Learn the English Phrases SMARTEN UP and TO LOOK SMART - A Short English Lesson with Subtitles

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn

the English phrase smarten up.

This is something we say to someone who we think

is not behaving well.

It means we want them to think more before they act.

Maybe you know someone at work

who is always doing a bad job.

You might want to say to them, "Hey, smarten up.

"If you don't smarten up, you might lose your job."

So when you tell someone they need to smarten up,

it means that I guess you want them to think more,

to be a little smarter before they do certain things.

When I was a kid, sometimes I would do dumb things.

And my mom or dad would say to me, "Hey, smarten up.

"Stop doing that."

One of the things I would do is I would ride my bike

really fast, and I would build ramps

and jump off the ramps with my bike.

And once I fell and hurt myself a little bit,

and my dad or mom, I can't remember which one,

I think told me I needed to smarten up.

I needed to be a little bit smarter.

I needed to think a little more

before I did crazy and silly things.

So, smarten up, it's a great phrase.

The other phrase I wanted to look at

is the phrase to look smart.

Now, this can mean that you look intelligent.

It can mean that you look smart.

You could say, "That guy looks smart.

"He's probably really intelligent."

But we usually use this phrase

to talk about when someone is dressed up.

So when I wear a suit and tie,

Jen could say to me, "Hey, you look smart."

We also say sharp, but we do definitely say,

"Hey, you look really smart in that suit."

Or when you wear a shirt with a collar,

you look really smart.

So, when you tell someone to smarten up,

you want them to behave better.

You want them to be a little more thoughtful

before they do certain things.

And when someone looks smart,

it means that they just look very handsome

or very beautiful with the clothes that they are wearing.