Learn the English Phrases TO BANK ON and TO BREAK THE BANK

In this English lesson I wanted to help you

learn the English phrase to bank on.

When you can bank on something,

it means you can be sure that it will happen.

Let me think of an example.

Maybe when your favorite athlete plays your favorite sport,

you can bank on the fact that they will score a goal.

You know that they almost score a goal every time they play,

and you can be sure of it, you can bank on it.

We also use this phrase in the negative.

We'll say things like, "Don't bank on it."

So if someone was to say,

"I think that the Toronto Maple Leafs

will win their next game, someone else might say,

"Don't bank on it, I don't think they will."

It's not something that you can be sure will happen.

So you can kind of use it both ways.

When you can bank on something,

you can be sure it will happen,

and when you say "Don't bank on it,"

or, "I wouldn't bank on it,"

it means you doubt that it will happen.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today

is the phrase to break the bank.

There's a little bit of mud on my sign.

I think when I walked out here today,

I got a little bit of mud on it,

but to break the bank means to buy something

and to use up all the money that you have.

If I bought a used van right now,

I think I have enough money to buy one,

but if I bought a brand-new van,

I think that would break the bank.

That would mean that I would have no money left in the bank

if I bought a brand new van.

In fact, I don't even have enough money

to buy a brand new van.

I think if I bought a used van

that might actually break the bank as well.

So when you break the bank, it means you buy something

and it was so expensive,

you use all the money that you had available.

But let's review.

To bank on means that you can count on something happening.

You can reasonably be sure that something will happen.

A lot of times when I watch basketball,

I can't bank on whether the Raptors will win or not.

I wish I could bank on it. I wish I could be sure of it.

And, oop, there's a mosquito in my ear, (chuckles) one sec.

I think it's out now, whew.

There's still insects, and it's almost November.

Actually, you're watching this on November 1st, aren't you?

To break the bank means to buy something

and to spend every last penny,

every last dollar that you have when you buy it.

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

This is a fun comment. It's from Alaa Ahmad.

The comment is, "Hello, Bob,

could you please go closer to the river,

to the bank of it so that we can get a better view?

Thanks a lot."

And my response, for sure I'll do that today.

Well, it doesn't really look

like I did that today, does it?

Oh, I'm sorry, everyone.

I was supposed to make the comment match

(chuckles) what I was doing in the video.

I am actually by the river.

Sorry, that was like a little bit of a trick there.

Let me get the full view for you.

So you can see the river is very flooded,

and let's spin this way so you can see it

in the other direction.

You can see that the river is so big right now,

it actually looks a little bit like a lake.

(chuckles) When I walked out here,

I was surprised how close to my fence.

My fence is actually up behind me,

but the river is certainly higher than it ever usually is.

I mean, it has gone higher once in a while,

but there's kind of like

the normal amount of flooding that we have,

and then there's the rare amount of flooding.

This is certainly rare. We certainly don't see this.

In fact, I'll show you,

I was talking about my fence,

let me see if I can get over there

without falling in the water.

As I walk along, I have to be careful

that I don't actually step in anything.

Maybe I should let you have a look.

Let's spin it around.

So this is what I'm walking through.

You can see there's a little bit of water.

Oop, there's more water, and you can see,

I'm not sure if you can,

but you can see that my little fence

just disappears into the water over there.

Anyways, that's your view of the bank of the river.

Thanks for watching.

I'll see you in a couple of days

with another short English lesson, bye.