5 Daily NATIVE Phrases of British English | spoken English!

hi there everyone welcome to English

with Catherine

if you’re new here welcome thank you so

much for being here I’m going to share

with you today five phrases that we use

in native English

so what I’ve done is just been really

aware recently of things that we say

every day really kind of basic responses

reactions if you start using these

phrases you will definitely sound much

more natural

less formal much more friendly and easy

to talk to I think I’ve told you before

that when you come to the UK you will

notice that the English that we speak is

not the English that you learned at

school it’s spoken English and spoken

English has phrasal verbs idioms and

many many things like little Expressions

that we just don’t use in writing and we

don’t learn at school generally

so here I am making your life easier if

you come to the UK and you use a couple

of these phrases you’ll definitely fit

in number one is the thing is

the thing is the thing is we use this

all the time and what it means is the

issue is the problem is in British

culture we really really don’t like to

say when there’s a problem

or we don’t really like to say no either

we’re kind of terrified of Confrontation

and sort of causing a fuss or offending

someone so there’s so much you need to

learn about how to behave here is just I

mean I have many more videos let’s just

say that so to give you some examples of

how to use the thing is we can say the

flat is so beautiful the thing is the

traffic sound coming from the road

really puts me off so here you’re saying

the flat is really nice maybe you’re

looking at a flat you’re wanting to rent

it or buy it and you’re saying the flat

is lovely but the traffic sounds coming

from the road is kind of a negative and

it’s kind of making you not like the

flat as much it’s not a very direct way

to express this it’s a typically British

way to express this we also use it to

soften the blow or reduce the impact or

the effect of saying something negative

to someone maybe something that is maybe

quite offensive or a bit difficult for

them to hear

for example when a manager is addressing

his employee about a situation an issue

something that’s wrong

he could say you’re doing really well in

this job the thing is a few colleagues

have noticed you’ve been late a few

times this month so this is a good way

to bring up a problem with that employee

that will not automatically

offend them it will give them time to

process the information so that they

don’t immediately get offended and look

red in the face Etc

so it’s a really good way to soften the

blow of that kind of criticism another

example of softening the blow is just

saying no to someone in that something

just isn’t possible or isn’t logical or

isn’t rational and you want to say no in

the best way for example the thing is

Karen we just can’t afford to have six

swimming pools in the garden

we just can’t afford it

right so that example is a bit silly but

you know what I mean it’s about saying

no it’s about softening the blow that’s

another expression you’ve learned today

to soften the blow means to reduce the

impact or the effect of something

negative number two is

fair enough

so we say this as a response to

something that we see as acceptable

logical

understandable reasonable

for example I can’t come tonight because

I’m working late

the response would be fair enough it’s

very very common to hear this every day

in conversation amongst friends or

family and really it’s a very useful

response because it’s only two words

another example I’ll do the dishes

tonight if you do the dishes tomorrow

response would be fair enough great

great idea now we say do the dishes by

the way it means to wash the dishes

that’s a collocation with do

number three is what a shame

what a shame

so this is another response but this

time it’s When someone tells you

something disappointing almost sad

annoying for them and you want to

respond in the right way now if it’s

something really sad and really serious

you can’t say what a shame because

you’re going to need something a bit

more serious and a bit stronger

but for example if someone says to you

my auntie can’t come to visit anymore

because of the train strikes you can say

oh what a shame

what a shame

that means oh that’s that really that’s

a shame you know that’s disappointing

that’s sad for you

another example is

oh I dropped my favorite necklace in the

river when I was bending over the bridge

you can say oh what a shame that’s

that’s a real shame you know for you so

it’s it helps to be understanding show

sympathy for someone it’s really nice

actually it’s a nice expression it shows

that you care and that you’re listening

to what they’re saying about their

problem

so use what a shame if you want to sound

a little bit more native number four is

a complete nightmare

now you’ll notice that I’m saying this

with quite a lot of drama and energy and

that’s because it helps to describe a

feeling of being angry about something

now in British culture we do love to

complain We complain about a lot of

things but this phrase a complete

nightmare we usually use to complain

about the traffic so a lot of heavy

traffic when you’re trying to get home

after a long day at work perhaps you

have to drive home and you get stuck in

traffic our roads are notoriously busy

we have a lot of cars on the roads

so it’s very common to get stuck in

traffic or we use this phrase to

complain about the trains the trains in

Britain are notoriously very very bad

sorry to say that but they are often

canceled or very delayed and they often

don’t really give you much warning but I

have to say the underground trains in

London are absolutely amazing we also

use this phrase to complain about cueing

now in British culture queuing is very

important we do always queue and if

someone is trying to queue jump it is

always a massive problem so some

examples using this phrase

the trains were a complete nightmare

yesterday it took me over an hour to get

home when it would normally take me 20

minutes

what a nightmare

okay very dramatic that’s very true

um but yes this is very very common

especially if you just want to describe

that annoyance that you felt because of

the trains it was absolute gridlock on

the motorway yesterday it was an

absolute nightmare getting home

now gridlock means solid traffic so Kaka

Lori Lori car Laurie Carr nothing moving

nothing moving and an example for cueing

it will be a nightmare tomorrow we will

have to queue for hours

so here we are here predicting the

future and worrying about queuing in the

future which is by the way another thing

that we do we worry about the future

we’re always thinking what’s coming

what’s coming

so it will be a nightmare tomorrow we

will have to queue for hours

number five is what have you been up to

what have you been up to

what have you been up to now this is

very common in British small talk when

you haven’t seen a friend or a colleague

or a family member for a while we often

ask this in small talk when we see them

and it means what have you been doing

how have you been filling your time have

you been playing tennis have you been at

the pub have you been doing a new hobby

have you been working too much you then

need to answer the question with what

you have been doing you don’t answer

with up to in the answer it’s only for

the question okay for example what have

you been up to recently well I’ve been

um I don’t know just playing the piano a

bit I’ve been going out for walks I’ve

been spending a lot of time with my

sister but I’ve been working far too

much we also use up to to ask about what

someone is doing in the future so on the

weekend typically so what are you up to

on the weekend what are you up to on the

weekend I use this very often when I’m

asking my friends what their plans are

either the same evening or on the

weekend when I’m maybe going to invite

them for a drink or suggest doing

something with them

I hope you’ve enjoyed this video about

five native phrases maybe it will make

it a little bit easier when you come to

the UK and you hear these on the streets

in conversation in cafes wherever you

are so hit the Subscribe button if you

feel in the mood too and I’ll see you

next week for another class thank you

5 Daily NATIVE Phrases of British English | spoken English!

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