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and a retired engineer living in a small Texas town.
I'm also a language learner like you studying Spanish, so I know what it is like to learn a new and different language.
Hey, so now let's jump right in to today's episode.
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Hey, and thanks for listening to this episode of the Learn Every Day English podcast.
We're going to be talking about English expressions using the word hell.
Hell, the last episode we talked about English expressions using the word heaven, so it seemed like an obvious choice to go ahead and now talk about English expressions, hey, using the word hell, h -e -l -l.
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down. You can just follow along with me.
Hey, so without further ado, let's jump right in to today's episode.
Like I said, in today's episode, we're going to be talking about English expressions using the word hell, and some of you may know what hell is.
I guess if you're a religious person, especially maybe a Christian or some other faith, hell is a place where you go to that is kind of the opposite of heaven.
So hell is supposedly where the devil resides, and you go for eternal punishment.
So you might want to look that up if you're not familiar with the word hell.
But hell can also have a lot of other different meanings too in English.
So I'm going to go over some expressions that are very common that you'll hear people using when they speak to each other, usually in an informal setting or an informal manner among friends and sometimes co -workers when you're not talking about anything very formal, family.
You might hear these on TV and radio, movies, so these are very good to know and very good to learn.
So the first expression is hell no, hell no, and this just really means no, like you're a very strong way to say no.
Instead of saying no, say hell no, hell no, so you can see there's a emphasis on that first word hell.
It also can mean like no way, no way, or I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to do that.
So it can mean no very emphatically, or it can also mean no way, or hey, no way, I am not going to do that.
For example, somebody can ask you, do you want to go skydiving with me this weekend?
And your answer is hell no, no way am I going to do that.
Do you want to go skydiving with me this weekend?
Hell no, no way I am going to do that.
And for those of you that may not know, skydiving is where you go up into an airplane with a parachute and you jump out of the airplane, so that is called skydiving.
It can be maybe very fearful for some people.
Here's a second sentence using hell no.
Hell no, I'm not going to vote for that jerk.
Hell no, like no way, or sometimes we say no way in hell, I'm not going to vote for that jerk.
So that's this can be used in a political type of connotation or aspect.
The second example is what the hell, and this is usually an exclamation used to emphasize surprise, shock, anger, or maybe disgust.
So an explanation used to emphasize surprise, shock, anger, or disgust.
So for example I can say what the hell?
See there's the emphasis at the end on the word hell.
What the hell? The TV was working fine and now all of a sudden it just stopped working and won't come on anymore.
What the hell? The TV was working fine and now all of a sudden it just stopped working and won't come on anymore.
So what the hell means like hey what is going on?
I don't understand this situation, so it's I'm in surprise or I'm shocked or sometimes maybe angry that something is not going the way it should or the way I think it should.
Here's another example sentence.
What the hell do you think you're doing?
You need to get back in there and clean your room right now.
So this may be something your parent, your mom, or your dad might tell you if you're a kid and they had asked you to clean your room but you are say in English goofing off or goofing around which means that you are not doing what you're supposed to do and you are doing some other things that you may want
to do. So you're goofing off and your parent will tell you hey what the hell do you think you're doing?
You need to get back in there and clean your room right now.
So this is used like in a situation where somebody is angry.
So that is what the hell.
The third example sentence we use the phrase as hell but we in in front of the expression as hell we can use different types of words and as hell just really means very.
So for example it's probably easier if I get get you or give you an example.
So I can say it is hot as hell which means just that it is very hot, very hot.
I can say it is cold as hell which means it is very cold.
I can say it is something is hard as hell or difficult as hell which means it is very hard.
So maybe some of you think English can be hard as hell which means English can be very difficult or maybe English pronunciation is hard as hell.
Something could be fast as hell which is very fast.
Somebody can be smart as hell like very very smart or very intelligent or somebody can even be mad as hell just very mad.
So this is a very common expression in English where we add the two words as hell after certain words to make them mean very.
The next example sentence or phrase is give someone hell, give someone hell.
That means to give someone a hard time by means of aggressive actions or attitude or to produce or present problems or challenges for somebody which really means this is to make life difficult or miserable for somebody for some reason.
For an example here is the first sentence.
Their son is giving them hell.
He doesn't listen and stays out all night drinking and partying with his friends.
Their son is giving them hell.
It means he's making their life very difficult or challenging.
He doesn't listen and stays out all night drinking and partying with his friends.
Here's a second example sentence.
You mean to tell me that this company won't refund your money?
Hey give them hell.
They can't get away with that.
You mean to tell me that this company won't refund your money?
And refund means just to return or to give back your money.
Hey give them hell like make it difficult for them.
They can't get away with that.
That means that they can't or they shouldn't be doing that to you.
The next phrase is hell on earth.
Hell on earth and this means a place or a situation that is difficult, painful or unbearable.
A place situation that is difficult, painful or unbearable for example.
We took a hike through the Mojave Desert and the heat was unbearable.
It was like hell on earth.
We took a hike through the Mojave Desert and the heat was unbearable.
It was like hell on earth.
Unbearable means like you cannot bear something.
You cannot take it.
It is too much for you to handle.
The next example sentence with hell on earth is this.
She went through a very nasty divorce.
Here nasty means like difficult.
She went through a very nasty divorce and the way she explained it to me, it was hell on earth trying to deal with her ex -husband.
She went through a very nasty divorce and the way she explained it to me, it was hell on earth trying to deal with her ex -husband.
The next phrase is go to hell.
Go to hell or sometimes we say go to hell.
We kind of squish up the words go to hell and you might have heard this and that means you do not care about someone or their opinions and that you do not want anything to do with them and you want them to perhaps go away and leave you alone.
So you can go to hell.
You cheated on me with my best friend.
So you can go to hell.
That means you can just get out of here.
Get away from me. I don't want to see you again.
The next example sentence is hey just go to hell.
I don't want to see your face around here ever again.
Just go to hell. I don't want to see your face around here ever again.
So figuratively you are telling this person and maybe wishing them that they would go to a place like hell because you are so mad and angry with them.
The next example phrase is to hell with it.
To hell with it or you can also say to hell with this or to hell with that and this means to be disgusted, fed up with, or want nothing to do with someone or something or to not care about someone or something at all.
So to be disgusted, fed up with, or want nothing to do with someone or something or to not care about someone or something at all.
For example say if you are working at a job and you do not like it or you are very frustrated with your job you can say to hell with this job.
The pay is too low and the hours are too long.
I'm going to quit. To hell with this job.
The pay is too low and the hours are too long.
I'm going to quit. Next example sentence is this.
The restaurant is trying to charge me for a dish I didn't order.
To hell with that I need to speak with the manager right now.
The restaurant is trying to charge me for a dish I didn't order.
To hell with that I need to speak with the manager right now.
So this really has a connotation or idea of like hey forget that.
Sometimes we'll say in English forget that or sometimes I'm not going to accept that.
I need to speak out.
So a lot of times we'll use the phrase to hell with this or it or that.
The next phrase is like a bat out of hell.
Like a bat out of hell and a bat is just a a mammal.
It's an animal that lives a lot of times lives in caves and it flies out at night eating insects.
It's bat bat. So like a bat out of hell means to move extremely fast or very fast.
For example I saw Jenny in her new sports car and she was driving like a bat out of hell.
I saw Jenny in her new sports car and she was driving like a bat out of hell.
That means she was driving very fast.
Another example while I was driving on the freeway yesterday another car went by me like a bat out of hell.
While I was driving on the freeway yesterday another car went by me like a bat out of hell like driving very very fast or we could say they were speeding speeding.
The next example phrase is tell hell freezes over or until hell freezes over but a lot of times we'll just say tell instead of until or you might also hear this phrase pronounced or said as when hell freezes over and this means like a forever a time period forever and is used to indicate that something
will never happen because in hell it is very hot or supposed to be very very hot so it will never freeze in hell because it is so hot so when you say till hell freezes over or when hell freezes over you're talking about something that is never going to happen.
For example I don't think I will ever be able to retire.
I'll be working till hell freezes over.
I don't think I'll ever be able to retire.
I'll be working till hell freezes over and I'll be working forever all my life.
That's what that sentence means.
The next example sentence is this maybe there's a wife or a girlfriend a woman she is very upset with somebody with a man and some person can say she will forgive him when hell freezes over she will forgive him when hell freezes over that means she will never forgive him because hell will never freeze
over. The next example is come hell or high water come hell or high water and this means hey like no matter what happens no matter what or in spite of any obstacle in spite of any obstacle or problem for example come hell or high water I'm going to learn to speak Spanish even if it takes me 20 years
come hell or high water I'm going to learn to speak Spanish even if it takes me 20 years that means like hey no matter what in spite of any obstacles or difficulties I'm going to do this so come hell or high water second example sentence I'm going to get her to go out on a date with me come hell or high
water I'm going to get her to go out on a date with me come hell or high water this is a maybe a guy is talking about to another male friend there's a girl that he really likes so he wants to go out on a date with her so he says I'm going to do that it's going to happen come hell or high water like
no matter what I'm going to make this happen and the next time hell broke loose that means it's a situation that becomes very chaotic or disruptive especially one that begins suddenly or unexpectedly a situation that becomes chaotic or disruptive especially one that begins suddenly or unexpectedly for example
as soon as John arrived at the party and he and his friends began drinking all hell broke loose as soon as John arrived at the party and he and his friends began drinking all hell broke loose that means it just became very very crazy situation another example sentence is this all hell broke loose at the school
board meeting last night people were yelling at each other and a fight almost broke out all hell broke loose at the school board meeting last night people were yelling at each other and a fight almost broke out so those were some English expressions very common expressions using the word hell hope you
learned something new today I don't know if you've heard these expressions or not hey let me know you can let's leave me a comment go to the learn everyday English webpage and there's a at the home page at the bottom there's a contact form just fill that out hey let me know what you thought about today's
episode if you found it interesting and you learned some new expressions today also just drop me a line to say hi let me know if you have suggestions for specific topics you would like for me to discuss on this program or just any questions in general well I think that's about it for today again have a good
week a day weekend wherever you are whatever you're doing hey keep studying English don't give up be consistent and persistent thanks for listening to today's episode hey we'll check you later on learn everyday English goodbye
