Well, hello and welcome to this episode of Learn Everyday English, your roadway to English proficiency.
Hey, you've come to the right place to improve your listening comprehension skills and mastery of the English language.
Hey, my name is Gary and I will be your host today.
I'm a native English speaker born and raised in the U .S., a retired engineer living in a small Texas town, about one hour north of Houston, and I'm a language learner just like you studying Spanish, so I know exactly what it's like to learn a new and different language.
Hey, so now let's jump right in to today's episode.
Well, yee -haw and howdy, y 'all.
Hey, this is a big Texas welcome from the state of Texas.
Hope everybody's doing fine today and you're ready to learn something new.
And in this episode, I'm going to talk about different ways to say, I don't know in English.
So a lot of times people will just say, I don't know, but there's a lot of other ways that we say I don't know here in the U .S.
in English. But before we get into today's episode, I just want to let you know, you can follow me at my web page.
Just go to www .learneverydayenglish .com and at the web page you can find links and listen to all the podcasts directly from the web page and you can subscribe on most of the all of the major podcast application sites, especially Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts.
And also there's a link to the Learn Everyday English YouTube channel where you can watch interesting and engaging videos to help you learn and improve your English.
Well, so now, hey, let's jump right in to today's episode.
Well, thanks for listening to today's episode and like I said earlier, we're going to talk about different ways to say, I don't know in English.
This episode may be a little bit shorter, but first I'm going to give you questions that people may ask and then I'm going to give you about eight or so questions that are very common and then I'm going to give you a list of ways that you or a lot of people here in the U .S.
respond or answer to those questions to say, I don't know, instead of saying I don't know, there's other ways to say that.
So here are some questions that people may ask and here's the first question.
Hey, what's up with John?
He doesn't seem to be himself lately.
He is late to work almost every day and that is unlike him.
So somebody asks you this question, hey, what's up with John?
He doesn't seem to be himself lately.
He is late to work almost every day and that is unlike him or that is not like him.
So what's up with, that's very common expression in English like what's up with, that means hey, what is going on with John?
What's up with John?
So what's up with means like you see that there's something different about John, his attitude or maybe something he's doing.
You say, hey, what's up with John?
What's up with your mom?
Why is she acting that way?
What's up with your brother?
Another question is this, hey, what's the deal with Jim?
He's been acting strange lately.
What's the deal with Jim?
So what's the deal with and what's up with are really this pretty much the same thing.
It's just a different way to ask a question like what is going on with this person?
What is happening with this person?
So what's the deal with Jim?
Hey, what's the deal with your cousin?
What's the deal with your sister?
She doesn't speak to me anymore.
Like what is happening?
And there's a third way to say this and that's what's going on with what's going on with Susan and her new fashion sense.
Like maybe Susan started dressing differently and you can ask somebody, hey, what's going on with Susan?
So we got to say, what's up with Susan?
Hey, what's the deal with Susan?
What's going on with Susan?
So those three statements or phrases all mean the same thing.
And these are very, very, very common in English.
You hear these all the time, especially in movies, people speaking to each other, friends very informally.
You wouldn't want to use this, say, on your job necessarily with your boss.
But among coworkers, when you're speaking very casually, that's very, very common.
Another question, hey, when are you going to be able to retire?
When are you going to be able to retire?
Another question is, who are you going to vote for in the presidential election?
Who are you going to vote for in the presidential election?
And remember, these are all questions people will ask and your response has to do with I don't know.
Another question, hey, is Paul going to ask Mary to marry him?
Is Paul going to ask Mary to marry him?
So these two words actually sound alike, right?
Mary, M -A -R -Y with one R is a lady's name or a girl's name.
But to Mary, M -A -R -R -Y with two Rs, means like to wed somebody, take somebody as your spouse or as your husband or wife.
So Mary is going to marry him?
The next example question could be, and we all may be asking this question right now, when will this pandemic be over and life can get back to normal?
When will this pandemic be over and life can get back to normal?
And the final question is this, hey, do you have a good shot at getting the promotion to the director position?
Do you have a good shot or do you have a good shot at?
That's a very common expression in English, which means do you have a good chance to have something happen or a good possibility or a good opportunity?
We a lot of times would say, do you have a good shot at getting something or do you have a good shot at doing this?
And actually the last sentence here is, what the hell is that?
Remember, we talked about hell in the previous episode, but I can ask somebody a question, hey, what the hell is that?
That's really an emphatic or strong way to say, what is that?
So instead of just saying, what is that?
If you want to express more astonishment, surprise, you can say, what the hell is that?
What the hell is that?
And the answer, I don't know.
I don't know. But now we're going to get into other responses or other ways to say, I don't know in English.
So for example, somebody asks you, hey, what the hell is that?
Your response could be, I have no idea.
I have no idea. That's very common.
Or what the hell is that?
And you can respond, I have no clue.
Or I don't have a clue.
Or I haven't a clue.
Or I haven't got a clue.
This is very common.
And a clue is like a sign or some information that helps you to find the answer to a problem, question, or mystery.
So usually a detective who is trying to solve a crime looks for clues or information, pieces of information that will help him solve the crime.
So that is a clue. So here in this example, I have no clue, also really just really means I have no idea.
I have no information to be able to tell me what is going on.
But there are four ways to use clue, and these are very common, and I will repeat these again.
I have no clue. I don't have a clue.
I haven't a clue. Or I haven't got a clue.
And those all mean the same thing, which means I don't know.
The next expression is this, maybe somebody asks you, hey, what's the deal with Jim?
He's been acting strange lately, and you can answer.
I haven't the faintest idea.
Or I haven't the foggiest idea.
Or I don't have the foggiest idea.
But a lot of times people will say, I haven't the faintest idea.
And the word faint means lacking brightness or something that is not clear.
You cannot see it very clearly as something that is faint.
And this may be something like a star way up in the sky.
It is hard to see. It's not very bright.
We can say the star is faint, so it's not clear.
But faintest means like the least of something.
Used for emphasizing that something is very slight or very small.
And also fog is a dense layer of cloud, or clouds lying close to the surface of the ground or water.
And it reduces the visibility.
And visibility is just the ability to see clearly.
So foggiest means resembling or suggestive of fog.
So again, the four ways to say I don't know is I haven't the faintest idea.
I haven't the foggiest idea.
Or I don't have the foggiest idea.
The next way to say I don't know is how should I know?
Or don't ask me. Or search me.
So I'm putting these three kind of in the same kind of category.
So somebody could ask you, hey, when are you going to retire?
And your answer is this, well, how should I know?
Or don't ask me. Or search me, which all means I don't know.
The next way to say I don't know in English is who knows?
Who knows, for example.
When will this pandemic be over and life can get back to normal?
Your answer is, hey, who knows?
Who knows? Or another way is it's anybody's guess.
It's anybody's guess.
You know, a guess means like you're trying to determine an answer to a problem, so you just guess, so you really don't know.
So you can say, well, it's anybody's guess.
Or another way, using the word guess is your guess is as good as mine.
Your guess is as good as mine.
The next way to say I don't know is, hey, it beats me.
It beats me. For example, is Paul going to ask Mary to marry him?
I don't know. It beats me.
It beats me. Or he can say, I can't say.
I can't say is another way to say I don't know.
I can't say. The next way to say I don't know is only God knows.
Only God knows, for example.
Do you have a good chance at getting the promotion to the director position?
Only God knows. Only God knows.
Or you can say, hell if I know.
Hell if I know. That's a very common expression in English to say I don't know.
Hell if I know. Hell if I know.
There's also another way, which may be fairly common.
You might have heard this.
It says, well, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Like, what's the deal with Jim?
He's been acting strange lately.
I'm not sure. It really means I don't know.
Or another way to say I don't know is, that's a good question.
Or that's a really good question.
So what's up with John?
He doesn't seem to be himself lately.
He's late to work almost every day, and that is unlike him.
So your answer is, yeah, that's a good question.
That's a really good question.
Or you can say, hey, don't ask me.
Basically, I don't know either.
Don't ask me. Or don't ask me.
I don't know either.
Another way to say I don't know is, I've been wondering the same thing.
Or I've been thinking the same thing.
A lot of times I say I've been wondering, wondering the same thing.
For example, is Paul going to ask Mary to marry him?
And your answer is, hey, I've been wondering the same thing.
I've been wondering the same thing really means I don't know either.
Or you can say, I have the same question.
Or I have the same question myself.
So is Paul going to ask Mary to marry him?
Hmm, I've been wondering the same thing.
Or I have the same question.
Or I have the same question myself.
Another way to say I don't know is, it's a mystery to me.
It's a mystery to me.
Like when will this pandemic be over?
Your answer is, hmm, it's a mystery to me.
Like a mystery is a story that you're trying to solve, get an answer to.
So this pandemic that we are living through is kind of like a mystery.
We don't know exactly when it will end.
So you can say, it's a mystery to me.
Or you can also say, use this phrase, it's beyond me.
It's beyond me. Or the final way to say it is, search me, search me.
So these were different ways to say I don't know in English.
I'll run through these or go through these very quickly.
First one is, I have no idea.
I have no clue. I don't have a clue.
I haven't a clue. I haven't got a clue.
I haven't the faintest idea.
I haven't the foggiest idea.
I don't have the foggiest idea.
How should I know? Don't ask me.
Search me. Who knows?
It's anybody's guess.
Your guess is as good as mine.
It beats me. I can't say.
Only God knows. Hell if I know.
I'm not sure. That's a good question.
That's a really good question.
Don't ask me. Don't ask me.
I don't know either.
I've been wondering the same thing.
I have the same question.
I have the same question myself.
It's a mystery to me.
Hey, it's beyond me.
I hope you learned something new today and learned a lot of new ways to say I don't know and maybe sound more natural in English.
So let me know what you thought about this lesson today.
If you have any questions for me or things that you would like for me to talk about or discuss in future episodes, let me know.
Drop me a line. Just go to the Learn Every Day English homepage.
At the bottom there's a contact form.
Fill that out. Send me a message.
Drop me a line. I'll read that and respond back to you.
I think that's it for now, listeners.
Have a great day, week, weekend.
Whenever you're listening to this.
I hope you will listen to the upcoming episodes.
We'll have a lot of good and new information for you to help you improve your listening comprehension skills.
Until next time, we'll see you later on Learn Every Day English.
Hey, goodbye.
