5 Quick and Easy Phrases for Fluent English
Vanessa:
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to sound more fluent in English?
Let’s talk about it.
Today you are going to learn five quick and
easy phrases that are kind of like a shortcut
to sounding fluid.
When you use these expressions, other English
speakers will feel very comfortable, it will
seem very natural, and they are quick and
easy ways to level up your English.
To help you with this lesson, I have created
a free PDF download with all of these five
expressions, a lot of sample sentences, a
lot of ideas and tips for using them, so make
sure you check out the free PDF.
You can download it by clicking on the link
in the description below this video.
This is my gift to you.
I hope you enjoy the PDF worksheets.
Yes, you can do it.
All right.
Let’s get started with the first expression.
That is a quick and easy way to sound fluent
phrase.
Number one is gotcha.
Gotcha can be used in two different ways.
Let’s start with the first one.
The first one is just to show that you understand.
For example, if your friend went on a date
and that date was terrible, everything went
wrong and your friend says, “You know what?
I don’t think I’m going to go on a second
date with him.”
You might say, “Gotcha.”
And that simply means, “I understand.
We are connecting on a deep level because
I understand what you mean.
I wouldn’t want to go on a second day with
him either.
Gotcha.”
The second way to use Gotcha is to surprise
someone usually with some kind of trick.
So let me give you a quick example.
On my husband’s birthday in the morning, we
said, “Happy birthday, it’s your birthday.”
And then I said, “Oh no, I forgot to buy you
a present.”
And he said, “I guess it’s okay.
Everyone forgets sometimes.”
And then I said, “Gotcha, here’s your present.”
So I tricked him.
This is a very light and silly way.
It’s not a serious situation.
But I said, “Gotcha, I tricked you.”
He believed that I didn’t get him a present
so I can use this fun expression and say,
“Gotcha.”
Quick and easy phrase number two is never
mind.
Never mind.
This often means, forget about it or it doesn’t
matter, and usually we use this when something
is too long or complicated to explain, or
we just don’t want to talk about it anymore.
Let me give you two examples.
My mom and I were at a cafe looking at a chocolate
cake and a chocolate chip cookie.
I said, “Hmm, which one should we get?
Chocolate cake.
That looks so good.
Oh, that chocolate chip cookie, that also
looks good.”
And I said, “Never mind, let’s get both.”
So here I didn’t want to go into a long explanation.
Which one should we get?
Let’s talk about the pros and cons.
Never mind.
Let’s just get both of them.
Or have you ever been in this situation where
someone asks you for directions?
So the other day my friend asked me, “Hey,
where’s the nearest grocery store?”
And I tried to explain to her and I said,
“Never mind, just use Google Maps.
It’s a lot easier.”
So I didn’t want to explain to her how to
get to the grocery store.
It would be much easier and much more simple
to just look at Google Maps.
So I said, “Never mind, don’t listen to my
explanation.
No, it’s too confusing.
It doesn’t matter.
Forget about it.
Forget what I said.
Just look at Google Maps.
Never mind.”
Quick and easy phrase to sound more fluent
number three is gotta go or gotta run.
Let’s talk about the full expression first.
The full grammatical expression is I have
got to go.
I have got to run.
But we don’t really use it like that.
This just means I need to leave, but we often
reduce this to I’ve gotta go.
So we make a contraction with I have, I’ve,
I’ve gotta go, or I’ve gotta run, but sometimes
we cut out the verb have completely and just
say I gotta go, I gotta run.
And a quick little pronunciation tip is that
in American English, a T that is surrounded
by vowels often changes to a D sound.
So listen carefully when I say that phrase.
If I say, “It’s already six o’clock.
I gotta run.”
Gotta run.
It’s exactly like a D sound.
So if you want to up your American accent,
you can include this pronunciation when you
speak.
I gotta go, I gotta run.
It doesn’t mean that you’re going to exercise
and run.
It just means I need to leave probably quickly.
I gotta go.
I gotta run.
Quick and easy fluent phrase number four is
no worries, no problem.
This is kind of like a two for one deal.
Two phrases in one.
So this is just another informal way to say
you’re welcome.
But we often use this in light situations.
So for example, if you’ve helped someone at
work, maybe you proof-read an email that they
were going to send, or you looked over their
project, they might say, “Thanks so much for
helping me get my project done.”
And you say, “No worries.
It’s my pleasure.
No worries.
It’s my pleasure.”
Or if it was pouring down rain and you gave
someone your umbrella for the afternoon, they
could say, “Thanks so much for letting me
borrow your umbrella.”
You can use this great phrase.
“No problem.
No problem.”
Or, “No worries.
No worries.”
Excellent way to level up your fluency in
English.
Quick and easy fluent phrase number five is
for real.
For real?
So this phrase can be used in a positive or
a negative way, depending on your tone of
voice.
So let me give you some examples.
Take a look at this sentence.
When the sales associate told me that the
computer costs $4,000, I said, “For real?”
Can you tell by my face and by my tone of
voice, I’m shocked, surprised, and maybe I
want to verify, “Really?
Is it really $4,000?
That’s really expensive.”
I’m not asking them to actually give me an
answer because the price is right there.
It’s a fact, it’s $4,000.
But I’m showing my surprise by saying, “For
real?
That’s really expensive.
For real?”
So we call this a rhetorical question.
It means when you ask a question, but you
don’t expect a response.
It’s just kind of a figure of speech.
So if somebody says, “Yeah, that computer’s
$4,000,” you might say, “What?
For real?”
But we can use this in a positive way too.
So let’s imagine that I looked at the computer,
it’s $4,000, way too expensive.
I go to the next store, and at the next store,
the sales associate says, “Yeah, this computer
$400.”
I might say, “For real?
That’s a great deal.”
Can you tell hell in the tone of my voice
that it’s something positive?
I am responding with positive surprise.
$4,000.
Nope.
$400, what a deal.
We might even call it a steal.
What a steal.
So you can use for real in this type of positive
surprise as well.
If your friend tells you some positive news
like, “I’m going to have a baby,” you might
say, “For real?”
You’re not asking them, “Wait, are you lying
to me?”
No, this is a rhetorical question.
You’re not asking for a response.
You’re simply showing surprise or shock, but
in that positive way.
I know I said that we’re going to be studying
five quick and easy expressions, but I couldn’t
help myself.
I want to give you a bonus expression.
So our bonus quick and easy fluent phrase
is what’s that.
What’s that?
This is a nice informal way to ask, “I didn’t
understand what you said.
Can you repeat that please?”
But it’s very quick.
You can just say, “What’s that?
What’s that?”
Let me give you an example and then we’ll
talk about some pronunciations so that you
don’t mix it up with another phrase that is
almost exactly the same.
So if I’m talking with one of my students
and I just don’t understand what the students
said, maybe their pronunciation was incorrect
or maybe they were talking too quickly, or
maybe there was some noise, I might say.
“What’s that?
What’s that?”
It’s just a way to ask, “Hey, can you repeat
that thing you said, because I didn’t understand
it.'
There was some noise or maybe your pronunciation,
I’m not sure what happened, but you can just
say, “What’s that?
What’s that?”
Notice how I’m emphasizing both words.
What’s that?
What’s that?
What’s that?
Because if you go into…
Let’s say you go into a bakery and…
I’m thinking about chocolate right now, I
guess.
Let’s say you go into a bakery and you see
a dessert that you really want, but for some
reason the one that you want doesn’t have
a label on it.
So you might ask the person who works in the
bakery, “What’s that?
What’s that?”
You’re simply asking.
What’s the name of that thing.
This is different than I don’t understand.
Do you want to hear that pronunciation difference?
What’s that?
What’s that?
You’re emphasizing that, because you’re pointing
to that dessert and in this way you’re using
it in the very normal way.
What’s that?
What’s that thing?
But if you want to use this phrase to say,
“I didn’t hear what you said, please repeat,”
you need to emphasize both words.
Listen when I say it.
What’s that?
What’s that?
What’s that?
They both have equal emphasis.
What’s that?
What’s that?
You can often use this if there’s a bad connection.
Maybe you’re having a phone conversation or
a Zoom call or something like this, and the
connection starts to cut out a little bit,
you might say, “What’s that, I didn’t hear
what you said.
What’s that?
What did you say?
What’s that?”
It’s a great thing to use in those types of
situations where you can’t understand, but
maybe there’s just a technical problem.
All right.
I know that I had just had one bonus expression,
but I decided to add 50 more quick and…
Gotcha.
Not really.
I was just joking.
Well, I gotta run.
We’ve got to finish this lesson and it’s time
for me to move on with my day.
But before we go, I have a question for you.
Tell me in the comments, what would you say
if your boss told you, “I need you to work
late this weekend?”
Which one of these phrases would you use?
There’s a couple options.
You can use a couple of these phrases in this
situation.
What would you tell your boss in this situation?
I need you to work late this weekend.
Well thank you so much for learning English
with me.
Don’t forget to download the free PDF so that
you can learn all of these five quick and
easy phrases to sound more fluent plus the
bonus expression, and at the bottom of the
free worksheet, you can answer Vanessa’s challenge
question.
You’ll have a chance to use what you’ve learned.
So thank you so much.
And I’ll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to download the free PDF
worksheet for this lesson.
With this free PDF, you will master today’s
lesson and never forget what you have learned.
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Bye.