Polite & Positive English: How to wish “good luck” + how to respond

Hello.

My name is Emma, and in today's lesson, I am going to teach you about expressions you

can use to wish someone luck.

So let me give you examples of a situation where you might need to wish somebody good

luck.

I have here my friend Ken.

Ken is taking a test.

What test is Ken taking?

He's taking the IELTS, so he is really nervous.

So what I would like to do is I would like to wish Ken good luck for his test.

I also have a friend, Rodrigo.

Rodrigo has a job interview on Monday.

He also is really nervous, so what I'd like to do is I'd like to say something to him

to make him feel better and to show him I support him.

I also have a friend, Alice.

Alice has a big presentation.

She is terrified.

So when I speak to Alice, I want to say something to her to make her feel better about her presentation.

So what can we say to these people?

How can we wish them luck?

Well, you are about to find out.

Okay, so here is a very funny but common expression in English.

We often tell people, "Break a leg."

So that's really weird, "Break a leg."

When we tell someone, "Break a leg," we don't actually want them to get hurt.

What we are really saying is good luck.

So we say, "Break a leg" before someone performs, maybe you might have a child who is in a play,

and you might say, "Oh, break a leg."

Or maybe there is somebody doing a job interview, you might say, "Break a leg."

It just means good luck.

This is a very common expression nowadays.

You got this.

So whenever someone is nervous because they have to do something like a test, a presentation,

maybe a job interview, their friends usually say to them, "You got this.

You got this."

It just means, "I know you will do well.

I believe in you.

You got this."

When I was a student, I remember there was one man in the class, Richard, who would always

go around and tell each person before a test, he would always say, "You got this."

And it always made us feel a lot better.

So this is a great thing to tell people to encourage them.

Okay, this next expression is a little bit like the first one.

It sounds really strange.

The expression is, "Knock 'em dead.

Knock 'em dead."

What does that mean?

Do we want someone to die?

No.

But when we say, "Knock 'em dead", it means do well.

Okay, so you're telling somebody you want them to do well.

Maybe you want them to do well at a job interview.

You might say, "Knock 'em dead."

So you'll notice this weird word here, "em".

What does "em" mean?

Well, "em" with this apostrophe actually stands for "them".

So when we say, "Knock them dead", we actually kind of say it in a slang way.

So it actually becomes, "Knock 'em dead.

Knock 'em dead."

It means do well.

Before we look at the next expressions, I also wanted to bring up one thing about the

pronunciation of the word "break".

You might see here an "e" and an "a".

Usually in English, when we see "e" and "a" together, it makes an "e" sound.

In this word, it's different.

We actually pronounce this more like an "a".

So it sounds more like "break".

So it's not an "e" sound, it's an "a" sound, "break a leg".

Okay, now let's look at some other common expressions we can use to wish somebody luck.

Okay, the next expression is very common.

What we can say is, "Fingers crossed."

We can also do hand gestures with this, we can actually cross our fingers, okay?

So what does it mean when we say, "Fingers crossed"?

Well, when we say, "Fingers crossed", it means I hope you get the result you want, or I hope

something good will happen.

So for example, my sister is selling her house.

I hope she gets a good price for her house, so I will say, "Oh, fingers crossed.

I hope you sell your house.

Fingers crossed."

Or maybe if you have a friend who is, you know, doing a test, you might say, "Fingers

crossed.

I hope you do well."

So it's just a superstition that we cross our fingers in order to bring luck to us and

our friends.

And I want you to just pay attention to the pronunciation of this expression.

The "s" actually has a "z" sound, so it sounds like "fingers", so it has that "z" sound to

it.

And "crossed" ends in "ed", but the way we pronounce "ed" in this case is like a "t"

sound.

So we do not say, "Fingers cross-ed", we say, "Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed."

Now, if we cross our finger or fingers and we put it behind our back, that has a different

meaning.

"Fingers crossed behind the back" means we are lying about something, okay?

So if I said, "I will not watch Netflix tonight", I'm lying.

I am totally going to watch Netflix tonight, okay?

So it has that other meaning as well.

Okay, here's another expression you can tell somebody to tell them that you support them

and that you think they will do well on something.

You can say, "You'll blow them away."

"Blow them away" means, you know, you're going to impress somebody.

So for example, if you have a job interview, if you blow someone away, it means you impress

them at your job interview.

And so, who is this "them"?

"Them" can refer to many different people.

It can be an organization, it can be a boss, it can be a co-worker, whoever you are trying

to impress with something, maybe it's even an audience, "blow them away" means, you know,

impress someone or you will impress someone with what you are going to do.

Okay, this next example, I often write in cards, you know, when somebody retires or

maybe someone is graduating from school, sometimes, you know, especially at work, there's a tradition

where everyone writes a message in a greeting card.

So if Bob is retiring, in his card, I might actually write, "Best of luck, Bob."

This means good luck with your life or I wish you luck.

So we often write "best of luck".

It's a great expression to use both in speech or in conversation, but also in writing.

Anytime you want to wish someone luck, you can write "best of luck", and the "to you"

is optional.

Okay?

So you can just say "best of luck" or you can say "best of luck to you", it's your choice.

This next expression is different from the other expressions.

The other expressions were expressions we say to our friends or our family or our co-workers,

but what if you are the person that needs the luck?

You are the one taking the test or you are the one doing the presentation or the job

interview.

So what can you say if it's you and you want luck?

Well, anytime I need luck, I say to different people, "Please wish me luck.

Wish me luck.

Wish me luck.

I have my driving license test.

Wish me luck.

I have the IELTS.

Wish me luck.

I have a job interview tomorrow."

So this just means you want a person to tell you good luck.

I am a very superstitious person, so I always ask people to wish me luck.

So now let's look at a couple more expressions that we use when we are talking about luck

and wishing others luck.

Okay.

So you or your friend have finished what you needed to do.

So maybe you finished your test or your friend has finished their interview or presentation

or project or meeting.

Whatever the reason you wish someone luck or you asked for luck, what happens now, after?

Well, usually when we see the person next, we will ask them a question.

We might ask them, "How did it go?"

What do we mean by "it"?

Well, "it" could be the test, the interview, the presentation, whatever the reason you're

wishing someone luck is the "it".

"How did it go?

How was the performance?

What was the result?

Did it go okay?

Did you do well?"

So these are the kinds of questions you might ask.

And hopefully, this is how your friend or you will respond.

"Nailed it."

"Nailed it" means I did really well.

"How was your test?"

Nailed it.

"How was your presentation?"

I nailed it.

So it's an easy way to say I did really well.

It's the same with the word "killed".

You might have heard the word "killed" in a very negative way, but we also have a positive

meaning in slang.

When we say, "I killed it", it means I did really, really good on something.

I'll give you an example.

When I took my driving test to learn how to become a driver, I killed my test.

This means I did really well on my test.

So this is kind of the slang way to say this, but maybe you don't like to use slang, maybe

you just want more of a regular, everyday way to say this, you might just say, "Oh,

it went well.

Thanks."

Or, "Yeah, it went well."

So this is another way you can say...

Or this is another way to answer the question, "How did it go?

It went well."

So thank you for watching.

I would like to now invite you to come check out www.engvid.com.

There you can actually take a test and practice everything you learned in this video.

Fingers crossed you will do well on this quiz.

I also would like to invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

I have a whole bunch of different lessons on many different topics regarding English,

so come check that out.

You can also visit my website at www.teacheremma.com for more free resources.

Thanks for watching, and until next time, take care.