How To Describe Someone Who Is Good At Something In English

39,170 views ・ 2022-08-30

Learn English with Bob the Canadian


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

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When you do something over and over again,
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eventually you get good at it.
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When you practice something, eventually you get good at it.
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This is the English phrase we use
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when we talk about someone who does something
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really, really well.
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We say they're good at it.
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If you practice basketball a lot,
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eventually you're good at playing basketball.
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If you arrange a lot of flowers,
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if you make a lot of bouquets,
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eventually we say you're good at making bouquets,
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but there are other phrases you can use.
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This is definitely the most common phrase,
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but there are other phrases you can use
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to describe someone who does something really, really well.
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And that's what I'm gonna tell you about
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in this English lesson.
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(upbeat music)
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Let's start by talking about the English phrase,
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to be good with.
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We use this phrase when we're talking about people
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who are good at talking to other people.
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People who are good at making other people
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feel very comfortable.
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We use this phrase when talking about people
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who are really good at taking care of children
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or people who are good at taking care of dogs
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or cats or other pets.
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You might hear sentences like this.
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He's a great salesman. He's good with people.
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She's an excellent teacher. She's good with little kids.
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She's an excellent veterinarian.
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She's good with dogs and she's good with cats.
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So instead of saying that the person
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is good at that job,
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the alternative is to say they are good with,
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and then to mention the people
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or animal that the person is good with.
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So, she's good at taking care of animals.
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She's good with animals.
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Another way to say someone is good at something in English
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is to use the phrase, to have a way with.
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When you say someone has a way with something,
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it means they're good at it.
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The most common phrase,
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and it's a phrase you've probably heard before,
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is to say someone has a way with words.
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He's a really good speaker. He has a way with words.
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She's a really good writer. She has a way with words.
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But you can use this phrase
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to talk about other things as well.
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You could say this.
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Jen is really good at growing flowers.
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She has a way with flowers.
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You can also use this to talk about pets again.
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You could say when she's around dogs,
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they're always happy and really like her.
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She has a way with dogs.
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So another way in English to say someone
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is really, really good at something
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is to use the phrase, to have a way with.
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Now, if you know someone who's just really good
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at talking to people, someone who's really good
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at making people feel comfortable and enjoy themselves,
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you might use the English term people person.
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You might say things like this.
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I love visiting my uncle. He's a people person.
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He greets me at the door. He gets me a cup of tea.
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We sit down and chat and laugh.
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He makes me feel comfortable
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and it's very enjoyable to be around him.
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He's a real people person.
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So, this is just specific to people
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who are good at talking to other people.
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People who are good at making other people feel comfortable
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and enjoy their presence.
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We would describe that person by saying
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they're a people person.
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And if you wanna emphasize it,
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you would add the word real,
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and you would say, they're a real people person.
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I really enjoy talking to my uncle.
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He's a real people person.
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When you need to get something fixed,
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you want the person who fixes it
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to be good at fixing that item.
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In English we might use the English phrase,
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to know their stuff.
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If your computer is broken and your nephew
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is going to fix it,
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you hope that he knows his stuff.
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You hope that he is an expert
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at fixing your particular computer problem.
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When you take your car to the garage,
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you hope that the mechanic knows her stuff.
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You hope that she's studied and read manuals,
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and gone and taken classes
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about how to fix your particular problem.
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So instead of saying, they're good at fixing computers
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or good at fixing cars,
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you can simply say they know their stuff.
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He's good at fixing computers. He knows his stuff.
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She's good at fixing cars. She knows her stuff.
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When we talk about hiring someone
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to fix something or hiring someone to do some work for you,
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we want them to be good at what they do
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but we also want them to be professional.
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So when someone comes and maybe puts a new window
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in your house,
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you want them to be good at replacing windows.
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But as they do it, you want them to be professional as well.
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When we say someone is professional
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when they do their work, oh, they were very professional
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when they replaced the window,
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so what we mean is that they were kind, they were polite.
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They cleaned up after themselves.
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They did a really nice job.
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They didn't just rip the old window out,
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stick the new one in, and leave without talking to you.
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They did a really nice job
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and they kind of communicated well along the way.
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And they finished the job in a way
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where you were very, very happy.
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So, when you hire someone to fix something
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or do something on your house or apartment,
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it's really good if they're good at it,
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but it's also really nice
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if they can be professional while they're doing it.
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When you're talking about someone who's good at something,
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maybe a little more musical or artistic,
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you can use the English word talented.
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You can use the word talented to say
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that they're good at something.
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Here are a few examples.
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You could say.
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He's a very talented guitar player.
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She's a very talented painter.
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He's a very talented piano player.
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She's a very talented singer.
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When you say that someone is good at playing guitar
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or good at singing, it doesn't sound fancy enough for me.
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I like to use the word talented.
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If I say he's really good at playing guitar,
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it just doesn't sound as good as saying
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he's a talented guitar player.
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That just sounds way better.
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And it makes for a better description
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of how good that person is at playing the guitar.
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So when we're talking about something that isn't artistic
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or musical, we might use the English word skilled.
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You might say things like this.
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She's a skilled video editor.
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He's a skilled carpenter.
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Because these people have learned a skill,
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they've learned to do something
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that they're really, really good at,
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we use the word skilled to describe it.
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She's a skilled video editor. He's a skilled carpenter.
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When we say phrases like that,
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we're definitely saying this person has done it a lot.
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They've learned how to do this really, really well,
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and they're really, really good at it.
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They are just very, very skilled.
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Well, thank you so much for watching this English lesson
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where I gave you some other options to use
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when describing someone
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who's really, really good at something.
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Remember, if this is your first time here,
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don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there.
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Gimme a thumbs up
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if this video helped you learn a little bit more English
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and once again, if you're not sure what to do next,
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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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