Learn the English Phrases "to clue in" and "to not have a clue"

In this English lesson, I wanted to help

you learn the English phrase to clue in.

When you clue into something, it means you've

heard some small facts about something and then

suddenly you realize something has happened.

Jen's at market right now and I'm home today.

I think Oscar has finally clued in that Jen has gone.

He's checked outside a few times today.

He's gone to look in the flower

field and he can't find her.

But I think now, because he looks really sad, I

think he's finally clued in that Jen is at market.

She'll be home in a little bit.

So to clue in means you realize

something after you find a few clues.

Maybe there's a few things that let you come

to the conclusion that something is a certain way.

You've clued in to that fact.

The other phrase I want to teach you

today is to not have a clue.

We use this to talk about someone

in a very mean spirited, negative way

when they are just not understanding something.

So you might have a boss like this.

A boss who keeps giving you instructions that don't make

sense and you can't help but do the job poorly

because your boss just doesn't have a clue.

When you say your boss does not have

a clue, it means that maybe your boss

doesn't really understand the job you do.

Sometimes you might have a co worker who does not have

a clue and they just don't understand how things work.

So to review, to clue in means to figure something out.

After getting a few little clues, you know what clues

are like when the police investigate a crime, they look

for clues, little hints as to what had happened.

So when you clue in, you finally understand something.

And then if you say that someone does not have

a clue, it means they don't understand what's going on.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This comment is from MohdAgs at minute 3:26.

Yeah, that's a cool little spot indeed.

If only you could hang a hammock there. Oops, I said it.

Hehe.

Sorry Mister Bob.

I guess I've been watching far too many

Canadians lately and I might have started to

pick up some of their passive aggressiveness.

And my response?

Hint taken.

I clued in to what Mohd was talking about.

Let's see what I can come up with

in August for a video / hammock holder.

So Mohd sent me a gift last year.

It was a hammock and I never

got around to actually setting it up.

I didn't hang it from a couple of trees.

There are some nice trees on my property.

I was going to build like a little frame to hold

it, and I never got around to that as well.

But I think I'm going to try that in a couple weeks.

I want to do a lesson on tools and woodworking,

and I have an idea for something to build.

I had this idea last year, and

I promised this last year already, but

it will happen after this project's done.

You might be wondering, Bob, what

are you doing to your house?

Well, we had some drainage problems here, and so what I've done

is I've dug a ditch all the way out to there.

Let me give you a little bit better view of this.

So I've dug a ditch, I'm not quite done

yet, but I've dug a ditch all the way

out to here where the ground is lower.

And my plan is actually to dig that ditch

even a little bit deeper yet, and then that

will have all the water drain back this way.

And then if you look behind me, I've also been kind

of clearing out the stone and I'm trying to get it

to slope ever so slightly away from the house.

It used to do that, but I think over time,

the concrete in front of my house kind of settled

and the driveway kind of everything, the water was going

the wrong way, so I'm trying to fix that.

Similar to how I put some stone in

front of the barn entrance for Jen.

My plan is to get this all fixed up

in the next week, and then it's hammock time.

It should be fun.

Anyways, thanks Mohd, for the comment.

Thanks to all of you for watching.

I hope you're having a good day and I'll see

you in a few days with another short English lesson,

and I'll give you an update on that project, hopefully.

Bye.