Disagree in English Conversation Level Up Your English

Hi, I’m Savannah. Welcome 
to Oxford Online English!

You know, I think smoking in public should 
be allowed everywhere, even on planes.

What? I don’t agree.

I think children should leave school at 
13. Higher education is a waste of time.

I don’t agree.

People today don’t work hard enough. 
Everyone should work longer hours.

I don’t agree.
What about you? Do you agree with our ‘opinions’?  

Of course, they’re not our real opinions!

If you don’t agree, how can you express 
this. Of course, you can say ‘I don’t agree’,  

but what if you want to be more direct, 
or more diplomatic, or if you aren’t  

100% sure? Even for simple language, like disagreeing, 
there’s a lot of different language you can use.

This video is part of our ‘level up’ series, where 
you can learn a wide range of language to level up  

your everyday conversational English! Don’t forget 
to check out other videos in this series, too.

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So, let’s start!

Wow! What a great film!
Really? I don’t think so. 

You didn’t like it? How come?
I found it boring. It was sooooo slow. 

I have to disagree with you. I 
thought it was really gripping.

A simple way to disagree is to say ‘I don’t 
think so.’ This is neutral language – it’s  

not strong, it’s not too direct – 
you can use it in many situations.

Of course, you can disagree in a simple way: 
say ‘I disagree’ or ‘I disagree with you’.  

However, saying just ‘I disagree’ 
can sound blunt, so it isn’t always  

appropriate. ‘I have to disagree with you’ 
is a slightly more indirect alternative.

You can also add adverbs to these phrases to add 
emphasis. For example, instead of ‘I disagree with  

you’, you could say ‘I completely disagree 
with you’ or ‘I totally disagree with you.’

Don’t forget to check the visa 
regulations. You need a visa in advance. 

Not necessarily. I thought so, too, 
but they changed the rules last year. 

Really? I thought everyone needed a visa. 

Not quite. If you’re staying for less than ten 
days, you don’t need a visa any more for tourism.

‘Not necessarily’ and ‘not quite’ 
are both useful ways to disagree.  

Why are they so useful? There are two reasons.

First, you don’t need an auxiliary verb. So,  

you don’t have to think about the verb form that 
the person you’re talking to used. You can use  

these to disagree with sentences in different verb 
tenses, and you don’t have to worry about grammar.

Second, these are neutral, 
polite ways to disagree.  

‘Not necessarily’ and ‘not quite’ both suggest 
that the other person is not completely wrong.

You can also say ‘not exactly’, 
which has the same meaning.

Which should I get? The red ones, right? I think  

they look much nicer.
Hmm… I’m not so sure.  

I think the blue ones suit you better.
Really? They’re a bit too dressy for me. 

I wouldn’t say so. I think you 
could wear them with jeans.

Sometimes, you want to disagree in a more indirect 
way, to be polite, or to avoid hurting people’s  

feelings. Or, perhaps you want to express that 
you’re not 100 per cent sure about your idea.

Phrases like ‘I’m not so sure’ or ‘I wouldn’t 
say so’ express more indirect disagreement.  

They include an idea of uncertainty.

Sydney is the capital of Australia.
You’re wrong. It’s Canberra. 

Canberra? Never heard of the place. It’s Sydney.
You don’t know what you’re talking about!

Here, you saw some more direct ways to disagree!

Saying ‘you’re wrong’ is extremely blunt, 
but you might use it in a casual conversation,  

or perhaps to express a negative 
emotion. Using direct language  

like this can show that you’re annoyed or upset.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking 
about’ is similar – it’s very direct.  

You might use it with friends, or as a joke, 
but in other contexts it could be seen as rude.

Love this tune! So good!
Are you serious? It’s garbage! 

I guess you just have bad taste in music.  

What can I say?
I have bad taste… 

Well, what can I say? Different 
strokes for different folks, I suppose.

‘Are you serious?’ is another direct – 
possibly rude – way to disagree. If you  

want something even stronger, you could 
say ‘Are you crazy?’ or ‘Are you drunk?’

At the end of the dialogue, you heard this 
phrase: different strokes for different folks.  

What does this mean? 

This phrase means that people have different 
opinions, and that’s OK. When you use a phrase  

like this, you’re saying that you don’t agree, 
but you don’t want to discuss it further.  

It’s a conversational phrase, so you would 
generally use it only in informal situations.

In the next dialogue, you’ll hear another 
phrase with a similar meaning. Try to find it!

You bought another Android phone? How come? 
I thought you were going to get an iPhone. 

Yeah… In the end, I thought it 
wasn’t worth the extra cost. 

I’d say the exact opposite. 
They’re worth every penny! 

Well, I guess I have a different viewpoint. 

You really should have got an 
Apple phone. The features you get… 

Look, maybe we should just 
agree to disagree, yeah?

Did you hear the phrase which 
means something similar to  

‘different strokes for different folks’? 

It was ‘We should just agree to disagree.’ 
Again, this says that you and the person  

you’re talking to have different opinions, and 
there’s no point discussing things further.

You can use this phrase in 
different ways. For example,  

you can say ‘Let’s just agree to disagree’, 
or ‘Why don’t we agree to disagree?’

There was one more phrase in the dialogue 
to express disagreement. Do you remember it? 

It was ‘I’d say the exact opposite.’  

This is useful, because it expresses 
strong disagreement, but in a polite way.

You’ll hear another polite phrase in the next 
dialogue. Again, try to find it while you listen!

Have you seen the new shopping 
centre they’re building? 

Yes, it’s hideous, isn’t 
it? What were they thinking? 

You think? I beg to differ. I think 
it’ll look better once they’re finished. 

It doesn’t fit at all with the surrounding 
architecture. It’s much too modern-looking. 

I take your point, but you can’t build 
everything in the same style forever.

Did you find it? 

‘I beg to differ’ is a formal, very polite 
phrase to express disagreement. You’d  

mostly use it in more formal situations. In a 
casual conversation, it might sound strange.

Often, you express disagreement by using 
a phrase which means that you agree,  

and then adding the word ‘but’.

In the dialogue, you heard 
‘I take your point, but…’  

You can do this if you partly agree with 
someone’s idea, but disagree with other parts. Or,  

you can use this to be polite, or to 
avoid using very direct language.

You could use different 
verbs, other than ‘take’ here.  

You could say ‘I see your point, but…’ 
or ‘I understand your point, but…’

You’ll see more examples like this in 
the next dialogue. Try to find them!

So, which one? I think we should get the 
L-shaped one. It’s much more comfortable. 

I get what you’re saying, but I think 
it’s too big for our living room.  

We won’t have space for anything else.
I think it’ll fit. Which one do you think  

we should get, then? Don’t say the green one…
Well… It’s a good price, and it’s a nice couch. 

OK, but the colour is disgusting! 
I don’t want to see that every day.

Did you hear them?

You heard ‘I get what you’re 
saying, but…’ and ‘OK, but…’ 

These are useful when disagreeing; 
you’re showing that you understand  

the other person’s point of view, but 
also that your opinion is different.

So, now you’ve seen many 
different phrases to disagree.  

Let’s see what you can remember! Try to 
complete the phrases from the lesson. 

Pause the video and try to complete 
the phrases. Can you get all eight?

How did you do? Let’s see the answers. 

Did you get them all? So, next time you’re talking 
to someone in English and you want to disagree,  

try to remember these phrases. Even for 
simple functions, like saying ‘I disagree’,  

there’s a lot of different 
language you could use.

I hope you liked the class. Thanks for watching!

See you next time!