20 Essential Phrases for IELTS Speaking

- Today, you are going to boost your IELTS speaking score

with these essential phrases

for different topics in IELTS speaking.

(upbeat music)

Hello, how are you?

Okay, so it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and this YouTube channel, "English Speaking Success,"

here to help you, well, develop your speaking skills

in a fun and professional way,

so you can ace the IELTS speaking test,

or not if you are not taking the test,

just help you speak better English.

Today I'm gonna teach you 20 phrases

for the most common topics in IELTS speaking.

I'm gonna focus on a wide range of grammar and vocabulary

and some natural expressions that you may not yet know.

Now, some students struggle in IELTS speaking

because they get lots of model answers,

they read them aloud, and then memorize them.

Now what they're not doing is they're not learning

the correct pronunciation, intonation, phrasing,

and how to use them naturally.

And so it doesn't really help them.

But in this video, I'm gonna show you how

to use these phrases naturally

with the correct pronunciation, the intonation,

the phrasing, so you just sound more English,

and this'll help build your confidence.

Now, let's be honest, this is not a magic video.

You will not become an advanced speaker

by watching this one video.

But if you take the techniques and the approach

and use these over a period of time, you will get better.

You will develop your speaking skills

and you will get closer to that goal

of acing your IELTS speaking test.

Also, these phrases are short,

which means they're great for shadowing.

So if you want to come back

and watch this video again later,

you can shadow the phrases.

To shadow is just to listen to me

and repeat the phrase at the same time that I say it.

And it's great to get

the right intonation and pronunciation.

So we're gonna be looking today at different topics.

We're gonna look at work, where you live, free time,

family, health and fitness, and travel.

Ooh, and at the end of this video,

I'm gonna give you some tips on what

to do when you just don't know what to say

or if you don't understand the examiner

or you don't, you have no idea what to say.

I'll give you some tips at the very end.

Right now, let's jump into the first topic

about where do you live?

(word popping)

Okay, let's talk first of all about where you live,

and we're gonna look at some phrases here.

Now, when I speak, I'm gonna put the captions up

and where I put a word in brackets,

then you have to say or substitute with your own word

for your context, right?

For example, if I say, my name is Keith O'Hare,

you say, my name is, and then put your name

in the brackets, right?

Don't go into the IELTS test and say,

Hello, what's your name?

My name is Keith O'Hare.

Oh really?

(laughing) No.

Okay. That's it.

The long version, for example, when the examiner says,

What is your name?,

you would say, My name is Keith O'Hare,

but just call me Keith.

Just call me, just, we don't pronounce the T,

just, because there's a consonant following it.

Just call me.

Can you say, just call me?

Yeah, the AW, -all, is a very long vowel.

Just call me.

Put it all together.

My name is Keith O'Hare, but just call me Keith.

That's it. Perfect.

Okay, let's continue.

I'll give you some phrases.

I'll explain them first

and then we'll pronounce them together second.

I'm from Manchester, born and bred.

Now born and bred just means I was born there

and raised there.

To breed is actually, it's what farmers do

when they select animals to mate

and produce babies or offspring.

But we use this idiomatically.

Obviously, you are not being bred,

but we use it idiomatically.

I was born and bred.

For pronunciation, the And becomes 'N'.

So follow with me.

Born 'n'...

Born 'n' bred.

Yep, so you've got that 'N' sound.

Born 'n' bred.

Good.

Get the the rhythm.

Born and bred.

Altogether, and remember, substitute your town.

I'm from Manchester, born and bred.

Nice. Good.

Next, I live in Spain

and I've been living here for a number of years.

So here we are saying where you live

and how long you have lived here,

using that present perfect.

In fact, it's a good idea to use

the present perfect continuous.

It just shows off a bit more grammar.

You can use both, but I would say I've been living here

for a number of years.

Just when you don't know exactly how many years,

you can say a number of years, similar to many years.

So with pronunciation,

I've been living, we would say, I've BIHN,

not, I've BEEN, but, I've BIHN,

because then we stress living.

I've been living.

Great.

I've been living here.

Good.

Can you hear the intonation?

I've been living here

for a number of years.

Good.

For becomes FEHR, FEHR-UH, FEHR-UH,

FEHR-UH,

for a number of years.

Okay.

The for, because we are not stressing, it becomes FEHR-UH,

and we stress number, for a number of years.

I've been living here for a number of years.

Good.

Can you feel the rhythm?

I've been living here for a number of years.

Great.

You're really stressing living, number.

Put it all together, I live in Spain.

I've been living here for a number of years.

Nice.

Remember to change Spain, right?

Okay, great. Simple.

Now you notice I'm doing this when I speak,

I've been living in Spain,

it's to help communicate the stress.

You don't need to do that in the exam

or you'll look like a nodding cat. (laughing)

Okay, last one on this topic of where you live,

so this phrase is where you say that you live here

and you were born here and you've always lived here.

I live in Spain and I've lived here all my life.

Okay.

I've lived here, and here, I would use the present perfect,

because it's all your life.

It's a kind of a period of time,

and the emphasis is on that rather than the continuation.

So I've lived here all my life.

Can you see?

So stress lived and life.

I've lived here all my life.

Altogether: I live in Spain.

Pause.

I've lived here all my life.

Yeah. Nice.

Very, very nice.

Let's move on and talk about work.

(words popping)

Okay, you may be asked about work.

If you work, the examiner will say, you know,

Do you work or study?

If you work, you say, Yes, I work.

And here, let's have a look.

The first expression is, I work as a teacher

and I've been one for quite a while.

So we are saying, I work as a teacher,

engineer, banker, whatever.

And then, I have been one.

So it's the present perfect.

Because I began teaching in the past and I still teach now.

You could say I've been a teacher,

but instead of repeating, we can say, I've been one

for quite a while.

And again, this is when you don't want to say,

or you don't remember the exact number of years.

You could say, Well, for two years, For five years,

or, For quite a while.

Quite is a lovely English word.

It'll make you sound much more natural.

Very easy to use here.

Okay, let's look at the phrasing.

So first of all, I would say I work as a teacher, pause,

And I've been one for quite a while.

Okay?

In the first part link, I WUR-KAZ-UH, I WUR-KAZ-UH.

WUR-KAZ-UH.

Yeah.

Sounds almost like, I dunno, like a,

is it, sounds almost Polish or Russian to me.

WUR-KAZ-UH.

I WUR-KAZ-UH.

It's one sound.

Focus on that one sound.

I WUR-KAZ-UH, blank.

And you.

Great.

And then I've BEEN, I've BIHN,

I've BIHN, remember, like bin, in the rubbish bin.

I've been one.

I've been one.

Is it FOHR or FUHR?

It's FUHR, FUHR quite a while.

I've been one for quite a while.

Lovely.

Altogether.

I work as a teacher and I've been one for quite a while.

Great.

That phrasing is really important.

Get the phrasing right

and then it doesn't sound like you are hesitating, right?

I work, work, I work as a, no, I work as a teacher,

and I've been one for quite a while.

Next sentence, this is a very, very bland

but common phrase you can use.

I find my work challenging but rewarding

because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Challenging just means quite difficult,

rewarding, gives me a good feeling.

Gives me benefit.

Makes me feel good about myself.

It's a classic answer, very easy to use.

And here, the phrasing is challenging,

you would stress and put a rising intonation.

I find my work challenging, but rewarding.

DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE.

Try, follow me.

DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE.

With the words: I find my work challenging but rewarding.

Great.

I'll give you an example for me.

I find my work challenging but rewarding

because I get to help lots of students around the world.

And you?

Excellent. Very, very good.

Final phrase on work:

My typical workday involves preparing online classes.

Okay, so here we're just talking about my routine.

Typical, my everyday or normal workday, involves,

and normally you would give maybe two

or three different examples here.

I'm just making it simple, right,

with just one, preparing online classes.

So repeat with me.

My typical day involves...

Great.

My typical day involves preparing online classes.

And you?

Interesting.

Let's move on.

(words popping)

Okay, talking about hobbies and free time.

Now some of you I know are working

and studying so much, you don't have any free time.

It's okay to say you don't have, I don't have any free time.

But remember you need to develop your answers.

So you could say why you don't have free time,

or what you would do if you had free time.

Okay, develop your answers a little bit.

I'm gonna look at different phrases here.

Let's look at where you do have a hobby

and where you don't have a hobby.

Okay, so first of all, simple phrase.

I don't get up to much in my free time.

Here, to get up to something means

to do something.

In this context, it's a perfect synonym.

Not all the time, but here, it's absolutely fine

to get up to.

I don't get up to much in my free time.

Okay?

Listen to the intonation.

DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE, DEE-DEE-DEE.

I don't get up to much

in my free time.

Okay, I don't get up to much

in my free time.

Great.

Let me slow it down.

I don't get up too much.

Can you hear?

There's some linking.

I don't get up to much

in my free time.

I don't get up to much in my free time.

Lovely. Great.

Next.

I recently got into yoga and I'm really enjoying it now.

So to get into something is to start doing an activity,

to start to like it as well, right?

So I recently got into, whatever.

I recently got into yoga.

Listen to the pronunciation.

I recently got into, GAH-TIHN-TOO.

If you can link it, good.

You don't have to, but if you can.

GAH-TIHN-TOO is nice.

My example, I recently got into yoga.

And you?

By the way, remember, you can make things up.

You can lie if you want.

Nobody knows.

Yes, I recently got into running marathons.

Really?

No. (laughing)

Don't tell them you're lying, right?

Okay.

The whole sentence,

because the second part, I'm really enjoying it now,

stress the Really.

I'm really enjoying it now.

How do you stress a word?

You make it a bit longer.

You raise the pitch and a bit louder.

I'm really, not really,

I'm really enjoying it now.

Altogether, I recently got into yoga

and I'm really enjoying it now.

Okay, very, very good.

The next one: I'm considering taking up the drums.

It's something I've always wanted to do.

So this is, it is a nice expression.

I'm considering something means I'm thinking about,

I'm contemplating, I may do it, I may not.

I'm considering.

I'm considering to take up a hobby

or an activity is to begin like a hobby,

to take up the piano, to take up singing,

to take up swimming,

to take up (upbeat drumbeat) the drums.

And then it's something I have always wanted to do.

Nice use of the present perfect.

I've been, I wanted to do it in the past.

I still want to do it.

It's something I've always, and again,

you are stressing the always.

I've always wanted to do.

Make that stress even stronger.

Follow me.

I've always wanted to do.

Again.

Listen, wait.

It's something I've always wanted to do.

Okay?

Put it all together.

I'm considering taking up the drums.

It's something I've always wanted to do.

Great. It's great.

When you are practicing,

imagine you are an actor, right?

Really exaggerate.

I've always wanted to do,

it's something I've always wanted to do.

When you are practicing alone, do that.

It'll really help bring out the melody of English.

In the test, and your daily conversations, don't do that.

People will think you're mad,

but in your practice alone, it's a good technique.

Let's move on.

(words popping)

Okay, let's talk now about family.

It's a very common topic.

You may be asked about your family, who you get on with,

who you don't get on with,

who you are closest to, et cetera.

Let's look at three essential phrases here, the essential.

I mean, they're useful phrases.

First one, I'm from a close-knit family.

Close-knit just means that you are close together,

like from knitting, when the the threads are close together.

Close-knit, close-knit.

Can you say?

A close-knit family?

Yeah, close is with a SS.

It's not a ZZ, it's a SS, close-knit.

Yes.

And notice, I am is I'm.

In spoken English, we nearly always make the contraction

unless you are stressing or emphasizing.

So I am, I'm.

It is, it's.

I have, I've, et cetera.

Okay.

I'm from a close knit family.

Easy peasy.

There's nothing to change.

Next one: I get on well with my brother,

although we do have our moments.

To get on with someone is to have a good relationship.

Get on well, get on badly, get on like a house on fire.

Very, very well, right?

Why is a burning house a good thing?

I don't know.

So get on, have that relationship.

I get on well with my brother.

And you?

Okay.

Put it in the negative.

I don't get on well with my brother.

Nice. Okay.

And then I said we do have our moments.

So we have our moments means, it's an idiom.

Idiomatic expression means we have our ups and downs.

So we get on well,

but we have our disagreements, our downs.

We argue, we shout, we, you know, it's not all

a bed of roses, so to speak.

I use Do to emphasize.

I could say we have our moments,

but to emphasize, we do have our moments,

and you stress the Do.

So follow me.

We do have our moments.

Yeah.

So altogether: I get on well with my brother,

although we do have our moments.

Do you notice what I do sometimes?

I take a word and I make it longer to help me have time

to think and to help my fluency.

What a lot of people do is they hesitate after the word.

I get on well with my brother,

although we do have our moments.

What I do is I stretch the word

and it sounds much more fluent.

I get on well with my brother,

although we do have our moments.

Can you see the difference?

It's a nice tip.

Just extend the word and that gives you time

and it sounds more fluent.

The last one: I'm probably closest to my grandmother.

We just click.

Okay.

I'm probably closest, again, closest,

the superlative, to my, whoever.

We just click.

So to click means to get on well.

We're on the same wavelength.

We just click, right?

I think it's like when you have these, the floor,

some, the modern floorboards that go together

and they click in place just like, just naturally.

So that idea, you get on very, very well.

You just understand each other, right?

So we just click, again, that T sound

because it's followed by a consonant.

You don't, you shouldn't,

I wouldn't pronounce, it's just easier to say, Just click.

Just click.

We just click.

Yeah.

I'm probably closest to my grandmother.

We just click.

Good. Very, very nice.

Let's move on.

(words popping)

Okay, let's talk about health and fitness.

Priority number one, right, health and fitness.

You may be asked how you stay healthy, you know,

what food you do, how do you relax, do you do exercise,

what kind of exercise, and so on and so forth.

So our first phrase here, again, nothing to substitute,

nice and easy:

I'm a firm believer in doing daily exercise.

So to be a firm believer

means you believe something strongly.

It's an idiomatic expression, really.

I'm a firm believer.

It sounds quite strong,

but it's not religious or anything.

It's quite natural to use in this context.

For example, at work you could say, well,

I'm a firm believer in turning up on time.

I'm a firm believer in wearing a tie at work.

Actually I'm not. (chuckling)

So here, I'm a firm believer

in doing something, daily exercise,

'cause we're talking about health.

So listen again with me,

I'm a firm believer in doing daily exercise.

Yeah.

The doing daily exercise,

you're kind of stressing every word,

'cause they're all important.

I'm a firm believer in doing daily exercise.

The next one, I strive to eat healthy food,

although I don't always pull it off.

I strive is a lovely word here.

It means I try, I try really hard to do something.

I try to eat a healthy diet.

So to eat a healthy diet, you know, to eat good food,

healthy food, although I don't always pull it off.

To pull something off is to manage

to do something successfully.

So I try to eat healthily.

I don't always manage it right?

Although I don't always pull it off.

With phrasal verbs, it's very good to link.

I pull it off, pull it off.

Always pull it off.

I don't always pull it off.

Great.

Altogether: I strive to eat healthy food,

although I don't always pull it off.

Great.

Do you notice how I'm using Although,

Although, to give myself time.

It's a good word to do it with.

Okay, the last one.

I've not had any serious illnesses to date, touch wood.

So to date means up until today.

So I have not had, I've not, I have,

I've, I've not had.

Again, it's the present perfect.

So there's been no illness in the past

and up til today.

I've not had, I've not had

any serious illnesses

to date.

Great, touch wood just means,

it's what you say when you want to stay lucky,

you don't want to break your good luck.

So we say touch wood to touch wood.

And as you do, as you say that we normally touch the table,

'cause it's made of wood.

Some people touch their head.

It's a bit of a joke because your head's

made of wood, right?

Touch wood.

So that can be, I mean it,

I don't encourage you, I don't encourage you to joke

with the examiner, but if you're confident

and you're relaxed and the examiner's smiling,

you can say touch wood and it'll make them smile.

I've not had any serious illnesses to date, touch wood.

Have a go.

Or the table.

Both are okay, let's move on.

Travel is next.

(words popping)

Okay.

With travel, you may be asked about places you have been to

or places you would like to go to.

So here's my first phrase.

If I could, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

So here what I'm doing is just using complex grammar, right?

I mean, I could just say, I want to go

to Nigeria and that's fine.

But you could use the conditional and say,

Well, I would love to travel to Nigeria.

Even better.

But you can make a full second conditional:

If I could, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

Notice that I Would usually would contract I'd,

I'd, I'd love.

I'd love, I'd love.

And what we do here, actually when you say I'd,

the top of the tongue touches the back of your teeth,

I'd love, and then your tongue doesn't move from the top.

It kind of goes back in the middle.

I'd love, I'd love.

It's like your tong pushes out almost,

but you keep it at the top of your teeth.

I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

Notice the to becomes TUH, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

With the phrasing and the intonation,

normally, we'd say, If I could, rising intonation, I'd love,

and then you'd drop on the verb.

If I could, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

Great.

And feel free to make that pause even longer, right.

Shows how confident you are.

If I could, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

Right?

In the pause, just go quiet.

Don't go, If I could, um, um, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

No, if you are pausing, it's great.

But just be quiet.

Close your mouth.

If I could, I'd love to travel to Nigeria.

Can you see how more fluent that is?

Try.

Nice.

Great.

A similar expression, but a nice one is the next one.

I'd jump at the chance to visit Vietnam.

I think it would be so interesting.

So here to jump at the chance to do something

is you would take the opportunity with both hands,

take the bull by the horns.

I jump at the chances, and we're stressing jump

and we're stressing chance.

And I'd.

I'd jump.

Again, it's not I'd, it's, AYT jump.

'cause the DUH and the JUH, the tongue is in the same place.

I'd jump, I'd jump at the chance to visit Vietnam.

And you?

And then the next phrase, I think it'd be so interesting.

Yeah.

I'm stressing So.

You could stress Interesting.

Again, depends on the meaning you want to convey.

You stress the words you want

to show are important, right?

Altogether, and notice the phrasing.

Watch, listen to the pause in the middle and then follow me.

I'd jump at the chance to visit Vietnam.

I think it would be so interesting.

Lovely.

Very, very good.

Remember, if you want to come back later,

you can just listen to these sentences and shadow them.

Repeat the whole thing with me at the same time.

That repetition, all of this practice,

is really gonna help you.

I've looked at lots of topics.

I'm gonna do two more things.

Two more things.

One is some simple phrases to give opinions,

which are so important in IELTS.

And then those tips about when you don't know what to say.

Let's look at opinions first.

(words popping)

Right? Okay.

How are you doing?

You're feeling tired?

If you're feeling tired, just pause.

Get a drink of water.

Stay hydrated.

You are like, Who are you, Dad, my granddad?

Just get on with the video.

Alright.

Right.

Giving opinions.

Often, the examiner will ask for your opinion

and you can say, Well, I think blah-dee, blah-dee, blah.

And that's fine.

It's perfect.

And most English speaking people will say that 90%

of the time.

Now and again, you may want to add a different phrase

to make it more colorful and you need to practice these.

But here are three simple ones you can use.

Let's imagine the examiner says, for example,

do you think it's a good idea

to give children a mobile phone?

Oh no, I think it's a bad idea.

Or, the way I see it, it's a bad idea.

the way I see it.

Right?

In my opinion.

listen to the pronunciation.

The way I see it.

The way I see it.

Can you hear all of that linking, the way I see it.

The way I see it, and I'm stressing the I,

the way I see it, it's a bad idea.

Notice the pause.

Follow me.

The way I see it, it's a bad idea.

And if it's a good idea...

Now change Good for Terrible.

The way I see it, it's a terrible idea.

Nice.

Second, To my mind, it's a good idea.

It's the same meaning, to my mind,

to my, to my mind.

To my, and we stress my, to my mind...

To my mind, it's a good idea.

Say the opposite.

Yeah.

To my mind it's a bad idea.

Or to my mind it's not a good idea.

Hmm.

Number three, I would have to say it's a good idea.

Now this is interesting

'cause I would have to say,

sounds like somebody is pushing you and forcing you.

It's not that really, it is just a way of speaking,

of saying, in my opinion, it's just, you know,

I would have to say it,

what you were saying is if you pushed me

for an answer, I would have to say,

but we just use it as mean I think.

I would have to say it's a good idea.

You can say, I'd have to say,

or, I would have to say.

Both are okay.

Let's try the contraction.

I'd have to say...

I'd have to say it's a good idea.

Say the opposite.

I'd have to say it's not a good idea.

Or, I'd have to say it isn't a good idea.

Or, I'd have to say it's a bad idea.

All of them are possible.

Okay.

So three simple expressions.

Come back, practice them, shadow them,

practice them till you can do them automatically,

like Magic Johnson puts the basketball in the basket.

Let's move on.

(words popping)

Okay, next up, what do you do when you don't understand

a question or when you have no idea what to say?

Well, the following phrases actually are asking the examiner

to clarify or explain the question.

But even if you don't know what to say,

this is a good strategy.

'cause it gives you thinking time.

So the basic one, Sorry, could you repeat that?

Sorry, could you repeat that?

It makes them repeat it,

but it gives you time to think more, right?

Sorry, could you, the Could You is okay,

but normally we say, KOOD-CHOO, CHOO.

KOOD-CHOO, sorry, KOOD-CHOO repeat that?

Great. Okay.

Now the next one is, Can you explain

what you mean exactly?

Can you explain what you mean exactly?

Here it's clever because you are not saying,

I don't understand.

You are saying your explanation

or question is not very clear.

Can you explain what you mean, what you mean exactly?

And this, the examiner will either repeat the question,

if it's in part one,

or part two, they will just repeat the question.

If it's part three, they will explain or maybe rephrase.

So it can be useful.

And that gives you more time to think about

and understand the question.

You can also say, could you elaborate on that?

Could you elaborate on that?

To elaborate is to go into detail.

Give me more details.

Elaborate.

Could you, could you, could you elaborate on that?

And again, the examiner will either repeat

or in part three they may explain more and elaborate,

give you more details.

Okay.

Either way, it's giving you time

to understand the question

and to think if you don't know what to say.

The bottom line is if you don't know anything about a topic,

then it's better to say something.

There's nothing you can do in the exam to change the fact

you know nothing about it.

The examiner asks you about climate change.

I've no idea.

You can't get on your phone and check.

So it's better to say something and to have time to think.

Right?

What do you think of climate change?

Oh, well, can you explain what you mean exactly?

Sure.

I mean, is climate change,

is it having an impact on our lives?

Well, to be honest, I don't know much about that, thinking,

but I guess it's in the news a lot.

A lot of people are talking about it.

So it must be important,

and it seems to be impacting our lives a lot.

I've not answered the question at all, but I'm talking

and I'm giving the examiner language to evaluate.

That's the important thing.

Okay, so there you are, lots of tips and ideas.

So there you have it, 20 essential phrases

that will help you with your IELTS speaking.

But actually more important than the phrases, I think,

is this technique and this approach to practicing.

The way that I'm showing you the pronunciation,

the intonation, the phrasing,

and showing you how to use the language

and giving you natural spoken English,

'cause at the end of the day, the examiners are evaluating

your natural conversational spoken English, right?

These practice techniques, where I get you to repeat with me

and to get you thinking about the language is step three

of my IELTS Speaking Success System.

The Speaking Success System is the crux

or the center of my gold course.

And step three, this idea of practicing

is what I do in actually in all of my courses,

and it's really to get you engaged,

not just learning the language,

but learning how to use the language

so you can become a more confident speaker

and succeed in your IELTS speaking test

or your English language journey wherever you go.

Would you like the PDF for all of these phrases

so you can come back and you can listen again

to this and you can practice?

If so, click on the link down below

and you can get the PDF for free.

And you can start practicing,

start building your confidence as an English speaker.

That's it.

If you are interested in any of my courses,

in particular, the gold course,

there's a link below as well.

You can get a discount on that course by following the link.

And check it out on my website, keithspeakingacademy.com.

Listen, thank you so much for watching today

and for practicing with me.

I really hope I can help you on your journey to, well,

to become a more confident speaker.

Oh, remember to like, subscribe.

It helps with the channel.

And I will see you in the next video, my friend.

Take care.

All the best.

Bye-Bye.

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