Name: 11 Short English Conversation PHRASES - Speak Fluent English - Common Expressions in English
Uploaded: 2020-06-06T17:37:43.000Z
Duration: 11 min 13 s
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Hello there, and welcome back to Learn English Lab.

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In this lesson, I'm going to teach you 11 short conversation phrases that you can use

These are all common English expressions, and they will help you sound more like a native

Number one is “I'm afraid” – this phrase does not show fear (it doesn't mean

that you're scared) - this is a polite expression used to say something negative, and it's

For example, say someone calls an office and asks to speak to the manager: “Hello.

Could I speak to Mr. Peterson, please?”

His secretary is the one answering the call.

She says, “I'm afraid he's not here right now.”

Or let's say one of your friends comes to you and says, “Hey, I'm broke.

Can you lend me $500 until next month?” – here, “I'm broke” means I don't

And “Can you lend me $500 until next month” means “I'll pay you back next month.”

But you say, “I'm afraid I can't, sorry.

In a meeting at your workplace, one of your colleagues says something that you disagree

with, but you want to be polite, so you say, “I'm afraid I don't agree with you.”

In all of these sentences, “I'm afraid” doesn't mean that you are scared of anything;

it just adds politeness to what you're saying.

So, get into the habit of using “I'm afraid” to make negative messages a little softer.

This is an acronym; that is a short form of “as soon as possible”.

But, the short form is so common that you can use it as a single word – you can say

We use this most commonly when we request someone to do something immediately.

Your boss at work might say: “Send me the report ASAP.”

Or, you if you phone somebody but they're not available; someone else answers the phone,

you can say, “Please tell her to call me back ASAP.”

One of your friends wants to apply for a job but hasn't sent in the job application yet

You say, “If you want to apply for the job, you should send in your application ASAP.”

Remember that ASAP simply means “as soon as possible”.

All it means is “no”, but it's a more soft and polite “no”.

Let's say you go to a party at your friend Tom's house, but the party isn't all that

good; it's boring and the food's terrible.

But another friend, who's thoroughly enjoying it, comes to you and asks: “Hey, are you

You want to say “no” but you want to say it in a soft way.

At the same party, you meet a guy who just loves golf.

And he asks you, “Are you into golf?”

You don't want to say “no” and be rude, so you make it a little more polite: “Not

A couple of days later, your friend, Tom, who threw the party finds out that you didn't

like it; he calls you up and he asks, “Hey, have you been telling people that my party

That's not what I've been saying to people.

Now, your mom overhears the phone conversation; she comes to you and she asks, “What was

The next expression is “Good stuff!”.

You say this to congratulate or encourage someone.

If a friend of yours says, “I joined a gym today because I want to get in shape.”

If the news is not just good, but great, you can say “great stuff”.

When my niece came to me and told me: “Uncle Gan, I just got accepted to law school.”

Another time I said this was when I ran into my neighbor the other day.

He said, “I got a promotion at work recently.”

Now, if the news is not so good, then you say, “I'm sorry to hear that”.

“Sorry” does not mean that you are apologizing; it just shows that you feel bad for the other

person: “I didn't get accepted to Harvard university.”

I'm sure you'll find another job soon.”

Now, “I got laid off” means “I was fired from my job”.

“Our house burned down, and we lost everything.”

Phrase number six is: “Give me a hand”.

This expression is just a fancy way of asking for help.

You're not actually asking for a hand, so this is an idiom; it's informal, it's

conversational and it makes you sound more like a native speaker.

For example, let's say you're trying to move some boxes, but they're too heavy for

So, you ask someone else to help you with them: “Can you give me a hand with these