10 BRITISH ENGLISH INTERJECTIONS | Conversation training - Chat like a native!

(upbeat music)

- Hello everyone and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today I've got a very special guest.

This is.

- Harry.

- From the channel.

- Real English with Real Teachers.

Hi guys.

- Hello. - Lovely to be here.

- So, we are lacking a member of the gang, aren't we?

We're lacking Charlie

who also works with Harry

on the Real English with Real Teachers channel.

What's wrong with Charlie?

- Charlie had a skiing accident,

so he can't join us today.

He is bedridden.

- Bedridden, yes, he can't get out of bed.

He's recovering in bed.

And I saw a picture of his x-ray.

Broken shoulder.

- Yeah. - Not nice.

- You can see it.

It's coming out like this.

- Urg.

- Yeah, it's rank.

- It's not for the fainthearted.

- No, not for the fainthearted.

Nice expression.

- Thank you.

Okay, so you guys might have seen my video

about five tips to help you improve

your conversation in English.

If you haven't seen it already,

you can have a look up here

and in that video, I asked you guys

if you wanted to see something about interjections.

But really, to show interjections,

you need a partner, someone else as well.

So, I thought I've got Harry here,

let's do it together.

- What is an interjection?

- Well, an interjection is a word or phrase

that a speaker can use to show feeling

or emotion, so it's normally.

- Ah, right.

- Yeah, it's normally used in spoken English,

it can be used in written English as well,

like in stories if the author wants to show

how a character is feeling.

- Quite useful.

We use that a lot in British English, don't we?

- We use it a lot, we really do.

And the thing is, if you want to improve your conversation,

you really need to know how to use interjections

and also understand them.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- Yeah, 'cause they're different in different languages.

So, today I've picked out my top ten interjections

that native English speakers use

and I want to help you understand them

and hopefully, be able to use them.

So, let's get started.

- Let's do it. - Yeah.

Okay, so the first interjection

that we're going to talk about is hmmm.

- Hmmm. - Hmmm.

Now, what does hmmm, when would you use hmmm?

- Hmmm, perhaps when you are going to think about something.

- Yes, you would use hmmm to show

that you are thinking about something.

So, it could be great if you get asked a question

and you want to buy a bit of extra time

to think of an answer.

- Hmmm. - Okay.

And it's something that I mentioned in my previous video

because a lot of speakers will say, ehhh, ehhh.

- Yeah.

- Like that but we tend to say hmmm,

with our mouth shut.

And this is simply because having your mouth open

in front of someone else is considered impolite in English.

- Yeah, yeah, close the mouth.

Yeah, especially for students who are doing

like the IELTS and the Cambridge speaking exams.

- Yes.

- To get that, yeah, like Lucy said,

buying that extra time to think,

say a British sound, not ehhh, ehhh, ehhh,

say hmmm, that's an interesting question, hmmm.

- Hmmm, yeah, yeah and you just sound more native overall

by not saying ehhh and you say hmmm.

- Yeah. - It's very, very polite.

- It's very polite, yeah, yeah.

- Okay, the next one is jeez.

- [Both] Jeez.

- Okay. - Okay.

And jeez, I mean, where do you think

the word jeez comes from?

- Hmmm, probably our friend Jesus.

- It comes from the word Jesus

and it normally is used to expression shock

or exasperation.

- Yeah., agreed.

- So, I can say it in two different ways.

If I was to say, jeez, what would I be showing?

- Probably annoyance.

Probably that someone did something

you didn't like.

- Yeah.

- The third interjection that we have chosen for you

is phew.

- Phew.

Can often be teamed with the hand on the forehead.

- Yeah. - Phew.

- Phew.

- We would use the phew interjection to show relief

that you are relieved about something.

So, maybe I'm running for the bus

and then I see that it hasn't arrived

or maybe it's delayed, I would say, "Ah, phew."

Thank God.

- Yeah, you know, yeah, so you're very relieved about it.

I said it today actually.

- Did you? - Yeah, yeah.

- What happened?

- So, Lucy and I had real problems with the trains today

and I thought I was going to miss it

and I was going to be late for the lovely Lucy

and then I manged to catch the train

and I said.

- Phew. - Phew, phew.

- But the funny thing was I was on a similar train

and I was also delayed.

So, actually we were both delayed,

so there was no issue anyway.

- No, no.

- It was fine.

So, interjection number four

is oops.

Oops.

- Oops.

- This one, I think, is quite international.

- Yeah.

- Spanish people tend to spell it ups, like.

- [Both] Ups.

- Oops. - Oops.

- And when would we use oops?

- When you do something clumsy.

When you do something by accident,

something you didn't want to do.

- Something not too serious.

- Yeah, like.

- Oops. - Oops.

- We can sometimes say oops-a-daisy

and that's quite a common British, I would say,

if not English,

probably quite a British English expression.

Oops-a-daisy.

- Yeah, I can't imagine

an American person going

oops-a-daisy.

- Oops-a-daisy, yeah.

Do you know what?

We will probably find someone in the comments

that says no, I'm American and I use it all the time.

So, yeah.

- So tell us

if you are American and you use that expression.

Number five is ahem.

- Ahem. - Ahem.

- Ahem.

- What does that mean?

- Well, it's to show that you're clearing your throat

ready to say something, okay?

Maybe you have to interrupt someone.

So, you say ahem,

I'm going to say something,

let me interrupt you.

- Okay, so if I was talking your.

- Ahem.

I want to talk now.

(both laugh)

- Nicely done.

- People will often say ahem

before they make a speech.

(Lucy dings)

- They'll ding on a glass

and then go ahem.

I'm going to make a speech.

Number six is mmm, mmm

and this has many meanings.

We were just discussing that we use it a lot

to show agreement, that we agree with someone.

- Mmm.

- So, yeah, I'll be talking

and Harry will be mmm, agreeing along with me.

- Mmm, it's because you're very agreeable, mmm.

- Oh, thank you, Harry.

We would also use it if we see something delicious,

we might say.

- [Both] Mmm.

- Yeah, with a different intonation, a bit longer.

- Mmm.

Yeah, it's got a wave to it.

- Mmm. - Yeah.

- Would you say it if you saw someone

and you thought they were attractive?

- Mmm, yeah I would.

(Lucy and Harry laugh)

There are lots of different ways.

I think it depends really

on the body language with that one.

- Yeah, absolutely, agreed.

- But if you want to show that you're agreeing with someone,

without interrupting them and saying yes, yes,

right, all the time,

then just going mmm, mmm,

can show that you agree.

- Yeah, you could use that in a meeting,

in like a business meeting, mmm.

- So, for the next one,

how would you show that you disagree?

- Mmm. - Mmm/mm-mm.

- Ah, mmm/mm-mm. - So.

- Ah, I would go mmm.

With my students, if they're saying something wrong.

- Mhm.

- Or if they.

(Harry laughs)

Or if I think, yeah, they've made a grammar mistake

and I want them to realise,

I say mmm.

- Mmm, okay, so we're showing a doubt,

we're showing that we don't agree with someone

if we go mmm, in like a sort of questioning tone.

- Yes, or the one you said.

- The one I said which is mmm/mm-mm.

- The next interjection today is yikes.

- Yikes. - Yikes.

- Yeah.

- When would we say that?

- We would say yikes to show negative shock

at something, normally negative.

- Ah, okay.

- So, when I saw Charlie's broken bone,

yikes, that looks painful, yeah.

Yeah, so yikes.

- That is a good example to say yikes.

Yeah, yeah, something you think,

that's a bit disgusting, yikes.

- Yikes, yikes.

Now, the next one that we're going to talk about

is really, really British

and it's something I say all the time,

so much so that I actually have to cut it out

of my videos quite a lot.

And it is so.

So, so is a word that I use

to introduce speech.

So, I know I'm going to say something,

so I'll say so, next we're going to talk about,

and actually it's not best practise to say so that much

but it could be really useful for you

if you're doing a speaking exam

'cause it does again, buy you a little bit of extra time.

- Yes, yes.

- So, what do you think?

- So, I think it's really good.

So, yeah, it's.

Ah, I did it, so yeah.

It's a way of leading from one idea

or one step in a conversation to the next

or to create intervals between your diction

or the words that you say.

- Exactly, so, I think it's a really good one to use.

- Yeah, the next one today is gosh.

- Gosh. - Gosh.

Oh gosh.

And when would we say this one?

- Well, we would often say oh my God

but sometimes it's good not to mention God

and instead we substitute it with gosh,

oh my gosh,

which can then be cut down to just gosh

or my gosh or oh gosh.

- Yeah and I guess traditionally,

people were very careful not to be blasphemous, right?

- Exactly, not to use God's name in vain.

- Yeah, exactly, yeah,

so people would say oh my gosh.

- Oh my gosh.

- Because if they said oh my God,

their grandmother would say.

- Don't blaspheme, yeah.

- Yeah, don't speak bad about the God,

it's not his problem.

- Yeah, so oh my God isn't really frowned upon

nowadays in Britain, it might be in America though.

They're a little more religious over there.

- Yeah.

- Okay guys, that is it for our lesson on interjections.

I hoped you liked it, I hope you learned something.

Don't forget to check out Harry's channel,

Real English with Real Teachers

and we've done a couple of videos together.

One's just gone live over there

on minimal pairs.

- Yes. - Yeah.

So, minimal pairs are really important,

especially if you want to avoid embarrassing situations.

- Yes, absolutely.

So, these two pairs of words

that one word is a very nice word, like beach,

the other word is not so nice

and could offend someone.

- Yes, don't forget to connect with me

on all of my social media,

I've got my Facebook and my Instagram

and I will see you soon for another lesson.

(kissing)

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