How To Use 50 Natural English Expressions
welcome to speak English with Tiffany I
am teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in
expressing stress and anxiety so in
English there are times when you need to
express frustration or even when you
feel busy in those moments the first
expression you can use is I’m losing my
mind one more time I’m losing my mind
now we use this expression because when
you have a lot to do and you feel
frustrated in your brain you feel like
everything is going crazy so we say I’m
losing my mind
now another expression that means the
exact same thing is my head is about to
explode again my head is about to
explode now this term explode I want you
to think about a bomb so you have a bomb
right here now before the bomb explodes
everything is inside but then if the
bomb explodes everything bursts outside
of it and the bomb can cause problems
okay so you go from contained to an
explosion so the same thing happens when
you are busy or frustrated or you feel
like you have a lot of work you feel
like your head is about to explode okay
all right great now the third one is
this is driving me crazy again this is
driving me crazy
now this means the same thing as the
previous two expressions but the way
that you could think about this
expression is at first you feel normal
but then you get frustrated and
everything makes you feel like you are
going to go crazy everything around you
is messing up so we say this is driving
me crazy
or making me feel like I’ll go from a
normal
person to a crazy person okay alright
the next one is this is driving me
insane okay now these two are very very
similar the only difference is insane
and crazy well the term insane just
means very crazy okay very crazy so the
emphasis is put more on this one okay so
this is driving me insane
alright and finally to express this
frustration you can say I’m going nuts
now the term nuts is also a term in
English that means crazy so someone can
say hey you’re crazy or hey you’re nuts
well we’re saying I’m going nuts
whatever is happening is making me feel
crazy so again these are five
expressions to express stress and
anxiety okay let’s keep going
the next one expressing that you don’t
understand now there are going to be
situations you’re in where you want to
say that you don’t understand there are
five different ways to do that the first
one is I don’t follow you okay again I
don’t follow you so this is very useful
because normally when you’re in a
conversation and someone is talking to
you basically you are looking at them
and you’re following what they’re saying
okay I understand that point and I
understand that point when you don’t
understand this does not happen so in
English we say follow you which just
means understand so you can say I don’t
follow you there’s a question mark in my
mind about what you’re saying okay all
right another way of saying that is I
don’t exactly understand what you mean
now I want to put emphasis on this right
here exactly
this is a way to express and emphasize
that you really are trying to understand
but you don’t know the details of what
the person is trying
to explain to you so I think I
understand a little bit but I don’t
exactly understand what you’re trying to
say this is a very useful expression now
the next one is I’m not sure I follow so
again we see this follow right here that
we saw in this one but right here we see
I’m not sure again this is another way
of saying kindly I really want to
understand you but I don’t think I’m
understanding what you’re saying ok very
useful I’m not sure I follow all right
the next one is I don’t get it okay I
don’t get it now the easiest way to
understand this term get it is I want
you to imagine that you are standing and
someone is talking to you okay they’re
giving you some information now as you
are listening to this person talk to you
inside of your brain this information
has to go inside so as they’re talking
if you catch the information or if you
get the information
it means you understand however there
are times where you don’t catch or you
don’t get the information which means
you don’t understand what they are
saying and in English in this situation
you will say I don’t get it okay a lot
of times students use this in America
when they’re speaking to their teachers
teacher I don’t get it can you explain
it one more time so this is very useful
through ever in an English class use it
and the teacher will be impressed
because you sound very natural now
finally we have I’m not sure I know what
you mean okay so now we’re seeing this
again not sure remember we saw that
right here not sure a polite way of
expressing that you really don’t
understand the details and then know
what you mean so what you mean is just
another way of saying know what you are
trying to convey or Express okay so
again I’m not sure I know what
you mean okay alright now the next group
is expressions for praising someone
giving someone a compliment
now I use these a lot when I speak to my
students so the first one is keep up the
good work now the part that I want you
to look at is keep up okay good work you
probably already understand but keep up
just means keep doing something okay
keep doing something alright so if I’m
in my class and my students are
practicing a lot are studying hard and
doing well I will say hey keep up the
good work
it makes me feel good to praise them
okay alright the next one is very simple
amazing I use this a lot as well it just
means wow that’s great
you are amazing okay now you noticed my
tone of voice is also different I can
say Oh amazing
or I can say amazing it has more
emphasis okay alright the next one is
good work now very simple praising
someone but it has a good meaning or you
can say great job now good and great
okay they have a similar meaning but
great is stronger okay great is stronger
than good okay so this one has more
emphasis great alright and finally you
can say nice work
this is something again that is used at
offices when bosses speak to their
employees or you can even use it to
anyone you speak to that you want to
give encouragement or praise to alright
okay our next group is also very useful
fast food restaurant expressions number
one now when you come to America or an
english-speaking country you’re probably
going to go to a fast food restaurant
and when you walk up to them they’re
gonna ask you to take your order there
are many different ways they say this I
want to give you guys five ways so that
you can feel comfortable now the first
way they will do this is what will it be
now I’m gonna say it fast
what’ll it be this just actually means
what will you order okay what will you
order this
what’ll is a combination of what will
okay what will you order so don’t get
confused it’s only being said very
quickly so it seems difficult alright
alright another thing they will say is
can I take your order now this is one
you guys are probably familiar with
because you may see it on movies or you
may see it in other things and have
heard it before
okay the next one is may I take your
order now may I take your order and can
I take your order have the exact same
meaning just like the other ones we’re
gonna look at but when we say may I in
English it is extremely polite okay so
this is extremely polite when this
person is speaking to you they’re trying
to be very polite right and next what
would you like okay again they’re just
asking you just like in the previous
example we looked at right here what
would you like to eat okay what would
you like to eat and finally may I help
you
so we see may I right here and like I
said extremely polite may I help you
they’re asking you Oh what would you
like to order and can I help you order
it okay so these are five things that
you will hear when you go to a fast-food
restaurant when they’re asking you what
you want to eat now our next group is
fast food restaurants expressions too
because now that you have to complete
your order they’re gonna ask you a
question regarding where you want to eat
your food okay all right so the first
way they will ask you is will this be
for here or to go
now this is gonna be asked every time
you go to a restaurant specifically a
fast-food restaurant okay so they’re
saying this so this actually refers to
whatever food you ordered whatever food
you told them that you wanted they’re
gonna fix it for you but they want to
know ah this food that you ordered are
you gonna eat
here at our restaurant or are you gonna
take it away in a bag okay so they want
to know what you want to do so they say
will this be for here at our restaurant
or are you taking it out leaving with
the food okay all right another way they
will say it is is that for here or to go
so you’re seeing a pattern for here or
to go okay
or they will say just simply for here or
to go very simple way
now again sometimes students will get
confused because they’re wondering well
I’m already here what do you mean
they’re just asking you whether you want
to eat the food there or outside of
their restaurant okay another way they
can say it is do you want that to go
okay so the food that you ordered are
you going to take it out if you say no
it automatically means that it’s for
here okay
all right and the last way they’ll say
it is are you going to eat it here all
right so if I say yes to this it means
I’m not going anywhere but if I say no
that means I’m taking it to go okay so
once you learn these expressions you’ll
be very confident and comfortable when
you go to a fast-food restaurant
all right now the next group admitting
you made a mistake these are also very
useful sometimes you get into
disagreement or you make a mistake at
work or with a friend and you want to
know how to express your apologies in
English the first way you can do this is
by saying I didn’t mean it that way okay
that way so it means maybe you and your
friend were having a conversation and
during that conversation you said
something to your friend but the way
your friend heard it actually made them
feel bad but you didn’t intend to make
them feel bad so you say ah I didn’t
intend it that way
okay now the next thing you say is my
mistake it means I did it I am sorry it
wasn’t your fault okay it was not your
fault
I am the one to blame okay was not your
fault
this is also used very often okay my
mistake alright next I honestly didn’t
mean it
now when you use this word honestly
you’re actually emphasizing that you are
sincerely apologetic okay emphasizing
that you’re very sorry for what you did
all right
next you can say I didn’t intend it that
way this is a new vocabulary word for
some of you but I didn’t intend just
means I didn’t mean it that way okay
that wasn’t my purpose okay
it wasn’t my purpose when I did that my
purpose was not to hurt you or to make a
mistake and you can also say I shouldn’t
have said or done that I shouldn’t have
said or done that
this shows regret and that if you could
do it over again you wouldn’t have done
that okay so we say I shouldn’t have
said or done that alright now our next
group is expressions for forgiving
someone these are also very useful so
let’s say you have a group of friends
and you guys are all together but
something happens and one of you makes a
mistake
but you want to forgive them a very
common expression is all is forgiven
this term right here all it means
everything that happened before whatever
it was that made everyone angry and
everyone’s arguing about all of that is
gone and now we are happy together
everything is forgiven
okay all right you can also say no
worries it’s all in the past what ever
happened before we are not thinking
about that now but I want to put
emphasis on this no worries usually when
someone does something wrong and they
apologize they are concerned that maybe
the person will keep thinking about it
and it bothers them but they’re saying
hey no worries
is forgiven this is something that I use
all of the time with my friends if
something happens and they ask me
forgiveness I said hey no worries it’s
all good it’s all in the past so I use
this one very frequently okay all right
another way is that’s alright again this
is a very easy way of saying I forgive
you hey that’s alright it’s okay
don’t worry that’s alright everything is
right now nothing is wrong okay next you
can say I forgive you this is the
easiest one that you guys have probably
heard I forgive you finally don’t worry
about it remember up here I mentioned
that the person can worry after they’ve
made a mistake but you’re telling them
don’t worry about it i forgiving you
everything is okay so these are very
useful expressions all right our next
group is encouraging someone to relax
sometimes you have a friend that may
feel very stressed about something and
you want to tell them don’t worry
everything will work out so what you can
do is you can say calm down everyone
knows the word calm calm just means
everything is at peace everything is
very level okay your feeling inside
everything is very level so we say hey
calm down
don’t be too excited about things okay
or you can say stay calm
remember the term stay just means to
remain okay remain this is used a lot of
times by policemen or people that are
firemen when they’re coming to a scene
and it’s very frantic people are very
frantic alright then we’re down for you
guys
frantic means to be very excited okay
very excited or concerned in a situation
they will come and say hey stay calm
it’s an emergency but I need you to stay
calm and relaxed okay you can also say
take it easy okay take it easy again the
same meaning
stay calm or calm down don’t worry then
you can say take a deep breath and I’ll
show you what that is
usually when you do that you take a deep
breath it calms you down okay or you can
say relax now that’s a word you already
know these are five ways to tell someone
to relax simply say relax or take it
easy or calm down take a deep breath or
stay calm very useful English
expressions now our next group is
letting someone in front of you in line
so you’re gonna be in many situations
where people are lined up and maybe the
person behind you that is in a rush and
wants to get in front of you so how can
you tell them it’s okay for them to get
in front of you well one way you can do
this is by saying after you so let’s say
for example this person right here he
looks very relaxed he’s not in a rush
but this guy right here
walked up after him and he says hey I’m
in a rush so this guy says sure you go
ahead of me I will go after you so you
can say oh after you it means go in
front of me and I will go after you next
you can say ladies first now in American
culture
normally the men allow the women to go
in front of them if we’re going inside
of a room of a go inside of a building
the man will hold the door so he will
say ladies first so this is a good
expression to know when you come to
America because that’s part of our
culture all right or you can say you
first it means oh I’ll go second you go
first but you see how simple these
expressions are there are really only
two words so you can memorize them but
it’s good to know the meaning because
it’s easy for you to say all right next
you can say go right ahead
it means hey go in front of me go ahead
of me
it’s okay I’m okay with that or you can
say be my guest
okay now this expression just really
kind of shows a kinder side of this
expression because you’re telling
someone to go in front of you but this
is saying hey I would love for you to go
in front of me I am happy to let you go
in front of me be my guest
okay all right now the next group is
returning thanks someone says thank you
and you want to say you’re welcome well
there are other ways of saying you’re
welcome
the first one is it was my pleasure now
I use this almost every single day
whenever I’m talking to someone and they
thank me for doing something I say oh my
pleasure and you guys have probably seen
that in some of my comments on my
YouTube videos
my pleasure it means it made me happy to
do whatever it is I did for you so it
was not difficult for me at all it made
me happy to do that for you okay all
right you’re welcome
again this is when you already know
number three don’t mention it now this
is a way of saying hey it’s okay you
didn’t have to thank me I was happy to
do it for you
you don’t have to continue to thank me
because I’m already happy that I did it
okay
don’t mention it all right my pleasure
once again right here and the pleasure
was truly all mine this is something I
also use a lot because hey it makes me
happy to help you don’t even worry about
it okay so these are five ways to say
you’re welcome now if you want to
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