Improve Your Vocabulary: 21 ways to say YES, NO, and MAYBE

If you are learning English, you will have the experience of someone asking if you want

to go and do something.

I've been living in Spain recently.

If someone asks me, "¿Quieres ver la playa?", if I want to go to the sea, my Spanish is

so bad that I can only say, like, "Sí, sí, sí, me gusta ver".

That's probably totally incorrect, "ir", I don't know.

So, what I'm trying to teach you in this lesson, rather than just saying, "Yeah, I like", or

"No, I don't like", some different phrases that will just give your language a little

bit more colour and variety.

Okay?

So, we're going to look at saying, "Yes, it's good", "No, no, no, I don't like", and then

lastly we'll look at, "Yeah, maybe".

Okay?

So, if you like the idea of something, you could say that it's right up your street.

So, you're imagining that your street is... it means, like, all the things that you like.

So, if it's right up your street, it's perfect.

That's my dream.

"Would you like to go to America?"

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's my dream to go to America.

It's my dream to do this.

I've made a lesson on sailing and boat phrases, so check that out.

This is a boat one.

That really floats my boat.

It means I like the sound of that.

So, if the boat is floating on the water, the boat is happy, and if the boat is happy,

we are happy.

It really floats my boat.

This is not as common as some of the other ones.

It's quite an unusual expression.

Oh, yeah, "It's definitely on my list" means it's something that you would like to do in

the future.

"Would you like to climb up the tallest building in the city?"

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

It's definitely on my list.

I just need to find the time.

On my list, something you want to do.

So, this would answer a question like, "Sharon, can you come to the party on Saturday?"

Oh, yeah, I'll be there with bells on.

I don't know if you've ever seen pictures of Morris men, but they are kind of like folk

dancers in England, and they wear funny hats, and they've got bells, and they do lots of

this sort of stuff, so I'll be there with bells on.

It gives an idea of, like, enthusiasm, and of course I'll be at the party.

I'll be there, I'll be the first person to arrive, and the last person to leave.

Absolutely.

Of course I'll be there.

Do you like such and such?

Of course.

I absolutely love rice, noodles, or whatever.

So, we've got some practice questions, here.

What about this question, here?

"Would you like to come to the cinema on Sunday?"

Now, which of these answers could I use for this question?

Can you come, or would you like to come to the cinema on Sunday?

So that, not straight away, you would need to ask another question first.

"Oh, what film are you going to watch?"

And then they'll say, "Oh, we're going to watch a thriller.

It's a really scary film."

Ooh, that sounds right up my street.

Yes, please.

"Dream and going to the cinema on Sunday, not quite...

You know, it's a bit too normal for it to be the dream."

We only use this rarely.

"Oh, that sounds like it might float my boat."

But don't use this too often, it's just so you're aware of the phrase.

"Oh, I'd absolutely love to go to the cinema."

"Have you ever been to South Africa?"

"No, I haven't, but it's my dream to go there.

It's definitely on my list of go-to destinations.

I'd absolutely, I'd absolutely love to go there."

"Do you fancy going to the Indian?"

"Do you fancy" meaning "do you want to".

"Do you want to go to the Indian", short for "Indian restaurant".

"Do you fancy going to the Indian?"

"Well, yeah, yeah, no, that would be really nice.

I'd love to go there."

These are all, like, really positive, and this is quite a normal thing to do, so best

option there.

"Oh, yeah, it's right up my street, that place.

It's really good."

Yeah, if you're saying that type of restaurant is.

Now, if you don't like the idea of something, you might say, "It's not really my cup of

tea."

So, there are different types of tea, you've got Darjeeling, Assam, you've got builders,

meaning normal tea.

If you're saying, "It's not my cup of tea", you're saying, "I don't really like that.

I like something else."

"I don't see the appeal of", meaning, "I don't understand why anyone likes that".

The appeal, you could have a synonym of attraction.

"It doesn't do it for me.

It doesn't do it."

"Do you like yoga, Benjamin?"

"No, it doesn't really do it for me.

I prefer running or trampolining."

I do actually do yoga sometimes when I'm allowed.

"Not really my thing.

It's not really my thing."

Or a big no-no for me.

"Benjamin, would you like to come to the Halloween party on Thursday?"

I'm afraid that's a big no-no for me.

I've got a very early start on Friday.

A big no-no means no, no, no, no, no, can't do that.

"Would you like to watch the cricket game on Saturday?"

"I'd rather watch the paint dry."

So, "rather" meaning I'd prefer to watch paint dry.

So imagine this, yeah, you've got a wall and you've painted it, and you're standing there

waiting for the paint to dry.

It's going to take a long time, yeah?

It's going to take, like, five hours maybe, maybe more.

So it's about the least interesting thing you could do.

It means I really don't want to do that.

I must say I'm not a huge fan of...

I'm not a huge fan of Indian food, so no, I don't want to go.

Let's look at a couple of other questions.

"Have you been watching the Rugby World Cup?"

No, it's not really my cup of tea.

It's not really my thing.

I prefer football.

I must say I'm not a huge fan of rugby, actually.

No, never, never been my thing.

"Do you like salsa dancing?"

No, it doesn't do it for me, actually.

I prefer tango.

"Do you like salsa dancing?"

I'd rather watch paint dry, to be perfectly honest.

Right, what about...

So we've got really positive and we've got really negative.

What about if it's, like, somewhere in the middle?

Let's find out.

So we've looked at saying, yeah, we really like the idea; no, we don't like the idea.

These phrases here are if you're, like, maybe.

So you could just say, "Why not?"

It shows that, yeah, okay, you're happy to do that.

"Would you like to go to Beirut?"

"Yeah.

Why not?"

"Oh, go on, then."

Yeah, it's a very kind of set pronunciation.

Go on, then.

Go on, then.

Someone offering you...

You've had lunch, and they're serving out the pudding.

You've had some pudding, and they're saying, "Would you like some more pudding?"

It's like, "Oh, go on, then."

It's like you kind of...

You don't really...

It's pretending that you don't want something, but kind of wanting it.

"I'll give it a go."

Maybe you're asking someone to play cricket who's never played cricket before, and they

say, "Well, I've never played before, but I'll give it a go.

I'll try."

Sorry, I don't know why we always speak about cricket and the Rugby World Cup.

Okay.

"I'll try anything once."

Yeah, quite similar to this.

It shows happy to try.

"I'll try anything once.

If I don't like it, then I won't do it twice.

I'll try anything once."

You might be able to push me.

"You might be able to push me."

So maybe you've got a friend who's organizing a road trip to France, going to some amazing

places, going down the French Atlantic coast and going surfing in the Atlantic, and your

friend asks you if you want to go, and you say, "You might be able to push me."

It's kind of suggesting that, yeah, you like the idea, but you need maybe a bit more persuasion.

You want to be asked more.

"I'm on the fence at the moment."

And the fence is the wooden barrier between the two fields.

So if you are on the fence, you're between the two.

You're not this, and you're not this.

Maybe you could use it to talk about something political.

What do you think about Brexit?

I'm on the fence at the moment.

"I suppose it won't do any harm."

So this is, like, when you don't really want to do something, but you're like, "Okay."

So maybe your neighbor asks you if you can take some clothes to the laundrette.

You don't really want to do it.

You don't want to take their smelly clothes, but okay, if that's what they want you to

do, "I suppose it won't do any harm."

Now, what I want you guys to do back home, guys and girls, is to do the quiz.

And I can imagine you're going, "Oh, I don't want to do the quiz, Benjamin."

But I'm like...

Maybe you're saying, "I could do the quiz", in which case you could be like, "You could

twist my arm."

Well, I am twisting your arm.

I want you to do the quiz, and I want you to get 9 or 10 out of 10, preferably 10 out

of 10.

Do you think you can do that?

I hope so.

Make sure you subscribe and get my videos from the notifications.

And thanks for watching.

See you soon.