Phrases you need to schedule meetings in English

How to schedule, reschedule, or cancel a meeting while sounding

confident and clear in English?

Today we are going to talk about common phrases related to scheduling, and

talk about pronunciation, connected speech, and sentence stress so that

you always know what phrases to use and how to say them clearly and accurately.

I also created a free PDF for you to download along with this lesson, with

all the phrases that I'm going to talk about and more, with an audio recording,

so you can just play the recording and practice along with me, so that these

phrases become more automatic and you're always clear on how to say them clearly.

If you're new to my channel, then hi, my name is Hadar.

I'm a non-native speaker of English, and I am here to help you speak English

with clarity, confidence, and freedom.

Check out my website for a ton of lessons and free resources to help

you reach your goals in English.

All right, so let's get started.

Today we're going to talk about scheduling, rescheduling, confirming

a meeting, and canceling a meeting, all while focusing on the

pronunciation of the key words and reductions in connected speech.

So again, it's not going to just be easier for you to say these phrases

clearly, it's also going to help you understand other speakers better.

Pronunciation is key if you want to build your fluency and feel more

confident in English, and it really starts with those short phrases.

So it's not just a vocabulary lesson, treat it like a lesson in pronunciation,

connected speech, and rhythm.

Because even if you don't understand everything that I'm teaching, especially

if you haven't done any pronunciation work in the past, it is still going

to be extremely valuable for you to practice it out loud and get used to the

rhythm, the intonation, and the stress.

And of course, when you repeat those phrases, it's going to be remembered

more easily and you'll see that it's a lot easier for you to use

these phrases when you need them.

All right, so let's begin by talking about scheduling a meeting.

Before everything, let's talk about how to pronounce the word 'schedule'.

Now, I use the American pronunciation.

There are several pronunciations in American English and in British English.

I'm going to teach you just one for now.

The way I pronounce this word is ske-djuw-uhl.

Primary stress is on the first syllable - ske.

Notice that you're not adding any vowel before: not 'eske', okay?

If it's hard for you, just practice the beginning.

Then we have a 'dj' sound.

It's not a 'duw' sound, it's a 'dj' sound.

djuw - with a tense 'uw'.

djuw'.

And then at the end we have a schwa, a reduced vowel - uh, and a dark L.

So basically it sounds like a dark L - uhl, that's a dark L.

ske-djuw-uhl.

When you connect the 'djuw' and the 'uhl', you get like a small W sound there.

ske-djuw-uhl.

Schedule.

All right, so let's start by asking: Can we schedule a meeting for...

and then you say the date.

The beginning is 'Can we schedule'.

Can we schedule?

Can we.

Can we.

Can we.

So, the 'can' is reduced here - k'n.

You don't hear the A really.

Can we schedule?

Can we schedule?

Words that are stressed are usually longer, louder, and higher in pitch.

Can we schedule a meeting?

A meeting.

Meeting: the T is a flap T, so it sounds a little bit like a D.

Can we schedule a meeting for...

and then you say the time and day.

Can we schedule a meeting for Monday at 9 AM?

Can we schedule a meeting for Monday at 9 AM?

Another way to say it is: Can we schedule a time to meet?

t'meet.

So notice the rhythm here: k'n-wee.

Can we schedule a time – the T is aspirated, so it feels

like there is a little H here.

Can we schedule a time to meet?

Can we schedule a time to meet?

Can we schedule a time to meet?

Another phrase you can use, that's a little less formal:

Are you free to meet on Monday?

aar-yuh 'free to' becomes free-duh, like the name Frida.

aar-yuh-free-duh-mee-daan.

aar-yuh-free-duh-mee-daan-muhn-dei?

Are you free to meet on Monday at 5 PM?

So, you use 'on' when you talk about days or dates, and you use 'at'

when you talk about a specific time.

Are you free to meet on Monday at 5 PM?

Or, Are you free to meet on the 15th of August at 2:30 PM?

Okay?

'On' for days and dates, and 'at' for a specific time.

Are you free to meet on Thursday at noon?

Noon is always 12 PM.

Good.

Another way to schedule is to ask for someone else to suggest times.

So, I could ask a question like, What's your availability on

Thursday?

What's your availability?

Availability - that's a long word, so take your time with it.

Let's break it down: uh-vei-luh-BI – primary stress – luh-dee.

The T is a flap T in American English, it sounds a little bit like a D.

Availability.

What's your availability on Monday?

What's your availability next week?

What's your availability in August?

Availability.

wuhts-y'r.

What's your availability?

Good.

Another phrase that is a little less formal that you can use if you want

the other person to suggest times is: What's a good time for us to meet?

What's a good time for us to meet?

wuhtsa Good time – the word 'time' is the stressed word here, it's

longer, louder, higher in pitch.

Notice the T that is a little aspirated, feels like it has a little H there.

What's a good time for us – f'ruhs – to meet?

What's a good time for us to meet?

Now, let's talk about rescheduling.

When you want to reschedule a meeting, it's common to first

apologize for it: "I'm sorry" or "unfortunately", using these phrases.

And then either suggesting a time or requesting them to suggest another time.

So let's look at a few phrases.

First, you can start by saying: I'm so sorry, I'm going to

need to reschedule our meeting.

Reschedule.

Reschedule.

I'm going to need to reschedule our meeting.

Or just: I need to reschedule our meeting.

And then, you can suggest another option: How does Friday morning sound?

Or: How does Saturday at 5 PM sound?

Or: Does Saturday at 5 PM work for you?

So these are a few phrases that you can use to suggest a different time instead

of the time that you scheduled after telling them that you need to reschedule.

Another phrase that you can use is: Would it be possible to reschedule our meeting?

You can start by saying: Something came up, would it be possible

to reschedule our meeting?

wu-dit-bee.

Would it be possible, PAA – this word is stressed, PAAssible.

Would it be possible to reschedule our meeting?

Another way that is a little less formal is: Can we move our meeting to later?

Can we move our meeting to later?

Can we move, can we move, can we move.

'Our' becomes 'aar'.

aar-mee-ding.

To later.

To later.

To next week.

To Thursday.

Okay?

So you get the point.

You have the basic structure, and then you just change the ending based on the

time that you want to schedule it for.

Now, let's say you have scheduled, you don't want to reschedule, you

just want to confirm the meeting.

Here are two phrases that you can use.

One is a bit more formal: I just wanted to confirm that we're

scheduled for Friday morning.

I just wanted to confirm.

ai-j'st.

'wanted to' becomes 'waa-nuh-duh'.

I just wanted to confirm – k'n-f'rm – that we're scheduled for, and

then the time of the meeting.

You don't have to use 'just, by the way.

You can just say: I wanted to confirm.

'Just' softens the phrase a little bit.

It's up to you, whatever you feel more comfortable with.

I just wanted to confirm we're scheduled for the 15th of August.

And a more informal way to confirm is: Are we still on for Friday?

Are we still on...

are we still on...

are we still on...

'still on' means scheduled.

The meeting is still scheduled.

The meeting is on.

Turn it on.

Are we still on for Friday?

Are we still on for our meeting?

Okay?

That is a less formal way.

So use it with friends, but probably not with your boss.

All right.

And finally, let's talk about canceling a meeting.

So, you can say something like: I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cancel our meeting.

Or: I need to cancel our meeting.

Let's talk about the pronunciation of the word 'cancel'.

It starts with a K sound, then it's the A sound.

It's technically A, but before an N, it's smooshier - ke,

ken-s'l, a S sound and a dark L.

Remember the dark L that we talked about?

s'l.

ken-s'l.

I need to cancel our meeting.

I'm sorry, I need to cancel our meeting.

Unfortunately, I'm going to need to cancel our meeting.

Now, if you don't know the time that you want to schedule it for just

yet, you can say "I'm going to get back to you about when we can meet".

I'm going to get back to you.

I'm going to get back.

I'm going to get back.

Gonna get back.

I'm gonna get back to you about when we can meet.

By the way, a more formal way to cancel, especially in writing, is

something like: Unfortunately, I need to cancel our meeting scheduled for...

so you can use the phrase 'scheduled for'.

Unfortunately, I need to cancel our meeting scheduled for Friday morning.

Poor Friday, all the meetings are canceled at that time.

I don't know why.

Friday is not a day for meetings anyway.

All right, my friends, please remember that you can download

a PDF with all these phrases and more – for scheduling, rescheduling,

confirming a meeting, and cancelling.

And remember that when you repeat phrases out loud, it's not just

to remember how to say the phrase.

What happens is that you subconsciously start learning the rhythm, intonation, and

pronunciation of these words and phrases.

And it's not just going to help you with these phrases alone, but also

with understanding the rhythm and intonation of English in general.

And you'll see that you start using these patterns in other phrases as well.

So I highly recommend for you to download this PDF and listen to it.

Don't just read it.

Don't just memorize the phrases.

Listen to it and repeat it with me several times until it becomes automatic.

And that's what this work is all about – to make these phrases automatic

so that you won't have to think about them when it's time to use them.

The best way to do it is through repetition.

So either watch this video again, or just download the PDF and

practice along with the audio.

It's absolutely free.

The link is right in the description.

All right.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

If you enjoyed this video, please like, share, and comment.

Share with me other phrases related to scheduling that you often use.

And I think that we are scheduled to meet next week in the next

video, so don't cancel on me, okay?

Don't reschedule, I'm going to be here.

Will you?

I'll see you next week.

Have a beautiful day.

Bye.