11 time idioms and expressions English Vocabulary Lesson Common British English Expressions

hello everyone and welcome back to

english with Lucy today I have got lots

of idioms relating to time it’s a very

important lesson I can’t believe I

haven’t already covered this topic so

grab a pen and paper and make sure you

take notes quickly before we get started

this video is going to help you with

your speaking and your listening and

your reading and your writing it’s going

to help with everything because it’s

building your vocabulary but I know a

lot of you want to improve your

listening in particular and your

pronunciation I highly recommend

listening to audiobooks and reading the

actual book at the same time it’s like

creating your own listening exercises

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multitask or as you commute to work or

whenever you like or listen was reading

the actual book that’s the best thing

you can do for your listening and

pronunciation because you’re hearing how

the words are pronounced as you are

seeing them written down just a little

tip from me there let’s get on with the

lesson number one to be or not to be no

to be or not to be born yesterday

if you are born yesterday it means you

are easily fooled or very naive it’s

often used in a sarcastic ironic way do

you think I was born yesterday

do you think I’m an idiot or I wasn’t

born yesterday I’m not an idiot I don’t

believe you

number two better late than never

this one’s kind of self-explanatory it

means that doing something late is

better than not doing it at all but if I

mention it in this video because it’s

also used in a sarcastic way I might say

better late than never if somebody is

especially late number three at the

eleventh hour at the eleventh hour this

means almost too late

or at the last possible moment it’s

often used in business situations for

example we barely made the deadline I

turned in my project at the 11th hour

number 4 to beat the clock to beat the

clock this means to finish something

before time is up or before a deadline

in game shows the hosts will normally

talk about beating the clock finishing

the game or the competition before time

is up number 5 it’s high time it’s high

time means it’s the right time or

actually past the appropriate time to do

something for example if I say it’s high

time we met to talk about the issue I’m

trying to say that it’s actually past

the appropriate time we should have met

before and we really need to meet right

now number 6 I wonder if you’ve heard

this one before or if you’ve got an

equivalent in your language

time flies or time flies when you’re

having fun

this means that time passes incredibly

quickly and time flies when you’re

having fun means time passes quickly

when you’re having a good time and that

is so incredibly true number 7 third

time’s a charm or third time lucky this

means that the third time you do

something it will usually work it’s

normally said ironically if you’ve had

to repeatedly try something and you’ve

been failing each time third time’s a

charm number eight in the long run in

the long run means in the long term or

over a long period of time for example

studying English is hard but in the long

run it will be worth it number nine in

the nick of time this like the eleventh

hour means at the last possible moment

at the latest possible moment for

example I made it to the bus in the nick

of time

I only just made it number ten the ship

has sailed

this means that an opportunity has been

missed I wanted to apply for the job but

the ship had sailed I missed the

opportunity I ran

of time and the last one in next to no

time in next to no time and this means

in almost no time at all in next to

means almost so next to nothing means

almost nothing next to no time means

almost no time at all for example I

arrived at the club and then in next to

no time I was asked to leave right

that’s it for today’s lesson I hope you

learned something and I hope you enjoyed

it

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will see you soon for another lesson

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