REAL ENGLISH: Money vocabulary & expressions

"Hey."

Yeah, a movie would be great.

Yep.

Just let me check.

Hold on.

"Actually, nope, I am totally broke."

No, another time.

Yeah, it's a sad time for everybody.

Yes, I'm...

Yeah.

All right.

Talk to you later.

Sorry.

Bye.

"I'd love to see that movie, but I'm totally broke."

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on talking about money.

So in this lesson, I'm going to look at some ways that you can talk about your level of

wealth, how to talk about money when you go out to a restaurant with your friends, or

just how to talk about your own spending habits if you're someone who doesn't like spending

money specifically.

So let's start by talking about your level of wealth.

So this means how much money you actually have.

Here are some ways to talk about being poor.

So if you are broke, this means you have zero dollars in your bank account, or zero yen,

or whatever currency you are using.

So you can tell your friends, "I'm broke", meaning I have no money.

I have zero dollars, zero yen, zero won, whatever it is that, you know, you use.

So you heard me on the phone, "I can't go to the movie because I'm broke", okay?

A person who is living check to check - you can also say living paycheck to paycheck - is

someone who might be renting an apartment, or maybe they have a mortgage on a house,

but they can't really save money because they need the money that they have from their job

to pay for their rent, and to pay for the basics of life, the necessities of life, such

as food, and, you know, gas, and electricity, and rent, for example.

So if you are living paycheck to paycheck, this means you are living from, I guess in

most places it's week to week, or every two weeks, if you get paid every two weeks.

So, you know, you can't wait for payday.

You're living check to check to check, and maybe you're not able to save a lot of money,

unfortunately.

So, this is the situation for quite a few people, unfortunately.

"Rich", so if you are rich, this means you have a lot of money.

One slang term that you can use to talk about a person who is rich is "loaded".

So, think of "loaded" as full, right?

So someone's pockets are full of money, they are loaded with money.

That person is loaded, that person is rich.

So, you can talk about people like Bill Gates being loaded.

He has a lot of money.

"Well-off", someone is well-off, this means they don't struggle financially.

They have a good life and are financially secure.

They don't have to worry about, you know, where their next check is coming from.

They don't live check to check.

They are well-off.

So, you can say, "Oh, my cousin is really well-off.

He doesn't have to worry about money."

Maybe he doesn't even have to worry about working or missing a month of work, for example.

Okay?

So, once more, just repeat after me.

"Broke", "living check to check", "loaded", "well-off".

Okay, good.

Next, let's talk about spending habits.

Specifically, let's talk about people who don't like to spend money.

So, the most common word for this type of person who doesn't like to spend money and

holds onto it is "cheap".

Now, "cheap" has a negative connotation.

If you want, you know, if you want to talk about someone who is financially responsible

and, you know, being cheap in a positive way, you can use the word "frugal".

So, "frugal" means, you know, you don't spend a lot.

You don't need the newest phone, the newest clothes, the newest shoes.

You just need the basics.

You are a frugal person.

You're not cheap.

"Cheap" means you just don't like spending money, you don't like...

For example, maybe you're the friend, when you go out with your friends and you always

forget your wallet because you don't want to pay for your meal.

So, it's like, "Ah, sorry, I forgot my wallet.

Can you pay?"

That person can be seen as cheap.

Okay?

So, "cheap" and "I'll pay you back, don't worry."

Yeah, okay, Dan, I'm still waiting for those $5 from six years ago.

"Cheap", negative connotation; "frugal", positive or neutral connotation; and "a penny pincher".

So, "a penny" is one cent.

In Canada, pennies don't exist anymore.

In the United States, at the time of this video, pennies still exist, but the term "penny

pincher" still exists.

So, "to pinch" is to do this - ow - to a person, pinch, pinch, pinch.

So, imagine someone gripping, holding a penny very tightly, like they're pinching the penny.

So, "a penny pincher", negative meaning, just like "cheap".

So, if I say, "Oh, my aunt is a real penny pincher.

She doesn't want to take the money out of her purse."

I think my favorite expression that I've ever heard to talk about a cheap person, I had

a student from Mexico, and he said, "Oh, yeah, we say that you have T-Rex arms", right?

So, your arms can't reach your wallet, like a Tyrannosaurus rex.

We don't have that in English, but I love the image of a Tyrannosaurus rex trying to,

you know, pay for something, but they can't get their wallet.

Okay?

So, these are, again, "cheap", and let's repeat, "cheap", "frugal", "a penny pincher".

Excellent, good.

Okay, now, what about when you go out to a restaurant?

So, you can split the bill with your friends if, for example, you pay for half and your

friend pays for half of your meal if you go to any type of restaurant.

This is called "splitting the bill".

So, to split is to divide equally, maybe in two, three, four.

In most places now, at least, you know, in North America, a lot of places will always

give you individual bills or individual receipts, but it's still possible sometimes, you know,

to split the bill for a meal with someone, meaning you pay your side, your share, and

I will pay my share or my side of the bill.

Okay?

So, want to split the bill?

All right?

Want to split it?

So, "split", "divide".

You can use this to talk about dividing money.

Next, okay, if you are a nice person and you want to pay for your friend or pay for your

group of friends when you're going out, you can say a lot of different phrases, a lot

of different sentences, such as, "Don't worry, I'll cover you."

So, if you cover someone, this means you will pay for them.

Right?

So, you cover, cover the money that they have to pay, maybe to go to a movie theatre or

maybe if you are going to a theme park with roller coasters, and you say, "No, no, I invited

you.

Don't worry.

You're coming with me.

I will cover you."

Okay?

You can also say, "I'll get it."

That wonderful verb "get", right?

We use it in so many different contexts.

You can use it to talk about paying for somebody.

You can say, "No, no, don't worry, don't worry.

I'll get it.

I'll pay for the coffee."

Okay?

Or just, "Don't worry.

I got it."

Okay?

So, "I got it.

I will get it.

I got it."

Either one of these two will work.

And finally, these last two, "It's on me.

On me."

This means, again, "I will pay.

You do not have to pay.

The bill is not on your head.

It's on my head.

It's on me."

Okay?

So, whatever it is, lunch, coffee, anything like that.

And finally, you can say, "It's my treat."

Or just, "Don't worry, my treat.

I will pay.

It's my gift to you.

My present to you.

My treat.

You don't have to pay.

I am inviting you, and I will pay."

Okay?

All right.

Now, let's look at some bank expressions and some other financial expressions that you

can use about money.

Okay, let's review that bank vocabulary.

If you want a more expanded look at the bank vocabulary I'm going to cover in this part

of the lesson, you can check out my other lesson on bank vocabulary.

There I give you a lot more vocab than I do here.

But for now, let's look at what I have here.

So, using the ATM.

The ATM is the machine that you use to put money in or to get money out.

So, let's look at some nouns and verbs that you can use to put money in or to take money

out.

Let's look at the first two sentences.

I need to make a withdrawal.

I need to withdraw some money.

So, a withdrawal, here, this is a noun, you make a withdrawal, so the verb is important,

make a withdrawal, or you can just use the verb withdraw.

Both of these sentences mean that you need to take money out from your bank account because

you want to have cash in your wallet, right?

So, you can say I need to withdraw $40, or I need to withdraw $20, I need to take money

out of my account.

Let's look at the spelling difference.

They're almost exactly the same, except in the noun, "withdrawal", you have "al" at the

end, and "withdraw", just "draw" at the end.

Okay?

So, just repeat after me.

I need to make a withdrawal.

I need to withdraw some money.

Okay good.

And next, if you want to make a deposit.

Maybe it was your birthday, and your aunt gave you $100, or someone gave you money,

and you want to put that money in the bank, you need to deposit that money.

Or, again, the verb is make, and you can make a deposit.

So, I need to make a deposit.

I need to deposit some money, just like here.

I need to deposit some money.

Both of these sentences mean you want to put money into your account.

You're not taking it, you know, out.

You're putting money into the bank.

Okay?

So, repeat after me.

I need to make a deposit.

I need to deposit some money.

Beautiful, okay.

And finally, let's look at some currency vocabulary.

So, this will include some slang expressions for money that maybe you have already heard

in television shows and films, and some very common vocabulary that you use to talk about

coins.

Okay?

So, you might have heard, you know, the word "bucks" in a lot of movies and TV shows.

Bucks is slang for dollars.

So, you can say 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 100 bucks, 50 bucks.

This all means $10, $20, $100, $50, okay?

So, if you hear 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 30 bucks, a buck.

A buck is $1.

It all means dollars, dollars, dollars, dollars, okay?

A grand.

A grand refers to $1,000.

$1,000.

So, you can say, you know, my car cost 30 grand, or 20 grand.

This means $1,000, or $30,000, or $20,000, 2 grand, 3 grand, 4 grand, 4,000, 3,000, 2,000.

So, again, a grand always means 1,000.

Now, let's look at some vocabulary that you can use to talk about different coins, okay?

So, if you have a coin that is 25 cents, this is called a quarter, okay?

So, 25 cents is a quarter.

I'm specifically talking about the North American context right now.

So, 25 cents is a quarter, 10 cents is a dime, 5 cents is a nickel, and 1 cent is a penny.

Now, if you come to Canada, you will not see pennies anymore, but they do have them in

the United States, like I mentioned before.

So, just repeat after me, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, a penny.

Good.

And if you're old like I am, maybe you're familiar with the days when arcades were alive,

and most arcades cost a quarter to play, except for the big ones where usually they cost like

a dollar to play.

But most arcades, they're coming back.

There's like barcades now where you can still just pay for, you know, all you...

There's like all-you-can-play fees, or some of them still just charge a quarter, like

back in the good old days, okay?

Alright, finally, some more Canadian content, Canadian context for you.

If you ever visit Canada, and you hear the words "loonie" or "toonie", these are the names

for our $1 coin and our $2 coins.

They look like this.

Where did I put them, here?

Ah, there we go.

So, that is a loonie.

Hopefully you can see that.

You can also do a Google image search.

Ouch, my back.

And this is a toonie, so that's a $2 coin.

In Canada, okay?

So, repeat after me.

A loonie.

A toonie.

Okay?

So, hey, do you have a loonie?

Do you have a toonie?

It sounds funny, right, because "to", but you say "toonie", a toonie for $2 coin.

Okay, guys.

That's it.

We covered a lot of money-related vocabulary in this lesson.

Now, if you want to test your understanding of everything we have covered here, as always,

you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

While you're there, check out, you know, all of our other videos.

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Until next time, thanks for clicking.