the infinitive.

Now I did just say use it when there is nothing better to do. I don’t mean wow, there is nothing better to do. I don’t mean it like that. I mean it like this, well, nothing better to do. I can’t think of anything. Like that, so, so be careful, how you use it.

Try to use those expressions in the comments and in your real life. That’s how you’re going to learn. I’ll see you in the next class. See you later.