STOP SAYING "Congratulations" - Improve Your English Vocabulary!

Wow! Okay. So I have some big news!

Oh yeah? What's that?

I'm pregnant!

WOW!

Graduations!

What?

ConGregGations!

What?

ConGgGrations

Huh?

ConGRAYshuns!

What are you saying?

Have a good baby!

[music]

Okay what about when something like this happens.

Some positive thing in someone's life happens

maybe a new job, a new house, a new baby.

How can you--

Of course nice and easy congratulations.

Okay the pronunciation can be difficult doesn't have to be,

let's break it down.

Cun not Con. Cun

Gra

There's a glottal stop at the end. Gra

Cungra

Cha

Again a schwa sound. Cha

Cungracha

lations

Cun-gra-cha-lations

Say it with me. Cun-gra-cha-lations

You are amazing you are perfect.

In other situations maybe that person did something really cool

and you want to say you are awesome.

You did a cool thing.

This one you could also use these responses.

Well done.

Or more casually nice one.

Again did you notice the pronunciation of that "L".

I didn't say well done you can you can that's not wrong

but more commonly this is what you hear in the real world your hear

well, well done, well done. It's faster speech it's more casual.

That's what you hear.

You can even combine them; for example,

Oh my God, I got a new job. Nice one well done.

Now you might hear this one.

Good for you.

Just be careful when you use this.

Why? Well in the real world when you say this, your immediate thought is sarcasm.

So it sounds like this- Good for you.

It doesn't sound sincere, it doesn't sound real so, if you say good for you

First, probably don't say in a text because you con read the context,

secondly, if you say in person make sure you sound genuine and sincere.

Good for you.

I'm happy for you.

You can modify this with - I'm really happy for you OR I'm so happy for you.

Reacting to bad news or good news.

How can you react? How can you show sympathy?

and How can you react in a positive way?

Okay, your friend has bad news. How can you react?

You need to show sympathy so how can you do that?

If there is a death, specifically that's the sentence you need.

I'm sorry sorry to hear that.

That is the standard sentence.

If you want to add more to that, you could say.

Oh that socks and sorry to hear that.

Now yes, this is what sucks that is informal. It is casual.

But, if you're being genuine it's okay. If you're being sincere, that's okay.

However don't use this in a formal situation

because some people might think that you don't care.

So, just be careful; for example,

if that's your friend, you know each other. She knows that you care that's good but,

if that is, I don't know your boss or someone new.

Or someone older.

They might not like that word so, just be careful.

O may that's awful.

So in this one, we add a more personal feeling right.

Mate we're showing that we're close to you.

Mate is a British term means friend right so, mate that's awful.

Awful means very very bad. Terrible.

Pronunciation notice again I said that "L" like in "L" awful

say with me awful. Mate that's soulful.

Good!

Okay, more positive news.

Your friend is going on holiday; how can you react? how can you say dude yes.

No way. It's a good reaction to Good news

OR bad news. You could use this for bad news.

It's just, it's surprise so, it's good for any situation in which you are surprised.

That's awesome!

OR, that is COOL!

Or finally, that's NUTS!

This one, you're adding more emotion more surprised like wow, that's nuts.

Nuts means crazy but in this context it means that's crazy good.

If you want to see more videos like this you can subscribe to my channel

hit the bell so you get a notification when ever I upload a new video.

Also, if you want extra English practice you can

join this channel as a member or join my patron page

And I'll see you in the next class.

[music]