10 ways to say 'NO' in English (politely!)

Hello, and welcome to another engVid video.

Today is a conversational class. We're looking at how the British say: "No".

Now, how could today's lesson be useful to you?

Well, it's a cultural difference how we accept or refuse invitations, and getting it right is quite

important to making sure you don't upset someone when they do put an invitation out there to you.

The situation which we find ourselves in is the following:

A friend of ours has asked me to go for a powerwalking weekend in Skegness,

which is not one of the nicest parts of England.

Apologies if you are from Skegness, of course. Now, powerwalking, it's a... I'm more into

sort of windsurfing, or surfing, or sailing something in the water, but you know, two

poles striding up a mountain is a little bit... I'm not quite ready for that. I'm a little

bit too juvenile. So, how do I politely decline this fantastic invitation? I could say:

"Well, thank you so much. That's such a kind invitation, but..." Okay? So we can preface this with:

"Thank you so much. That is such a kind invitation, but I'm not particularly keen on... I'm not

particularly keen on..." What it actually means is I hate powerwalking, but we're going

to say: "I'm not particularly keen..." Okay? "Keen" means enthusiastic. Okay?

"I'm not particularly keen on powerwalking or Skegness."

"That's such a wonderfully kind invitation, but it's not really my idea of how I'd like to spend a weekend."

This is quite rude. This is quite: "Oo, okay. Steady on.", "It's not really my idea of..."

So, you know, if you know the person really well and you've got

that level of honesty in your friendship, then try this.

If you don't know the person so well, maybe try this one instead:

"I'm so sorry, but it's just not my idea of..."

Or you could use, instead of: "My idea of...", "It's just not my cup of tea",

because we all like to have a cup of tea here in the UK.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry", okay? This "so" really gives the impression that we really care.

"I'm so sorry, but it's just not my idea of..." or "it's just not my cup of tea". I don't really

like these activities.

"Well, thank you so much. I'd actually much rather..." or: "I'd actually much rather..."

So, "actually" doesn't really mean anything here. It's just... It's a filler word that

helps us seem polite. "I'd actually much rather do anything else apart from that.",

"I'd much rather..." Okay? So this is a little bit like the second one there. If you know the person

reasonably well and you've got that level of honesty in your friendship.

"I'd actually much rather be cracking on with something else.", "Cracking on", funny, English phrase

meaning doing, getting on with. "Cracking on". "I'd actually much rather be..." It's

quite a posh phrase. "...be cracking on with...", "I'd much rather be cracking on with..."

Okay. Next option: "I'm afraid I'm not really interested in..." Okay? Quite similar to some

of these others in... These other options. "I'm afraid I'm not available then. I'm afraid

I just can't do it on those dates", would be another way if you don't want to offend

them by saying that you don't like powerwalking.

You'll notice some red followed by the blue. Obviously, the colours of the Union Jack,

feeling patriotic today and enthusiastic about our strange ways of talking.

Option number six: "That's fantastic, but I'm perfectly happy with..." So let's have a different scenario

now. Let's say that we are in the west end, and we're going between places and an enthusiastic,

young rickshaw driver, a cycle rickshaw comes up and offers us a lift for a ridiculous amount

of money to go about a hundred yards. So you say:

"That's fantastic, but I'm perfectly happy with walking. Thank you.",

"I'm perfectly happy with walking.", "I'm perfectly happy to walk",

so you could have a "to" there, infinitive verb. "That's fantastic" or "That's so kind".

Next way of saying: "No". "I'll", short for "I will": "I'll have to think about that.

Thank you so much for asking. The rickshaw driver comes up. "I'll have to think about that."

Quite why... It's just something we say. We're not actually going to think about

it. We already know that the answer is: "No". We're not going to go in the rickshaw.

"I'll have to think about it. Thank you so much for asking." Or if you want to press pause

and give yourself time to think, you could say: "I'll have to check with the management."

The management here is... If you're a guy it's your partner. Okay? So this is the wife

or girlfriend. It's a way of saying: "I don't really want to make a decision. I'm going to talk to her.",

"I'll have to check with the management." Okay?

So, we've agreed to sort of say: "No". We're not going to get into... This one is probably

better for the Skegness powerwalking weekend. We're not going to go powerwalking in Skegness,

and the other person says: "Oh, but we must have a weekend on the Lake District."

So we say: "Yes, yes, we must do that." It's all words... Okay? We're not actually saying we're

definitely doing this, so we say: "Yes, we must do that. We must make a plan.

We must put something in the diary."

Back to cycle rickshaw guy: "I think I'll leave it. Thank you." Okay? So this heavy

punctuation here, these two full stops make it quite final. Okay?

"No, thank you. I'm going off and doing something else."

Before you go off and do something else, I'd like you to have a go at today's quiz

to test your knowledge on these phrases for saying: "No" politely in a British manner.

Do you think you can give it a go? Can you get 10 out of 10?

Well, let's see. Until next time,

stay well, stay healthy, and remember to subscribe to this YouTube channel.

Bye.