I Dont Want To Keep You Polite Natural English Expression
hi i’m vanessa from speak english with
vanessa calm how can you politely tell
someone that you need to go let’s talk
about it the other day when i was at the
grocery store an older lady who was in
line behind me started talking with me
about food and the things that i was
buying and we just had a friendly
conversation and after i finished
checking out and after she finished
checking out she still kept talking with
me about everything she told me about
every job that she’s ever had about her
family her experiences throughout her
whole life she talked to me for over one
hour i tried to be nice i tried to get
out of the conversation and go home i
was carrying my groceries so i wanted to
take them home but i just couldn’t get
out of the conversation and do you know
what she said multiple times
she said the expression that i want to
teach you today she said i don’t want to
keep you too long i don’t want to keep
you too long and this means oh i know
that you need to go but it’s so
enjoyable talking with you i’m sorry we
have to go this is a polite way to say
you probably need to go so i don’t want
to keep you too long but for this lady
as you can tell she loved to talk so she
said to me i don’t want to keep you too
long but let me tell you one more thing
she kept going and going
i tried to be polite but in the end
nothing I said worked she just kept
talking so she said I don’t wanna want
to I don’t want to keep you too long but
let me tell you about my other daughter
let me tell you
about when I moved to another state let
me tell you about my job I don’t want to
keep you too long but it means that she
didn’t really want to go she did want to
keep me she wasn’t really being honest
but she was acknowledging that I needed
to go but she didn’t want me to go so I
hope that you can use this expression in
your conversations in a more polite way
than the way that this lady used at the
grocery store so for you I recommend
using this just at the end of your
conversations
so as you’re talking with someone and
you’ve been talking for a while maybe
you’re at the grocery store like I was
and you need to go home or maybe you’re
talking on the phone and you’ve been
talking for a while you could say I
don’t want to keep you too long so I’m
gonna go or I don’t want to keep you too
long so have a good day
it’s a good transition to let the other
person know that it’s time to go you’re
trying to be polite and you’re not gonna
say I gotta go bye that’s a little
direct you’re gonna indirectly say I
don’t want to keep you so let’s go I
don’t want to keep you too long and now
I have a question for you I want to know
when was a time that someone kept you
for too long you had to go somewhere but
they kept talking they kept going and
going and they kept you for too long
like the lady at the grocery store who I
met last week I hope that this
expression is useful to you and I’m sure
that you’re going to hear this around in
TV shows and movies and in your
conversations in English thanks so much
for learning with me and I’ll see you
the next time
bye you enjoyed this video be sure to
download my free ebook where you can
learn 5 steps to becoming a confident
English speaker you can share it on
Facebook upgrade the listening audio
version and don’t forget to check your
email to get the free ebook let’s see
what it is
all right here is the free ebook you can
download yours today just click on the
link and it will be in your email within
a few seconds thanks so much for
learning with me bite