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  • Well hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish

  • and in this lesson, we're talking about cash!

  • Moollah. Big ones. Bucks.

  • Quid. Dosh. Dough.

  • Coin. Money.

  • Now, most countries have their own currency

  • - the name for their money.

  • So dollars, pounds, euros, yen, rupee,

  • dirham, renminhbi, dong.

  • In fact,

  • can you do me a favour and write the name of

  • your country's currency

  • in the comments below this video?

  • I'm curious to see just how many currencies

  • we can collect down there.

  • But currency is not what this lesson is about.

  • This lesson is about the nouns, the verbs,

  • the adjectives that we use to talk about money

  • in English and there are plenty!

  • The thing about money is,

  • it's a pretty dang important part of life really, isn't it?

  • So it's no wonder at all why we have

  • so many different words to talk about money

  • including plenty of slang words.

  • Plenty more than I've listed here.

  • And these words are often unique to a place

  • or to a community.

  • They may not be understood

  • by all native English speakers

  • or even used by all native English speakers.

  • So if you're visiting an English-speaking country,

  • do a little research before you arrive

  • because you'll hear 'quid' and 'skint' in England

  • but they're not commonly used here in Australia.

  • We would probably say 'bucks' and 'broke' instead,

  • which is a little more like Americans.

  • So when you're in an English-speaking country,

  • make sure you're listening out for these words.

  • Listen for the way that local people talk about money.

  • Now the noun 'money' is a universal word, you can use it

  • anywhere in an English-speaking country.

  • In Australia, you'll hear people use any of these words

  • to refer to money and more of them.

  • But the most common ones are bucks, cash,

  • coin and of course, money.

  • One of the trickiest

  • things about money words in English

  • is how they are used

  • because dollars and bucks are countable nouns.

  • So if you have more than one,

  • it must be plural.

  • Make sure you check your pronunciation on that,

  • it's very common for English learners

  • to drop the plural 'S' and say "five dollar"

  • which is incorrect, "five dollars".

  • Now, 'bucks' is just an informal casual word for dollars.

  • It's a synonym.

  • Can I borrow ten bucks?

  • It has exactly the same meaning as

  • "Can I borrow ten dollars?"

  • It's just more informal.

  • And often 'bucks' is used as a bit of a

  • sales or marketing tool

  • because somehow 'bucks' makes things sound cheaper

  • or less expensive.

  • It's only twenty bucks! Let's get it..

  • What? Twenty dollars? I'm not paying that.

  • No.. it's only twenty bucks. It's nothing!

  • So this is exactly the same amount

  • but using 'bucks' makes it sound cheaper somehow.

  • So it's a good sales tool.

  • 'Cents' and 'coins' are also countable nouns

  • relating to money.

  • Do you have any coins? I need them to pay for parking.

  • Sorry, I've only got fifty cents.

  • Now, 'quid' is countable

  • but it doesn't have a plural form.

  • It'll cost you a quid.

  • Can you lend me twenty quid?

  • There is no plural sound.

  • Now when you think about money like this,

  • it's easy to see how it's countable, right?

  • We know exactly how many dollars and cents

  • we have in the bank.

  • So of course money is countable, right?

  • But actually, some English nouns that refer to money

  • are uncountable

  • and this has a huge impact

  • when you're using these words in English sentences.

  • So to find out more about that,

  • check out this lesson I made about uncountable nouns

  • but right now, we'll continue talking about

  • uncountable nouns relating to money, okay?

  • 'Money' is an uncountable noun and 'cash' is a synonym.

  • It's also an uncountable noun which means

  • that they have only one form.

  • There is no plural form.

  • We would never say 'monies' or 'cashes'.

  • Did you bring any money for the tickets?

  • I haven't got enough money to pay for lunch. Sorry.

  • Now, this is interesting!

  • Once an amount gets over a thousand,

  • you'll notice people saying 'grand' or 'K'

  • and this just means thousand.

  • So this is quite common across

  • all English-speaking countries.

  • He earned 80K in three months.

  • We borrowed fifty grand from my parents

  • to put a deposit on a house.

  • So that's fifty thousand dollars.

  • Now some nouns in English can be

  • countable and uncountable.

  • 'Coin' is like this.

  • Coins are countable, you can see

  • I've got several of them right here.

  • Now this is the common use of 'coin', right?

  • There are several coins here

  • but 'coin' can also be used informally

  • as a synonym for money.

  • She must be on some good coin.

  • They've just bought a new house!

  • So this means she must be making lots of money.

  • "She's on good coin" not "She's on good coins"

  • Okay so let's talk about some verbs to use

  • when you're talking about money in English.

  • So when you go to work,

  • you earn money, don't you?

  • Have you ever wondered how much

  • money someone else earns?

  • Some people are much better at

  • saving money than others, right?

  • Some people spend their money straightaway

  • as soon as they get it

  • and then they have to

  • borrow money from their friends and family.

  • Do you know anyone like that?

  • When you borrow money from a bank,

  • you take out a loan.

  • So the bank loans you money,

  • when you don't have enough.

  • So notice here that 'loan' can be a verb and also a noun.

  • But the problem is that then you owe the bank money.

  • I hate the feeling of owing someone money.

  • I always try to repay that money as quickly as possible.

  • When you loan money from the bank,

  • you have to repay the money, right?

  • With interest.

  • So if you don't blow all your money

  • as soon as you get it.

  • That's just an informal way of saying

  • "Spend all your money."

  • So if you don't blow all your money as soon as you get it,

  • you may be able to invest the money.

  • And when someone, perhaps a relative, passes away

  • or they die, they might leave you some of their money.

  • And when this happens, you inherit money.

  • So the reality is that most things cost money, don't they?

  • Not everything, but most things cost money.

  • Goodness, there are lots and lots of different

  • verbs to use with 'money', aren't there?

  • And also they can be used with the

  • synonyms of 'money', as well.

  • Lots of collocations to try and remember.

  • Let's talk about adjectives that you can use

  • when you're talking about money.

  • So it's important to know that there are

  • different adjectives to use with things.

  • So the things that you can buy with money and people.

  • So that describes people's behaviour with money.

  • So let's start with adjectives that describe things

  • that people can buy.

  • So of course, you're probably used to the adjective,

  • 'expensive', when something costs a lot of money, right?

  • And 'cheap',

  • when something doesn't cost a lot of money.

  • But I want to introduce you to a few other words,

  • other adjectives.

  • I want to push your vocabulary a bit further today.

  • So I want you to think about a situation

  • where you bought something in the past

  • and you were happy with the price.

  • It wasn't a cheap item but you were happy

  • to pay the price.

  • In your opinion, the value that you get

  • is equal to the cost.

  • The benefit of the item

  • is equal to the amount that you will pay for it.

  • So then, you can say "it's worth it."

  • We paid more for the house than we wanted to,

  • but it's worth it. It's in a beautiful location.

  • You might also say that the price was fair or reasonable

  • but if something costs more than you think it's worth,

  • you could say that "it's pricey."

  • I almost bought a new sofa today but I decided

  • it was too pricey.

  • I'll keep looking for one that's a little cheaper.

  • Now the adjective 'cheap' is not always a positive one.

  • It can suggest that something is poorly-made,

  • that the quality is bad.

  • So if you want to say that something is cheap

  • but express it in a more positive way,

  • you could use 'affordable' or 'economical'.

  • We need more affordable housing options in the city.

  • Catching a bus to Thailand

  • is more economical than flying.

  • That's a positive way to express 'cheaper'.

  • So how can we describe people and their money?

  • You probably know someone who is

  • generous with the money that they have.

  • They share it with everyone around them.

  • They're generous.

  • Now if someone has a lot of money, you could say

  • "They're rolling in it."

  • As in they're rolling in money. They've got lots of it!

  • Another common one, "They're loaded"

  • or even "They've got heaps of coin."

  • Now if someone doesn't have much money,

  • you might hear

  • "They're broke" or "They're skint"

  • So 'broke' is common in Australia and in America,

  • 'skimp' is commonly used in the UK

  • but both being that someone doesn't have

  • much money or any money.

  • I'm completely broke.

  • Now if you know someone who doesn't

  • like to spend their money,

  • you could say "they're tight" or "a cheapskate".

  • Now these are both insults, they're not kind words.

  • So don't use them to talk about your friends

  • unless you're joking around.

  • My boss is so tight, he cancelled our Christmas party

  • because there were too many people to invite.

  • So if you don't mean to insult someone

  • and you're suggesting that it's a good thing

  • that they don't spend their money, then instead

  • use a different adjective like

  • 'thrifty' or 'money-conscious'.

  • My auntie is thrifty with her money,

  • she doesn't earn much but she lives comfortably.

  • Now if someone doesn't like to spend money,

  • that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?

  • Sometimes that's a really positive quality.

  • So I've introduced a lot of new words

  • throughout this lesson. Lots of words to do with money.

  • What I suggest you do, is take a few moments

  • to write a paragraph right now.

  • Write about the people in your life who suit

  • these adjectives or things you've done with the verbs

  • that we talked about earlier.

  • Do you know someone who's loaded

  • or someone who's thrifty?

  • Tell me about it in the comments.

  • Practise using these words in sentences.

  • I really hope that you enjoyed this lesson.

  • Money is something that we

  • all talk about a lot, don't we?

  • So I hope that you learned some new ways

  • to express yourself today.

  • Please show your love and support

  • for the mmmEnglish channel

  • by clicking that red subscribe button just down there.

  • If you're not a subscriber already, you should be!

  • Come and join us!

  • If you want to keep watching

  • and keep practising with me,

  • check out these lessons here.

  • Otherwise, thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.

  • Bye for now!

Well hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish

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