This is the Business English Podcast, episode 538.
Should you say essential, necessary, or important?
Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.
For a presentation, a meeting or your office party.
This is Real Business English, with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking, I could have said that better?
You understood everything, but your response came out short or unclear or not quite like you.
Maybe your ideas are strong, but your English doesn't show it yet.
You forget words you know.
You can't explain things naturally, and fast conversations leave you quietly catching up.
That gap can be frustrating, but it's also very specific and very fixable.
Our two-minute fluency quiz helps you understand where that gap is and whether your level is B1, B2 or C1.
When you know your level, progress feels lighter and faster.
Take the quiz now at allearsenglish.com and move closer to speaking English the way you think.
One more time, go to allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E.
Hey there, Michelle.
How's everything going with you?
Going well, going well.
Lindsay, do you have any important meetings this week?
Yeah.
I mean, I've had actually quite a few meetings this week with different potential products we're thinking about buying as a company and team meetings.
Lots of good stuff, though.
All good stuff.
It's exciting.
It's an exciting time of year, right?
We're still in Q1, setting up for success this year.
Yeah.
Yep, definitely.
So today we are going to answer a great listener question about three similar words and how to tell the difference between them.
This is really good stuff for today.
Nice.
This is a great question that came straight from Hussein Adnan5433, possibly on YouTube.
Guys, don't forget that All Ears English has a YouTube channel.
If you're not listening to the All Ears English podcast, you are missing out big time.
So if you're a podcast listener, just open your search bar wherever you listen.
Spotify Apple, find the show.
If you're a YouTube person, you could just type in All Ears English on YouTube and you'll find the show.
You can hit subscribe right there.
Hussein says, my best YouTube podcast.
I've got a question.
Well, thank you.
What is the difference between important, necessary, and essential?
Ooh, I love that this question is very nuanced, Michelle.
Yeah, it is a very specific question.
Really a lot that we can talk about here.
Great question.
Thank you so much for sending it in.
Let's do it.
Let's get started.
Where should we start?
Yeah.
So we're going to break this down and I'm curious, what is the difference?
I asked myself too, what is the difference?
So hopefully we know here, Michelle.
We do.
We do.
So let's get into important first, right?
So what does important mean?
Yeah.
Well, so I asked you at the beginning of the episode, do you have any important meetings this week?
So This means significant.
It's something that matters.
So it's not completely required or that's not what the focus is on.
And it depends on the context.
It may be required, but it's not explicitly saying that by using this word.
So, for example, it's important to get this client on the phone.
We're talking about that.
You know this matters, but we're not saying it's like when we think about like must.
Right.
Not necessarily saying we must get this client on the phone and saying it's important.
And yeah, it's saying that we we should and we have to.
But the focus on that word is not quite as strong.
Right.
I can see what you're saying.
Yeah.
So here's another one.
Oh, did we say this one?
Customer happiness is extremely important to us.
Continuing education is important to stay relevant in your industry.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's significant.
It matters.
And yeah, a customer like continuing education is important.
Yeah.
Stay relevant in your industry.
So it's not totally required, but it's going to help you.
Right.
Nice.
I love that.
I love that.
Yes.
Yeah.
I mean, Lindsay, what is important to us at All Ears English?
So just breaking down just this podcast or our podcasts, our three shows.
I'd say one thing that's really important is consistency because our listeners, they count on us.
They're ready for us five days a week over on All Ears English and three here on Business English.
And so we want to build trust from our listeners by publishing on time on a weekly basis.
So consistency, I think, is the unsung hero of podcasting success, actually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And another word for important could be key, right?
It's Um, consistency is key, right?
You might hear that, right?
K E Y. That's a higher level thing to say, right?
It definitely is.
Um, all right, so let's go into necessary.
So this one is required in order to get something done, right?
In order to accomplish something.
And that's really the focus here.
It's like accomplishing something.
Something can't happen without this being done.
Right.
Like you think about prerequisites, right?
In college, remember you had to take like the 100 level before taking the 200 level is this idea.
Yeah.
So it's necessary to bring your insurance card to your doctor's appointment, right?
Right.
So it has to get done in order for you to see your doctor.
Or it's necessary to complete the training online before the meeting.
Yeah.
Or it's necessary to call every client.
Is it?
I'm asking you a question here.
Is it necessary to call every client or is email okay?
Okay.
I mean, Another way you could say that is, do we have to call every client or email?
Okay.
Right.
So necessary again, you know, it's required.
Right.
And there's a very subtle difference.
This is really a tough question actually, if you really think about it, because yeah, important wouldn't quite mean exactly the same thing here, would it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean again.
You could say it's important to bring your insurance card to your doctor's appointment.
It's the same idea, but it's just, it's, it's framed slightly different.
Yeah.
Kind of saying the same thing with different framing.
I agree.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
So another keyword I wanted to bring up.
We can do a whole episode on this, or maybe we have a necessary evil.
Yeah, that's something that you don't like doing, but you have to do it.
That's a tough one.
Cleaning, right?
Emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher.
I mean, I could go on, Michelle.
Oh, yeah.
As an adult, there's a lot of necessary evils.
Yeah, for sure.
Lindsay.
But what is something in your that's necessary for you to do every day but you don't really like?
Well, it's kind of what I just said.
All those little domestic things.
My least favorite domestic, maybe taking out the garbage, right?
Like on Sunday nights, bringing it up to the driveway for the garbage man to come.
Yeah, that's not fun.
Yeah, but if we don't, the garbage will pile up in our garage.
And that's not fun either.
Right?
No, that would be worse.
What's one of your necessary evils that you have to do on a weekly or daily basis?
Folding the laundry and putting it away.
And that's why I don't always do it.
And that's why a lot of times.
My family, instead of getting clothes out of their drawer, is going to the laundry room and picking things up off the floor.
I totally get you.
That is a bad one.
I also like sometimes it doesn't make sense to me to fold something that I'm going to hang.
And so laundry.
Yes, totally agree.
Laundry is the worst.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians.
These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds.
Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more.
Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help when you need it.
So your dollar goes a long way.
Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates.
Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations.
All right, Michelle, let's dive into essential.
So how is this different from necessary and important?
I mean, we're really looking at subtleties here.
Yeah, so I would say this is very, very strong and it means it must be done.
Um, so I, yeah, I think of it as that word must, right?
Yeah.
Um, how that's so strong.
Um, so let's look at some examples.
It is essential to find a person to fill the spot who has both experience and a great personality.
Um, would you say this is kind of the strongest of the three?
I would say so.
What do you think?
I think so too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think we kind of like I think we kind of got progressively stronger.
So like important.
Yeah, sure.
We could say it's important.
Yeah.
And that's fine.
And then we went a little stronger.
It's necessary.
Yeah.
But then it's essential.
It's like we cannot it's a non-negotiable.
Yeah.
Like I remember when we took a trip to Germany in 2021.
Yeah.
That was during like Omicron COVID days.
Right.
And it was essential to have your COVID card proving that you'd been vaccinated before entering any bar restaurant, museum.
You know, it was essential.
Like they would actually turn you away.
Right.
If you didn't have that.
Yeah.
Right.
Important is yeah, you could say important as well, but it doesn't quite emphasize how yeah, you could get turned away.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a, it's a, it's a, uh, it's a showstopper, right?
It's a non-starter.
There's a whole other episode, Michelle.
We could do about how to say when things won't move forward.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That would be a good one.
Yeah.
So other examples here.
Yeah.
So, um, so, uh, it's essential.
Wait, did I already say the person?
Yeah.
The first one.
Okay.
So the second one In our company, it's essential to provide the very best customer service possible.
So it's just a little stronger than saying it's important, but very slightly.
I mean, you know, it's just we will not compromise on this.
Exactly.
Or it's essential to remember the thumb drive.
Otherwise, we will have a problem.
Yes.
Yes.
You need these things.
Exactly.
And then another word.
That's not that our listener Hussein didn't ask about, but is it belongs in this mix.
Michelle would be critical, right?
Critical.
Yes.
Critical is also extremely strong.
It's critical.
I think that do you think that's even stronger than essential?
Yeah.
Yeah, probably.
Or equally strong.
Yeah.
Critical.
It's along those lines.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, guys, again, remember, essential is really the strongest.
It's how we think about the word must.
Important is not necessarily that something must be done.
It just might be key or useful or significant in some way.
This is important to me.
Like you don't say like, I don't know, like family is very important to me.
You could say something like that.
Yes.
It's a little bit.
I think it's a little bit more versatile, actually.
Yeah, I think.
Yeah.
Important could be about values, about what you care about, but you probably wouldn't.
It wouldn't make sense to say family is essential to me.
It doesn't because essential is about like little processes, right?
It's not quite the same.
It's a little cold.
That would be a little off, right?
Something's not quite right.
Right, right.
Exactly.
So yeah, it just, and the necessary is, you know, something needs to happen for something to occur.
So they, you know, they all are, they're very similar, but they vary in strength and context.
But you know, we gave you the basics today.
Yeah, really, really good question.
Let's go into a role play and see how these show up.
So here we're looking at our work calendar.
Okay.
Okay.
So on the fifth, we have that really important meeting with Steve that we have to prep for.
Oh, yes.
And then after that remember, it will be necessary to follow up with Katie so she can start working on the mock-ups.
Right.
And we have to tell her that it is absolutely essential to finish those by the end of the month.
All right.
Sounds like a pretty natural conversation, right?
We used most of them here.
We use all three.
So you started by saying, okay, so on the fifth, we have that really important meeting.
And sometimes yeah, instead of just saying something is important, we use it in front of a noun right.
It's an important meeting, an important event, an important interview, right?
Yeah.
And so, but I wouldn't say we have that essential meeting.
We have that necessary meeting here.
We're focusing on that.
It's significant.
It's, it's, it's important.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And then what Michelle?
Uh um, and then after that, remember it will be necessary to follow up with Katie so she can start working on the mock-up.
So again, you know, focusing kind of on this process, like we need this to happen for the next thing to happen.
Right.
Exactly.
Something like a prerequisite we said before, I think.
And then you said, right.
And we have to tell her that it's absolutely essential.
So here you.
If you want to make it even more important, more important or more clear, punch that word a bit more with your intonation.
Absolutely essential to finish those by the end of the month.
So you can sometimes showing how critical something is, is about delivery to and word choice.
Yeah, yeah.
Really interesting here.
So much.
So much nuance, but also, you know, that in some ways, there's a lot of clear cut pieces to this.
So for sure.
I love it.
I love it.
So guys, go over and check out business English 528.
If you loved this episode, and you want to keep going.
That was called Should You Say Long Time No See in English.
Aubrey and I went into this concept of some phrases that we might want to leave behind now, in 2026, just because they are offensive to certain populations.
Right.
Yes.
Good.
So, Michelle, what's our takeaway?
Yeah, we gave you some some basic guidelines of how you can tell the difference.
You know, sometimes you could overlap them, but sometimes it doesn't quite work out.
So focus on one or two of them to start off with, because these are all going to be valuable for you.
And these are absolutely essential to know at work.
Yeah, the importance is communicating well, like the level of importance of something right, and these will all get you to connection as long as you're clear about how important something is right.
So that is the connection skill for today.
Good stuff, michelle.
We'll see you soon.
All right lindsay, have a good day.
All right, take care bye bye.
Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
Want more from All Ears English?
Don't miss our biggest and best podcast with 8 million monthly downloads.
Just search for the All Ears English podcast and hit follow to get four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar and so much more.
Or Tap the link in the show notes.
Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Follow the All Ears English podcast now.
