15 Awesome English Idioms You Need to Know - Used in Daily Conversation

in this video you will learn about english  idioms about time so let's get started right away  

all right our first idiom is good  timing and good timing is different  

from the other uh english phrase caught  that that is used called good time  

okay so for this phrase we always use the word  time in okay and good timing is it means that  

something that has or is good timing occurs at a  lucky time all right so let's see it in an example  

okay for example it started to rain  just as we arrived at the train station  

we didn't have an umbrella so that was good  timing so our next idiom is time is on my side  

okay and maybe you're thinking about oh my  side what does that mean well it doesn't mean  

right about your body or anything like that it  means that time is helping you in a way all right  

so this means that you have a lot of time to  do something time is on my side it's helping me  

okay so let's look at an example i have a lot  of homework but since it's not due until next  

month time is on my side idiom number three is  working against the clock and this means that  

you don't have a lot of time to do something all  right so it's kind of the opposite of the uh our  

second idiom that we just learned so for example  i have a lot of homework that's due tonight so  

i'm working against the clock all right and  idiom number four is in the blink of an eye  

all right and this means that something  happened very quickly okay and the key words  

in this idiom really is blink okay blink of  an eye all right a blink is when your eye  

closes very quickly and then opens again  all right so one blink is like this  

okay it's very fast okay so now you can see where  the idiom comes from so let's look at an example  

the airplane flew over my house and  then disappeared in the blink of an eye  

so very quickly the airplane disappeared  and our fifth and final idiom for this video  

is time flies all right this means that time  passes very quickly um a lot of students think  

that this idiom is very funny right because  time cannot fly away it can't fly in the sky  

but this is just a phrase to mean that like  something that flies usually is very fast  

so when we say that time flies it just means  it's very fast time passed very quickly  

so let's look at our example for  example i was playing with my friends  

when i realized it was night time time flies  idioms about food or at least idioms that use food  

to talk about or describe something so in this  video you're going to learn five different idioms  

that use food all right our first idiom today is  take it with a grain of salt and this idiom is  

very common we native speakers use this  idiom a lot in their their normal daily  

speech and it means to not completely  believe something that someone tells you  

okay so it's like being skeptical if you know  what that word means so let's use it in a sentence  

so for example some people claim that some food  is very unhealthy or healthy for you but i usually  

take it with a grain of salt and this means that  i mean i'm just skeptical about their advice and  

maybe i don't trust what they're saying 100  our second idiom for today is to have a lot  

on one's plate okay so you you can say to have  a lot on my plate or to have a lot on your plate  

and it means having many things to do to the point  of almost being or feeling overwhelmed okay very  

busy so let's use it in a sentence for example i'm  sorry but i can't commit to helping you right now  

because i have a lot on my plate and  our third idiom for today is cherry pick  

cherry pick means to choose only the best or  the most suitable of something from a group  

of people or things all right so and this  kind of means it means to to be selective  

to choose only the things that you want  so let's use it in a sentence for example  

it's dishonest to cherry-pick information  when telling a story it's best to be truthful  

and tell everything and our fourth  idiom in this video is food for thought  

and food for thought is it's something  that is it's worth thinking seriously about  

right so food for thought it's very uh serious  maybe a big decision okay or just something that's  

very very interesting but you want to think about  it a lot so for example my friend gave me some  

food for thought when he told me about a business  opportunity and our fifth and final idiom in this  

video is in a nutshell in a nutshell is a is a  phrase it's an idiom that we use in the beginning  

of a sentence to summarize something all right  so and it means very briefly giving only the main  

points of an idea or an argument or something that  you want to say all right so let's let's use it in  

a sentence here for example i've played many video  games and played over 1 000 hours on some of them  

in a nutshell i love video games today is another  idioms video except this is about family there are  

a lot of different idioms about this subject and  today we're going to look at about five of some of  

the most common idioms that we use in english  about family so let's look at our first idiom  

it is to be the spitting image of and this means  to look very similar to a family member okay so  

this is really this is about your face okay it can  be about your eyes maybe about your the shape of  

your face or something like that so for example my  aunt says i'm the spitting image of my grandfather  

i have the same nose or the same hair eyes nose  and mouth our next idiom is to follow in someone's  

footsteps and really this this means that you're  going to do the same thing as someone in your  

family and the actual definition is to to try  and achieve the same thing that someone else  

usually a family member has done you can use  this with a friend or someone else some maybe a  

famous person but usually we use this with family  members so for example my dad was a firefighter  

and i decided that i will follow in his  footsteps i want to be a firefighter too  

our next idiom is to run in the family all right  so this means that many members of the family have  

similar or the same qualities and this can mean  physical qualities okay so something about your  

face maybe your family is very tall okay but  it can also be things about personality okay  

so lots of different qualities that can run in the  family so for example blue eyes run in my family  

my grandmother mother and siblings all have blue  eyes and our next idiom is bad blood bad blood  

means that there is anger or hate between people  due to something that happened in the past okay  

so usually there can be some sort of argument  or just a mistake or something bad that happened  

between two people and it doesn't need to be  family so you can say this about your friends but  

again usually we would say bad blood between  family members so for example my uncle doesn't  

talk to my dad there's some bad blood between them  and our final idiom for this video is black sheep  

a black sheep is a person and it is someone who  acts very differently from the rest of their  

family okay and a long time ago i think that maybe  this idiom was negative it was bad but actually  

these days sometimes it can be a compliment okay  so don't worry if someone calls you a black sheep  

it's not a bad thing right sometimes you can  feel uh proud that you are the black sheep  

so let's look at an example for example my entire  family loves to wake up early and work hard except  

my brother he's a black sheep idioms which  i think is a really fun topic to talk about  

because native speakers of english use a lot of  idioms in their everyday speech and there are lots  

of different kinds of idioms but today's topic  will be money idioms which have many different  

meanings and these are very common idioms that we  use a lot sometimes every day and our first idiom  

is bang for your buck bang for your buck  means to get very good value for your money  

and in this in this idiom the word buck it means  currency or money so let's look at an example here  

wow i had a coupon for an extra pair of shoes i  was able to get two pairs of shoes for the price  

of one pair that's bang for your buck and  our next idiom is cost an arm and a leg  

uh this means the that the cost  of an item or items is very high  

and usually unreasonably high right so really too  high for you to afford so let's look at an example  

i could only find one person selling  apples so i bought one it cost me an  

arm and a leg all right and our next idiom is cut  one's losses cut one's losses means to stop doing  

something before you lose more money usually after  you have already lost some money maybe even just  

a little bit of money so for example the company  decided to cut its losses and abandon the project  

it already lost money and didn't want to lose more  and our next idiom is pour money down the drain  

this means to throw away or waste  money uh or to not spend money wisely  

okay and sometimes this this can be  subjective right or it can be your opinion  

okay but we use this idiom to tell people  if they're not being smart with their money  

so for example i know a person who  buys a new car every six months  

he's just pouring money down the drain our  final idiom for this video is penny pincher  

a penny pincher is someone who doesn't like to  spend much money even small amounts of money  

so for example some people call me a  penny pincher because i always order  

the cheapest food on the restaurant menu  idioms and the topic of today's video  

is friendship so in today's video you're going to  learn a bunch of different idioms about the topic  

of friendship and our first idiom in  this video today is a shoulder to cry on  

and this uh this means the shoulder is actually  a person it's someone who listens to you  

when you are upset or having a difficult time in  your life so for example sometimes people just  

need a shoulder to cry on or my friend isabel is  always my shoulder to cry on our next idiom is  

close knit close knit close knit means to be very  close with someone okay like you in regards to  

your relationship with them usually we would say  this uh about friends so for example abdul and i  

have been close-knit friends for more  than 10 years and our next idiom is  

like two peas in a pod this means that you and  your friend are very similar okay this idiom is  

talking about your personality and your friend's  personality so for example my friend and i  

both like sports and music we are like two  peas in a pod and our next idiom this is uh  

it's not a very positive idiom okay we we only  use this one usually in a negative scenario  

or circumstance so bury the hatchet means to end  a conflict or an argument with someone usually  

a severe one okay so the conflict or the argument  is very important or it's a severe conflict  

so for example my brother and his best friend  have been angry at each other for two years  

but they finally decided to bury the hatchet and  our next one is to be joined at the hip this means  

to be together with your friend very  often okay and this word here hip  

okay it's a part of your body it means the middle  of your body and to be joined means together  

stuck together okay so i think maybe you can  infer the meaning of this idiom so let's look  

at an example of it i am with my friend every  day so my mom says we are joined at the hip