If you ask me, I'll tell you that you cannot learn natural English just by studying a textbook.
There's a phrase I'm going to teach you today, and I'm going to teach you 40 powerful phrases that I actually use in my everyday life.
In this lesson I'll teach you the phrase, I'll give you real life examples of using the phrase in a sentence and I'll give you some tips so that you can use it correctly in your life as well.
Let's study these 40 phrases together.
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Now, let's get started.
Let's start out with some phrases that will help you in the morning when you're getting out the door.
For me.
I use all of these phrases to talk about time, because I'm in charge of getting my kids to school on time and getting them out the door and dressed and everything.
So a lot of times I'm kind of rushing.
I'm trying not to stress, but I am rushing in the morning. to get everybody ready.
So let's start with some phrases that I actually use in the morning and you can as well.
The first phrase, I'm short on time.
Since we're short on time.
Master, we're short on time.
We're short on time.
A lot of times in the morning, I say I'm short on time or I say to my kids, we're short on time.
This is a polite way of saying we don't have enough time to do this thing right now.
We're short.
We don't have a lot of the time.
Sometimes my kids will ask me, can we read this book?
Can we do this in the morning?
But our job is to get out of the house on time to school.
As I say, we're short on time right now, but in the afternoon when we get home, we can do this.
We're short on time.
This phrase is polite when you're trying to tell someone that you just don't have enough time, especially at the moment, and you'll get back to the thing later.
Someone says hey, do you want to talk on the phone?
You say, I'm short on time right now.
I'll call you later.
Another example where you could use this phrase is if someone asks you if you can help them for a moment, you might say I'm actually short on time.
I'm trying to make it to a meeting at noon or whatever the time may be.
So it's again a really polite way to tell someone you don't have enough time to either help them or be with them or do something with them, and you'll do it with them, possibly later or later.
If you're just short on time in general, say, I'm short on time today.
I'm sorry.
I can't help.
It's more polite than just saying, I don't have time for you right now.
One of my favorite informal phrases that I tend to add to my sentences and my students always tend to notice this as well is, I say real quick.
Let me get your back real quick, Reg.
Let me get my Spotify on deck real quick.
Let's do this real quick.
So in the morning, I'll say, let me get ready real quick.
This means, you know, let me just get dressed, wash my face, brush my teeth, do all the normal morning tasks for myself.
But I add in real quick.
This means I'm going to try my best to do it in a time efficient, quick manner.
Real quick, real quick.
I say this all the time.
Oh, let me just look real quick.
This is a really like soft, polite way of saying, like you don't want to inconvenience someone by taking a lot of time and we're not explaining, you know?
Oh, I'm not trying to inconvenience you, whatever.
It's just a very polite thing that you can add on when you're not trying to inconvenience someone and you want to do something just quickly not to disturb them.
Like, oh, could I just watch you real quick?
Yes, okay.
So this phrase is added onto your sentences when you're asking to do something or observe something and you don't want to disrupt or take a lot of the person's time.
I'm gonna do it real quick.
Another example when you can use this is if you're not trying to make everyone late or delay everyone, you can say oh, I just need to go upstairs and grab something real quick.
I'll be right back.
This means I'm gonna try my best to do it quickly, to do it fast.
Instead of just saying we need to leave a really natural phrase that you can start using.
That I use is we need to head out.
We need to head out.
Major, we need to head out.
Ready to head out?
So to head out means to leave a place.
Oftentimes, if you're at a party and someone says, can you stay a little longer?
You might look at your watch and you'll say, we actually have to head out.
This means we have to leave.
You know, we have somewhere to be or we have some sort of time constricting thing going on.
Maybe it's almost bedtime for you.
Hey, I got to head out.
It's almost my bedtime.
It's just a really casual, nice conversational phrase that means to leave a lot of times.
Because my kids are so young, they don't really understand time very well.
I will set a timer and i'll say we need to head out when this timer goes off if we want to be on time, and this just helps remind them that this is the time that we're going to leave.
We're going to head out, so for time, we have a phrase when we are a little bit behind our schedule or we're just not at running on the time that we planned, we'll say we're running behind.
Yeah, we're running way behind.
We're running behind schedule or we can just say we're running behind.
This means we're going at a slow pace or we're going late to the schedule that we need to be on.
If you are the opposite, you're ahead of your schedule.
We'll say we're running ahead right now actually.
So this means we have some extra time.
A lot of times if you are organizing an event and there's a schedule for the event and someone might say, you know, there's this speaker.
We'll say, oh, we're running behind so we don't have time for questions right now.
Or we'll say, we're running ahead so we're going to take a short break.
This means we have extra time.
We're running behind or we're running ahead.
These are two really useful phrases for talking about being on a schedule or being on a time schedule.
Again, a lot of times my kids ask me to do little extra things in the morning.
Oh, can I have this?
Can I eat this?
And you know I always get them breakfast.
But I say oh, we're running behind today, so I can't make extra food, or we can't do this.
We're running behind.
One phrase that my kids hate when I use is, just give me two minutes.
Give me two minutes.
Give me two minutes.
Sit down.
Give me two minutes.
Give me two minutes.
A lot of times English speakers either say give me one second or give me two minutes, or give me one minute.
These phrases, we use a lot of these type of phrases to mean just give me a moment of time.
Be patient, please.
This is definitely not a literal phrase, but you'll hear English speakers say give me two minutes all the time to me.
Like, if you wait, I'll be ready very quick.
Like, give me two minutes and then I'll be ready.
Give me two minutes and then we can watch a movie together.
This is something I would say to my kids, because I'm just saying like, give me a really short amount of time, be patient, and then we can do this thing.
One really common joke phrase that I use, and other people use as well, is when someone asks you to do something and you're kind of thinking, like it's early in the morning, like I'm not ready for this yet.
You might jokingly say, I haven't even had my coffee yet.
Morning and I haven't even had my coffee yet.
I just haven't had my coffee yet.
This means I'm kind of busy.
Like I haven't been able to sit down and really like think about my day, plan my day.
Like you're asking me to do a lot early in the morning.
And of course this is supposed to be joking, kind of funny, but you are kind of warning the person.
I'm not quite ready to start yet.
So if you go into work and your coworker says, hey, can you help me out with this?
Or can you do this for me?
Like, I haven't even had my coffee yet.
Give me just one second or give me two minutes.
Combining this phrase and the last, I haven't even had my coffee yet.
Give me two minutes.
And when you're saying this, you're also implying that you need the caffeine and coffee to give you energy because you're not fully awake or you're kind of tired for the day.
So, since most people don't have the luxury of a lot of time to relax and take things slow in the morning, especially on a work day or a school day or whatever it might be, we talk about doing things quickly.
For food.
When we want to say that we're going to eat something really quickly just to kind of sustain ourselves, give us some energy.
We don't have time to actually sit down.
We say we're going to grab something really quick.
I need to grab something real Let me grab something really quick for breakfast, then we'll leave.
So maybe you're talking about a piece of toast or a bowl of cereal, something really, really fast.
For me, I like to prepare like healthy muffins for my kids.
So I say, oh, grab a muffin real quick before you leave or grab a banana before you leave.
These are just quick foods that I tell them to grab.
And when we say grab for food, we're just meaning like take it quickly.
Either eat it quickly right here or take it on the go.
Grab it and go.
We use grab in a lot of other situations to mean like I'll do it fast without inconveniencing you.
It's kind of, you know, a polite gesture. softened way to say like, let me do this.
I don't want to take a lot of your time.
For instance, you could say, oh, let me grab a quick photo.
Let me grab a photo.
This just means like, don't move.
You know, I want to capture this moment really quickly.
I'm not trying to inconvenience you though.
I'm not doing a full photo shoot.
I'm just going to grab a photo.
Or you might say, let me grab a quick signature from you.
This means whatever document or form I need signed, like I don't want to inconvenience you.
Let me just do this real quick.
Let me grab a signature.
Another interesting phrase that we have to mean that we're sleepy tired, just not fully awake or energized.
As we say, I'm half asleep.
Maybe she was half asleep.
I'm half asleep already.
I must still be half asleep.
I'm sorry, guys.
So a lot of times if you have a child or baby and they wake up in the middle of the night and you're trying to help them, you're saying I'm trying to help them and I'm half asleep.
And usually your eyes are half asleep too when you're saying this phrase.
I got up last night and I went to the bathroom and I was half asleep.
I didn't even realize that, you know, I had the lights off or whatever it might be.
I woke up early this morning and I was half asleep.
So I put orange juice in my cereal.
A lot of times if you make a mistake, because you're still very sleepy or you just haven't had time to be fully awake, we use this phrase I'm half asleep.
If you get a call or a text in the middle of the night, you might say I'm sorry, I'm still half asleep.
This means like your call or your text woke me up.
I'm trying to... get my brain working.
I'm trying to start thinking whatever you're asking me or telling me, like I'm not fully cognizant or thinking yet.
A really polite, casual way to ask for help.
Maybe it's with your kids.
Maybe it's at work.
You just need someone's help very briefly.
As you say, can you help me out for a second?
Can you help out a second?
Can you help me out for a second?
Help me out.
And then we're adding one of those phrases that just doesn't literally mean a second, but just means a short amount of time.
Can you help me out for a second?
And then if you want to reduce someone's stress when it comes to making a quick decision.
Again, if we're thinking about the morning time rushing, sometimes it can be a stressful situation.
You can say, we'll figure this out later.
We'll figure this out later.
We'll figure it out later.
Figure out something better later, okay?
We'll figure it out later.
A lot of times I tell my kids not to stress about things before school because we have lots more time in the afternoon when they get home.
So I say, oh, don't worry about it.
We'll figure it out later.
This just means we'll solve the problem or make the decision later in the day or at a different time.
So let's move on to our next group of phrases.
These are phrases I quite literally use every day, all of the time.
I'm using them for planning, for family decisions, just everyday life.
The first phrase is, what's the plan?
What's the plan?
The plan again?
The plan.
So what's the plan?
The plan?
So if you are asking, you know, what are we going to do?
Like, what should we do today?
Either for fun or for business or for a project, you might say, okay, what's the plan?
It's really informal, but it's just a very efficient way to ask English speakers what are we going to do?
You know, what kind of things do you want to have in the plan?
A lot of times, if you're going out for a night of fun, you might ask your group of friends okay, what's the plan?
Like, How are we getting there?
Are we Ubering?
Are we walking?
What's the plan?
As someone asks you, what's the plan?
You might respond by saying I was thinking about taking an Uber there and leaving at 10 o'clock to come home.
That's the plan.
So this phrase I was thinking about, it's a really soft way to make a suggestion, or it's softening, just being like this is what I want to do.
If you want to join, that's cool too.
You can be a part of my plan.
As someone asks you, you know, do you want to go out to eat with me tonight?
And you just really don't want to, or you have you know a real reason.
You might say ah, I was thinking about cooking at home tonight.
Sorry.
I was, um, Thinking about?
Just thinking about, uh...
So this is a softened way of just saying like, this was my plan.
Or you might come up to your boss and say, I was thinking about taking a day off next week.
This means, you know, I'm not for sure that I'm gonna do it.
I'm kind of asking for permission.
I'm throwing it out there.
Like, this is what I want to do.
This is what I was thinking about.
It's a really softened way to kind of ask for permission but kind of just say what you're going to do in general.
And hopefully you have an understanding boss And they let you take a day off once in a while.
So the last phrase I was thinking about can be combined with, does that work for you?
Does that work for you?
Does that work for you?
So let's say you're talking to your boss again and you do actually need to ask for permission or approval.
You might say, I was thinking about taking a day off next week.
Does that work for you?
Or if you're talking to your friend and they say, you know, what do you want to do tonight?
What's the plan?
You might say, I was thinking about going to see a movie and then getting dinner afterwards.
Does that work for you?
This might imply that you're kind of inviting them along like you're asking for their suggestions if they want to add to the plan.
A lot of times when I'm not really understanding what someone's plans are or where they need me to be or what they need me to do, or if they're having a party and they've asked me to bring something and I'm just unclear about it, I might say okay, just to be clear, you want me to bring either an appetizer or a dessert to the party.
Just to be clear.
Just to be clear.
Just to be clear.
Or just to be clear, we're getting dinner at eight o'clock tonight, right?
So maybe, you know, you're just kind of unclear about the plans or something seems a little off.
Like maybe eight o'clock seems late to you for dinner.
So you just want to clarify that you've got the correct information.
You can also clarify your own information.
If someone says something and you think maybe they didn't understand your original plan or the information that you gave them.
So you might say to your boss, just to be clear, I did take Monday off, so I won't be able to make that meeting.
So maybe they just haven't checked their calendar or they forgot.
So you want to clarify and just give them a friendly reminder, just to be clear.
If you've been studying English for a long time, I'm sure you've heard this next phrase.
Let's play it by ear.
You're right.
Let's play it by ear.
I will play it by ear.
Let's play this one by ear.
Or sometimes English speakers say, let's just play it by ear.
This is just a casual way to say like we'll decide later, based on how things go, or we'll plan as we go along.
You know, we're just kind of feeling out the vibes or just seeing if things work before we make a really official plan, and we'll do it later as the time comes.
We'll play it by ear instead of, you know, being so official with a plan.
When someone asks you what's the plan, you can respond with this.
Well, I was just thinking about playing it by ear tonight.
This means, you know, I was just thinking about doing whatever I want to do when the time comes.
So if I'm hungry, I'll go get dinner.
Or if I want to watch a movie, I'll turn one on at home.
Or if I feel like going out, I'll go to the movie theater.
I'm just going to play it by ear.
This means I don't want to have an official plan.
I'm just going to see how I feel.
A good example of using the phrase we'll play it by ear is if you have a family member or someone that's sick and someone else asks you are you going to be able to make it on Friday?
And it's already Wednesday.
You'll say, we'll play it by ear.
My son's kind of sick, so I'll see if he's feeling better on Friday.
When you're trying to be really honest and self-aware and just kind of admitting that something didn't really work or a plan didn't go very well, you might say I didn't think that through.
Oh, I didn't think that through.
I didn't think this through.
That I didn't think this through completely.
So you might say hmm, I didn't think you know giving all these kids ice cream right before dinner.
I didn't think that plan through because now they're not hungry to eat their actual healthy dinner.
You know, you should never give kids dessert first, because in my opinion it kind of spoils their dinner, meaning like they're not hungry anymore and they just think they're full because they got this wonderful, delicious dessert first.
Or sometimes you know, if you plan a big outdoor event in the middle of the summer and everyone's super sweaty, you might say well, I didn't think that through.
I didn't think about how sweaty and hot and uncomfortable everyone would be having this big event.
Maybe it's a wedding or something outside.
So it just means that, like part of your plan wasn't thought about very well and it's not going very well due to your lack of planning or just thinking about certain aspects.
And when you say this, it can be kind of playful, not so serious.
Or you can just say it in a serious manner, like, I wish I would have thought this through.
I didn't think that through.
So this phrase is always said after the fact of the event or after something happens that didn't go well.
I think, as an English learner or just anyone in general, when you're trying to be polite, it can be hard to be direct.
English speakers aren't always super direct, but this phrase can be helpful.
If you want to tell someone that their plan or their suggestion is just no good, you can say that's not going to work.
That is not going to work.
Yeah, that's not going to work.
That plan is not going to work.
Or someone says, oh, we're getting dinner on Sunday, right?
You might say, oh, that's not going to work.
Sorry, I already have something going on or whatever the case may be.
So it's direct, but it is polite to use this phrase to tell someone that their plan isn't going to work, or to turn down something.
So when you're trying to be a good friend or you're trying to be polite or just reduce someone's stress and you're making a plan with them and you say, you know, let's do this.
I'm just trying to make it easier for you.
Homer!
Hey, I'm just trying to make it easier on him.
The phrase is, I'm trying to make it easier.
This means I'm trying to make it more convenient for you.
For instance, if you have a friend and they live kind of a far ways away, but you want to meet up for lunch, we'll say oh, I'll meet up on your side of town.
I'm trying to make it easier for you because I know you've been stressed out lately, or I know you have a new baby, or whatever it might be that makes their situation a little bit more difficult.
So you're trying to make it easier.
This just means like you're trying to be the person that's putting in a little bit of extra work to help them out.
So this phrase it's pointing out that you are being polite and trying to reduce their stress, but you're just also saying like it's not inconveniencing me to help you out here.
I'm trying to make it easier for you.
Let's talk about it later.
Let's talk about it later.
Let's talk about this later.
This is a polite way to tell someone that, whatever the topic or subject that they just brought up, it might just not be appropriate for the people that you're talking with.
Or it might be something that you know is going to just bring conflict and bring up a fight.
So you'll say, oh, let's talk about that later.
We don't need to talk about that now.
So it's saying like, let's avoid this topic.
And it's polite.
It's just a way to kind of table or pause that discussion and imply that you want to talk about it later, maybe in private, or maybe just more when the mood is right.
A useful and casual way to say that you forgot something or you forgot to do something is to say it slipped my mind.
Slipped my mind.
Slipped my mind completely.
So you're kind of using the enigmatic expression here to be like, it almost slipped out of my mind.
I just narrowly forgot it.
Like, oh, I forgot I had an appointment today.
It slipped my mind.
Or I'm sorry, I forgot to do that for you.
It slipped my mind.
That just means I forgot it.
It was an honest mistake.
This next group of phrases is going to help you talk about chores, being productive, getting things done during the day and just all of those little tasks that you have to do to keep your life running.
So when I look at my audience, I notice that my audience tends to be either my age or older, and we have a lot of things to do.
So you definitely will need these next group of phrases.
I have a lot on my plate.
Do you?
Obviously, I have a lot on my plate.
I've had a lot on my plate.
Going, unfortunately, I have a lot on my plate today.
This phrase, of course, is not talking about food.
It's talking about all the responsibilities that you have.
I feel like different periods of my life.
I've had a lot on my plate or I've been pretty carefree and not a ton of responsibility.
When we think about being a kid, we think, oh, it's so easy.
All you have to do is go to school and get good grades.
And when you become an adult, you have so much on your plate.
You have to work, pay bills, take care of your children and Be a wife, be a husband, whatever it is.
You have a lot on your plate or a lot of responsibilities on your plate.
Sometimes, if you need to tell someone that you just have a lot going on, you can't take on a new responsibility or help them out.
Maybe you're even feeling overwhelmed.
This can be a really polite, really casual idiom to use.
Like, I have a lot on my plate.
I'm so sorry.
I can't help you right now.
When I get an invitation to something and it requires a gift, I try to stay on top of things and I usually immediately order a gift online, because it just really helps me stay on top of it.
You know, stay on top of things.
Well, I've done my best to stay on top of things.
This phrase to stay on top of things.
It just means to manage things without being overdue or late on things and to have everything run smoothly and not so stressful.
So, for instance, when my kid gets invited to a birthday party, I usually say what do you want to get them?
Or I help them come up with some ideas and I order it to the house right away.
And I know I already have plans, birthday wrapping paper so they can go and it won't be such a stressful thing of trying to stay on top of all the gifts and things like this.
Or recently, I got invited to a wedding shower and right when I RSVP'd that I was going to go, I went onto the website of her wedding registry and I ordered what I needed to order for her.
I got her a waffle maker.
So this is just how I stay on top of gifts and getting invitations to things.
For me, I struggle to stay on top of laundry.
It is one of the hardest household chores for me because there's just a lot of steps to it.
And now that I have kids, I'm sorting out different people's laundries.
So you'll have to let me know if you have any good systems that work, especially if you have young kids.
A lot of times, if people compliment me and say wow, you are really on top of things, I'll just say oh, I'm trying.
I'm trying to stay on top of things.
This just means, you know, I'm trying to be very efficient.
I'm trying to manage everything, but it's definitely hard.
I'm just trying to stay on top of things.
Even though I'm trying to stay on top of things, sometimes things get a little chaotic.
Seems like things are a little chaotic.
Things aren't that chaotic.
So if I get behind on laundry, this means I'm not keeping up with folding everyone's clothes, with having my kids' clothes put away and things like that.
And if my kids were older, I would make them help a bit more.
But right now, their only responsibility is to put their dirty clothes in the laundry bin.
But...
Things get a little chaotic.
If you want to use this phrase to just mean like it's a little bit stressful.
You know it's not so organized.
It's a little chaotic.
Maybe you invite a friend over and you haven't had time to clean as much as you usually would or as you would like to.
You might say, I'm sorry, things are a little chaotic in my house.
And for me, when I go over to my good friend's house and they say, oh, I'm so sorry, it's messy.
It's a little chaotic.
I say, don't even worry.
Like I understand, you know, it's very realistic to have a chaotic or messy house.
Of course, I don't mean dirty or filthy.
I just mean messy or chaotic, just not super perfectly organized.
Maybe if I haven't prepared dinner and everyone in my house is hungry, you know, I'll call my husband and say I'm sorry today's been a little chaotic.
Could you pick up dinner for us on the way home?
This means, you know, it hasn't run smoothly.
It hasn't been an easy day and I just haven't had time.
Speaking of household chores, there are certain times when you just have to say I'll deal with it later.
I'll deal with him later.
I'll deal with you later.
So for instance, I got really sick and my kids' toys got really disorganized.
They got really chaotic, not just a little chaotic.
And I said, you know what, I'll just deal with it later because I was sick at the time.
And I did unfortunately have to deal with it later.
I had to sit down and help them organize and clean up their toys and try to teach them you know how to clean them up themselves.
But again, they're really young, so it's quite difficult.
Sometimes, if I'm just exhausted at night and I see dirty dishes sitting by the sink, I'll say I'll deal with it later.
I'll deal with it tomorrow.
This is just implying that you're kind of procrastinating it intentionally for the next day.
And for me, I'm really trying not to deal with dishes later.
I try to just get them put away because it helps my house run really smoothly.
And that's just me personally.
Let's see if you can guess what this next phrase means.
It's been one of those days.
It's just been one of those days.
What kind of day do you think it's been when you say this?
So when you use this phrase, you're meaning that it has been a chaotic or stressful day.
Things have gone wrong during the day.
It's been one of those bad or chaotic or stressful days.
Usually when we use this phrase actually every time we use this phrase we mean that it has been a day that hasn't been perfect or good.
It's kind of been bad.
So it's like chaotic.
Kind of a vague expression, but it's an explanation of why you're either tired or you've just kind of given up of being perfect or running smoothly for the day.
Maybe you're late to an appointment or you're late to something in the evening.
You might say, I'm so sorry I'm late.
It's just been one of those days.
This is implying that things haven't gone super smoothly and it wasn't easy to get there, even just a little bit late.
When you get behind on everything like, for instance, when I was sick I had to catch up on a lot of different work things.
I need to catch up on my strange addiction episodes.
She probably needs it to catch up.
Wow.
We need to catch up.
It means that you are going to get back on schedule.
You're going to have to do some extra work in order to be on the schedule or to the place where you needed to be.
So some really common ways we use this phrase to catch up is they have to catch up on emails.
This is implying that you haven't checked your emails or replied to emails in a long time, or a long time for you, which can mean either a day or can mean a week.
We don't know.
Or you might say, I need to catch up on laundry.
Or you could even say, I need to catch up on sleep.
This implies that you haven't either been sleeping good, or you've been staying up too late, or you've had to wake up really early and you're tired.
You need to get extra sleep in order to catch up so your body feels better.
And then we also do use this phrase to catch up with somebody.
Meaning up with somebody and talking about your life.
Especially if it's an old friend.
I like to catch up with my old friends once in a while.
This means to just talk about your lives with each other, even though you haven't seen each other in a long time.
Do you know what it means to bite off more than you can chew?
We bit off more than we could chew.
I bit off more than I could chew.
We probably bit off more than we could chew.
Oftentimes, when you start something, you start a task or you take on a new responsibility or a job and it starts to feel overwhelming.
You might say to yourself I bit off more than I could chew.
This is implying that you took on too much responsibility.
You can't handle everything that you're doing.
And really, it just means you're overwhelmed.
Maybe you can manage these things.
It just feels like it's a lot.
If you have ever gone back to school, it might feel overwhelming.
You know, you're in new college classes and you're trying to work full time.
It might feel like you bit off more than you can chew.
Like there's just way too many things to do in the amount of time that you have.
Or if you've ever planned a big event all by yourself, without any help, it might feel like you bit off more than you can chew, like there's just way too many things to get done for one person.
A really common phrase that American English speakers use is, I finally got around to it.
So you finally got around to reading it?
I finally got around to cleaning my house or I finally got around to cleaning out my closet.
Cleaning tends to be one of those things that we delay doing, especially if it's a big organizational project.
Or you might say to a coworker, oh, I'll get around to it later.
Or, oh, I finally got around to getting that report that you wanted.
This just means like there was a delay.
I was able to finally find some time to do it.
Sometimes at work or just in our everyday household life, we feel mentally exhausted.
We use this phrase as English speaker to mean that You've just made way too many decisions or people have just asked you way too many questions and you've just been thinking and thinking and trying to solve problems all day.
Say, I'm just mentally exhausted today.
And you might tell someone, I'm so sorry, I'm mentally exhausted.
I just need a quick break.
This just means like you need to zone out.
You need to meditate.
You need to just go for a walk and kind of turn off your brain for a moment.
In another phrase that we use when we're either mentally exhausted or it just feels like we just feel like emotionally drained is we say it's never ending.
Villa and it's never ending upkeep.
It's never ending.
Again, laundry, my most hated chore.
I say, oh, it's just never ending.
It's a very dramatic way to say, like, it feels like it never stops and I wish it would.
Like, it's just a cycle.
Maybe if you're at work, you might say, oh, these emails are just never ending.
People are always asking me questions or emailing me requests.
And it just feels like your work is a lot when you say that phrase.
Our last set of phrases are gonna be good for the end of the day.
Opinions making connections to things.
They are phrases that are just gonna be really good for your conversational English flow.
Let's talk about the phrase that I used all the way back at the beginning of this video, if you ask me.
If you ask me.
If you ask me.
This is a really polite way to say your opinion, especially if you kind of have a bold or blunt opinion.
Someone might ask me, should I go back to school and get my master's degree?
And I might say, well, if you ask me, it might not be worth it.
So this is kind of a blunt opinion.
I'm saying, no, it's not worth it.
Or someone might say, you know, do you think I should get married or engaged?
And I say, well, if you ask me, I think you should wait.
This is kind of, again, a blunt, maybe disappointing opinion, not super supportive.
So I'm using this kind of speech softener to say you know, if it was me or if you're really wanting my opinion, if you ask me, I think you should wait.
The most common way that English speakers say that we don't feel like doing something.
Can't really explain why.
We just say, I'm not in the mood.
I'm not in the mood.
I'm not in the mood.
I'm not in the mood.
I'm not in the mood.
Do you want to watch a movie?
Yeah, I'm not in the mood.
This just means I don't really feel like it.
I don't feel super enthusiastic or excited about it.
Your friend may ask you, you know, do you want to go out tonight?
You might say, I'm sorry, I'm just not in the mood.
And maybe it's understandable why you're not in the mood.
Maybe something sad or tragic happened, or maybe you just had a disappointing day, or maybe you know you're just being kind of blunt and just saying I don't feel like it.
I just don't want to.
I'm not in the mood.
No, thanks.
A really natural reply to someone, especially like in this case, when your friend is saying oh, do you want to go out?
And you might say, I'm not in the mood.
I had a really bad day.
I'm sorry.
A natural reply to this that I use all of the time is that makes sense.
Make that make sense.
Yeah, totally.
That makes sense.
That makes sense.
That makes sense.
So it just means I'm agreeing or your explanation makes total sense.
Like, don't worry.
Maybe your friend says, would you want to go on vacation with me soon?
And you might say well, my budget's been really tight lately, so I don't think I can go on vacation anytime soon.
Your friend might say, yeah, that makes sense.
I'm not going to push you any further.
Your explanation is just fine.
That makes sense.
It can just be a really good phrase for a small talk or just agreeing with someone in general.
That makes sense.
Another phrase for conversation that just shows you're empathizing and you agree is to say I see what you mean.
I see what you mean.
You see what I mean?
I see what you mean.
I see what you mean.
If someone says you know this isn't going to work, you know there's a lot of different reasons why and you just want to agree with them you might say oh, I see what you mean.
Yes, this isn't going to work.
You're correct.
So it's agreeing.
It's a really good phrase for this.
It means you see their point of view.
You understand them.
And if someone's telling you about a difficult situation and they're like, I don't know what to do.
Like, I'm really conflicted.
You could say, yeah, I see what you mean.
That would be really difficult or that would be really tough.
I see what you mean.
So again, this phrase shows a lot of empathy, because you're quite literally saying I can see why you feel that way or I can see why it's difficult.
When you need to connect to a subject and a conversation, you might try out the phrase that reminds me.
That reminds me of...
So someone might be talking about something, telling a story.
And even though you may not be trying to interrupt or be rude, you want to kind of bring up a different subject.
You might say oh, that reminds me, like I wanted to talk about this, or oh, that reminds me, since you're talking about her, I should call her soon.
Like I haven't talked to her in a while.
Going back to these kind of polite, soften phrases.
When you don't want to disappoint someone, you can use this next phrase to say that you've changed your mind.
You can say, on second thought.
On second thought.
On second thought.
On second thought.
On second thought.
So someone might say, oh, let's go out to dinner tonight.
And you might say, yeah, that's a great idea.
And you might say, oh, on second thought, I actually have a really early meeting tomorrow.
So I don't want to be out very late, maybe a different time.
So this just means, you know, you didn't consider something at the beginning.
And now that you're considering it, you're having a second thought or you're changing your mind.
And of course, it's not rude to change your mind, but you want to just give the person a heads up about why.
A really good phrase that we use kind of to conclude our conversations or to kind of sum things up, is to say, at the end of the day,
At the end of the day.
At the end of the day.
Someone might say yeah, like I really want to go out with my friends, but at the end of the day, it's really important that I spend time with my family or, at the end of the day, my kids are all that matter.
So this is a saying like in summary or like here's the big thought when everything is considered.
At the end of the day.
So we're not talking literally at the end of the day, but we're just talking at the end of the conversation, or you know all of the things that matter.
This is the most important.
If you want to show that you're neutral or you're flexible about something, you can say, I could go either way.
Could go either way.
I could go either way.
Someone might say, do you want to get Chinese or do you want to get Italian food tonight?
You might say, I could go either way.
This means I like both.
I'm agreeable.
I'm flexible on everything. either option.
Another phrase that we use to mean this exact thing is we say, I'm fine with whatever.
This just means you don't have a strong opinion.
I'm fine with whatever food tonight.
This means you make the decision.
I'll be happy either way.
I could go either way.
These phrases are super useful if you just want to be agreeable and you don't really care.
If you're in a debate with someone or again you're trying to make a decision, a really good phrase that you can use is that's a fair point.
That's a fair point.
That's a fair point.
That's a fair point.
That's a fair point.
So you're saying it's very reasonable to say that or that makes a lot of sense.
Someone might be arguing against you, but you want to say that is reasonable.
And maybe you have another argument against what they're saying, even though what they're saying is reasonable.
You might say that's a fair point, but and then you say why it might not work.
Another common way that we use this phrase is that's a fair point.
I hadn't thought about that.
So you're just kind of complementing what they're saying or their reasoning here.
And finally, the last phrase of today's lesson is, I'll sleep on it.
Okay, I'll sleep on it.
All right.
This is when you need to have more time to make a decision.
And you might say you know when you sleep on a decision.
This means like when you take a night off to think about something and you wake up in the morning your decision is more clear after just spending some time thinking about it or sleeping.
Thank you guys so much for watching this lesson with me today.
I really want you to visit englishwithkaylacom and check out my membership there so that I can help you learn these phrases.
Quiz you every week on my lessons and you can join the community where you can ask more questions about each phrase or each lesson that I teach you.
I'll see you there at englishwithkayla.com.
Thanks again for watching.
Goodbye.
