10 ways to say "I don't know" in English

Hi, my name is Rebecca from www.engvid.com. In today's lesson, you will learn how to express

yourself when you don't know something in English. This is actually such an easy method

that I think by the end of this lesson, you'll already start using it. So let's have a look

at the board and see how it works. You start by using the phrase: "I don't know",

and you connect it to one of these words or expressions. For example: "I don't know who

is going to the party.", "I don't know what to do.", "I don't know what to say.", "I don't

know what to cook." Right? "I don't know when he's arriving.", "I don't know where my glasses are.",

"I don't know why she left her job.", "I don't know how to reach him.",

"I don't know how to drive.", "I don't know how to swim." And so on.

"I don't know how much it costs.", "I don't know how many people were at the concert.",

"I don't know how often he goes to the club.", "I don't know whether Jane has arrived." "Whether",

spelt like this: "whether" means "if". All right? It's another word for "if". "I don't

know whether Jane has arrived yet.", "I don't know if I locked the door.", "I don't know

if I locked the door." So, you can see that by using that one expression: "I don't know"

with any of these words, you can express a range of information.

Now, a couple of points to keep in mind. You can use this expression and combine it with

present, past, or future tense. What do I mean? Well, you could say: "I don't know who

usually goes to his parties." That's present tense. "I don't know who went to his party."

Past tense. Or: "I don't know who is going to his party." Future tense. Right? So you

can do this with all of these words; you can use it in the present, in the past or in the future.

And one last, very important point to keep

in mind regarding the word "know", regarding the verb "know". The verb "know" is a stative

verb. A stative verb means that you cannot use it in the continuous form. You can only

use it in the simple form, like this. So you can only say: "I don't know", not: "I am not

knowing." Many people in different parts of the world use, tend to use continuous forms

for everything in English, but you have to be really careful not to use the continuous

forms with stative verbs. "Know" is a very common stative verb; there are many others

like it. So other than that, you're fine. You couldn't say - sorry -, you could also

say: "I don't know" or "I didn't know". All right? So you could use this part, but remember

not to change the verb "know". If you'd like to practice this, please go

to our website at www.engvid.com. There you'll find a quiz on this subject. And if you found

this lesson useful, please subscribe to my channel on YouTube. Good luck with your English.

Bye for now.