How To Describe Someone Who Is Bad At Something In English

45,255 views ・ 2022-09-06

Learn English with Bob the Canadian


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In my last English lesson,
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I helped you learn some English phrases you can use
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to talk about someone who's good at something.
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In this English lesson,
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I'm going to teach you some phrases you can use
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to describe someone who's bad at something,
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someone who doesn't do something very well.
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And that's the most common phrase that I just said:
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to be bad at something.
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You might hear sentences like this:
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I'm bad at basketball.
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I'm actually bad at basketball.
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He's bad at sports.
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She's bad at video games.
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When we use this phrase,
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we're describing someone who does something,
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but when they do it,
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they don't do it very well at all.
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So, in this English lesson,
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I'll teach you a few more ways to describe someone
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who's bad at something.
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(upbeat music)
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Another way we describe someone in English
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who isn't good at something,
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a way we describe someone who's bad at something,
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is to use one of the four following phrases:
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you could say no good at,
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you could say not good at,
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you could say not any good at,
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or you could say not very good at.
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You might hear sentences like this:
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I'm no good at cooking,
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I'm not good at cooking,
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I'm not any good at cooking,
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or I'm not very good at cooking.
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These are all common ways to describe someone
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who isn't good at cooking,
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someone who's bad at cooking,
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and they're all used quite interchangeably,
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and they're all quite common.
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As an English speaker,
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I'm not even sure why I choose the one I choose
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when I'm talking about someone who's not good at something.
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It just kind of happens automatically.
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So, no good at,
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not good at,
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not any good at,
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and not very good at.
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Another phrase we use in English
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to describe someone who's bad at something
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is the phrase to suck at something.
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Now, this is very, very informal.
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You wouldn't want to use this phrase
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when talking to your boss,
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or in a formal conversation,
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but when you're around friends and family,
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I think it's okay for you to use it.
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I use it all the time
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when I describe something that I'm bad at.
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You might hear somebody say something like this:
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I'm always broke.
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I suck at managing my money.
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Someone who says this is,
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obviously, always running out of money.
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They never have any money in their wallet
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because they suck at managing their money.
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They just spend it really quickly,
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and then they don't have any left.
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So, when they describe it,
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they might say, "I suck at managing my money."
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Another way to describe someone
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who's bad at something in English
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is to use the words horrible and terrible.
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You might hear somebody say something like this:
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I'm a horrible driver,
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or I'm a terrible golfer.
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Maybe a friend of yours wants to go on a trip
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and they want you to drive,
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you might say, "No, no, no.
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I would prefer that you drive
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because I'm a horrible driver."
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Someone might say, "Hey, let's go golfing on Saturday,"
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and maybe you're not good at golfing at all,
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maybe you're really bad at golfing,
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you might say to them,
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"No, no, I'd rather go bowling
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because I'm a terrible golfer."
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So, one other way to describe someone
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who's bad at something in English
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is to use the words horrible or terrible.
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Another phrase you might hear English speakers use
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when talking about someone who's bad at something
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is the phrase useless when it comes to.
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It's a bit of a mouthful.
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It's a lot of words to use
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to describe someone who's bad at something,
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but we do say this.
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You might hear sentences like this:
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I'm useless when it comes to computers,
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this would be said by someone
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who isn't very good at using computers,
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or I'm useless when it comes to fixing things,
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this would be used by someone
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who isn't really good at repairing and fixing things.
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I would say this,
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"I'm not useless when it comes to computers,
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but I am useless when it comes to fixing things."
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If my car's broken I send it to the garage
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because I'm useless when it comes to fixing cars.
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Sometimes people go to school to learn how to do something,
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or they'll get training,
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so that they're good at it.
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But if they get training,
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or go to school,
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and then they're not good at it,
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if they're bad at it,
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we might use the word incompetent.
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You don't want to send kids to a school
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where the teachers are incompetent.
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You don't want to go to the hospital for surgery
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if the doctor is incompetent.
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This is a way we describe people who have training,
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people who have been taught how to do something,
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and they're still not good at it,
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they're still bad at it,
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we would use the word incompetent.
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Sometimes when we're bad at something,
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we use the word hopeless to talk about it.
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You might hear someone say something like this:
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I'm hopeless at writing in English,
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I'm good at speaking English,
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but I'm hopeless at writing in English.
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Maybe you know someone who buys lots of house plants
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and they always die.
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That person might say I'm hopeless
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at taking care of house plants.
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So, one more way to describe someone
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who's bad at something in English
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is to use the word hopeless.
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In the last English lesson,
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I talked about people doing work
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and being very professional when they do it.
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We also have the word unprofessional
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to describe people who are bad at their work
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or don't do it in a very nice or kind way.
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In the past lesson,
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I used the example
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that the window installers were very professional.
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If the window installers had broken the window
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and left broken glass on the ground
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and tracked mud into your house
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when they were going in and out,
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we would say that they were very unprofessional.
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So, when you're describing someone who's bad at something
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but also not very kind or considerate when they're doing it,
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we would use the English word unprofessional.
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Well, thank you so much
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for watching this English lesson
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about how to describe people
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who are bad at something in English.
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Hopefully, you use more of these sentences
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from the previous lesson
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where I talked about how to describe people
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who are good at something.
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But sometimes,
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people are bad at something
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and you just have to know how to describe it.
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Hey, if this is your first time here,
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don't forget to click that red subscribe button there.
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Give me a thumbs up
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if this video helped you learn a bit more English.
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Leave a comment below,
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and if you have a little bit more time,
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why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson?
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(upbeat music)
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