How to ask for a FAVOUR in English | British English

Hello everyone and welcome back to English with Lucy

I've got another short little video today

that's going to help you learn how to ask for a favour in English

So quickly, before we get started, these videos will help you learn to speak more English

but if you really want to practice then I highly recommend that you visit the website italki

you can find lots of native, professional and qualified teachers

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so maybes its English or maybe you've got another language that you're learning as well

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Alright let's get on with the class

Ok so we've got this little word here which is favour

so what does favour mean?

well a favour is a kind or generous action that someone does for you

or you do for someone, it can also be reversed

so when you ask someone for a favour, you're asking them to do something nice for you

that's gonna benefit you

that's why it's important to understand how to ask for one in a nice and polite way

because you're asking them to do something for you

so you don't want to make them feel obliges and you don't want to offend them or annoy them

so, there are five basic ways in which we can ask for a favour

ok, so it's going to be a question so we need our question mark

the first one, can I ask

Can I ask a favour?

The next one, could you do me

Could you do me a favour?

The third, could you possibly do me

Could you possibly do me a favour?

Number 4, could I ask you to do me

Could I ask you to do me a favour?

I was wondering if I could ask you to do me

I was wondering if I could ask you to do me a favour?

Ok so we have these 5 questions that are all variations of asking someone to do you a favour

Now maybe you want to be a bit more persuasive

so you need to exaggerate the favour, you need to make it seem really really important

Well I've got three options for you in this case

So we're just going to use 'could you do me'

and a favour and we're going to add a word in the middle

We've got 'a really big'

Could you do me a really big favour?

We've also got 'a massive'

Could you do me a massive favour?

And then finally we've got 'a huge'

Could you do me a huge favour?

So those are 3 ways of exaggerating the favour and making the person more obliged to do it for you

Ok, so you've managed to persuade your friend to do the favour for you

Now what do you do?

Well you have to thank them! So..

Apart from a simple 'thank you so much' there are other ways in which you can thank them for doing a favour

My favourite one is "Ah! you're a lifesaver!'

you have saved my life!

you're a lifesaver!

That's a really nice colloquial phrase to use

Then, to show even more appreciation you could say that you owe them a favour now

You could say 'I really owe you one'

or I owe you big time!

Or perhaps you could offer them a reward like

I owe you a drink, or I'll buy you a drink next time we're out

Or maybe, if the favour is appropriate then you can offer to return the favour

So you promise to do the same for them one day in the future

Ok! Well that is the end of my video all about asking for a favour

I hope it helped you, and I hope you feel more comfortable the next time you have to ask for favours

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media

Especially my Instagram, cos I'm very active on that nowadays, and I'll see you soon for another lesson!