55 Common English Phrases For Daily Conversation

Hey everyone, I'm Andrea your RealLife English fluency coach

and in today's lesson you are going to be learning 55

common English phrases that you can start using

in conversations to sound more natural when speaking

so these phrases that I will teach you today are ones that natives use

a lot they are alternatives to very common or more

formal ways of expressing yourself maybe the types that you learn in a classroom

so we are here to teach you how natives really speak in the real world so you

can grab yourself a nice cup of tea or a cup of coffee and

a notebook and pen so that you can start jotting these down while you watch the

lesson and then you can start learning them and

using them.

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you know that we are here to guide you beyond the classroom

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Okay so the first phrases that we're going to have a look at

are how to ask someone how they are.

So you've probably learned that you would

say how are you and while we do still use this natives

use a lot of other expressions a lot of

other phrases to ask this question so the first

one is how have you been okay so there i'm pronouncing every

single word quite clearly but when we tend to ask this question we

do use contractions and connected speech so

rather than saying how have you been I would say how have you been so

how and have contract to make howv

however and it's a lot faster it's a lot more

natural and this is the way that natives speak also

what tends to happen here is the you isn't really sounded out the way

that it is like formally so instead of saying

how have you been we would say how have you been so that

you sounds a bit more like a ya so that's

some connected speech there as well and certainly in America they would do this

for sure another way to say this is what have you

been up to but again instead of saying and

expressing every single word we would say what have you been up to so

again we use contractions, I know sometimes

learners are afraid of using contractions because they think that

it's really informal but i'm here to tell you they are not

informal they are a part of everyday speech and you

can write using contractions as well just as long

as it's not maybe for an essay or some formal writing what have

you been up to is also a great way to ask this question

because rather than how are you which can be quite a closed question

what have you been up to makes you think of a longer length of time

and you can really answer this question in a more open way so it's a great one

to use so the next three phrases are really

useful they're quite simple but can be used both

in the US and the UK and natives use them a lot and you can too

and they are how are things how's it going

and what's up so very simple but again ones that natives really use

so now we're going to look at some ways of responding to these types of

questions such as how are you and all the great ones that we just

looked at so the first one is can't complain so this is a great way

to respond to how are you if you're feeling good or things are

generally quite normal you could say can't complain meaning

that things are going well you have no complaints there's no

negative things happening and this is a great way of responding

very simply to a question of how are you another way

you could say pretty good so if you're feeling quite good you're feeling happy

instead of just saying I'm fine you could say

pretty good if things are going really well you could say

never been better so this would mean that you're feeling really great nothing

negative is happening you're feeling really positive and you've never been

better literally like things are going so well

however if they're not going so well you could say

could be better so we have never been better

when things are going really well and you could have could be better

if things could go better because they're not going so great at the moment

and if you generally don't have much to say

when someone is asking you how you are you might say

same old and this doesn't necessarily mean that things are negative

just means you've been doing the same nothing different has really been

happening so nothing really exciting to report so

you just say same old or same old really there's

nothing wrong with that so next we're going to look at phrases

that you can use to say thank you so instead you could say to

someone you're a star or you're the best

or even you're an angel so if you want to say thank you to someone without

using those two words these three are great ways of showing gratitude.

You could even say I owe you one because

that would mean that you owe them a favor because maybe

they helped you out in some way they did you a favor and you want to

repay them so by saying I owe you one that's another

way of saying thank you because someone did something kind for you or helped you

out and you want to repay that kindness back

you could also say I appreciate it so that's how I would say in British

English but for sure in American English they would say more like I appreciate it

so you have that tap t sound I appreciate it

whereas in British English we say I appreciate it.

And if I'm not pronouncing the T with a true T but instead with a glottal T

I might say I appreciate it so in both those t's they're in appreciate

and in it there's a glottal t there so i'm not pronouncing it but there is a

sound there where I am stopping the flow of air and

then releasing it.

So we could say I appreciate it with a

true T and we could say I appreciate it with a

glottal t you could also simply say that's

fantastic or that's brilliant or that's great so

do keep in mind that brilliant is quite a british word so you probably won't

hear in America that much but you certainly

will in the UK if you haven't seen it already I highly

recommend a lesson that Ethan did over on our

Learn English with TV Series channel: Alternatives to Good, so the lesson is

don't say good say this instead so there's lots of

vocabulary there that you can learn for alternative ways of saying

good which I highly recommend that you check out

because you'll learn lots of new vocabulary if you're feeling a bit stuck

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then I highly recommend our RealLife Native Immersion course

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So now we're going to look at how to

respond to thank you so instead of saying you're welcome you

could say it's a pleasure or it's my pleasure

which is a really friendly way of responding to thank you

you could also say no worries so don't worry about it don't mention it

these are kind of similar but all really great ways of responding

to thank you so you could say no worries or

don't mention it or even it's nothing you know so someone is saying thank you

to you because they're really grateful for the way that you've helped them

but for you it was nothing or it was a pleasure or don't even mention it

Happy to help, another way is instead of saying you're

welcome you could say you're so welcome you know if you really

want to tell that person it was a pleasure for

you you could say you're so welcome so these are all great

alternatives to saying you're welcome and great ways of responding to thank

you okay so next some phrases that you can

use when you agree with someone so instead of saying I agree with you

you could just respond absolutely and hear you mean that you

totally agree with that person absolutely there is no doubt in your

mind or there is no disagreement there at all

absolutely and you can say they're with an exclamation mark or an exclamation

point if you're learning American English and

this is a great and simple way to respond when you really agree with

someone another way of saying this is I totally agree

or I totally agree with you you could

even just say totally which is probably used more

in American English and they wouldn't pronounce it like me

they would say it more with a tap t sound so they would say

totally so there you hear that tap T i say totally or with a glottal t

I might say totally which I probably wouldn't use because I just find it

sounds a bit strange but many people speak like this but in

America they would use the American T or the tap T

as it's called and they would say totally

so that t turns more into a d sound a soft

d another great way when you completely agree with someone is to say

tell me about it and really here you don't mean that you want more

information or that that person needs to tell you more about the situation

it's just a way of agreeing so it's a very great phrase to use

to agree with someone it's very simple but very effective so

tell me about it but in America they would probably say

tell me about it so again there's that tap t

sound there and that connected speech so it sounds a little bit different

a couple more great ways to agree with someone is to say

exactly so again very exact very precise you agree with that person

exactly and finally you could even say you hit the nail on the head and what

you mean there is that the person has got it totally

right so you completely agree with them they hit the nail on the head

this is a great English expression when you want to agree with someone but also

saying that they are totally correct.

Okay so we've looked at phrases that we

can use when we agree with someone but what about when we disagree with

someone now here take caution just because you don't want

to sound dismissive or argumentative or

troublesome when you are responding to someone that

you disagree with so do keep that in mind these are some

great polite ways of saying that you disagree

with someone so the first one is I'm not sure I agree

with you so here you're not being rude or cold in

any way you're just saying that you're not quite

sure that you agree with what they are saying

so you're still giving your point you're putting your point across that you

disagree but in quite a polite way you could also

say not necessarily so again it's a way of

saying I don't necessarily agree with you but

much shorter and much simply with not necessarily you could even say I don't see it that way

so again it's just showing that you have

a different point of view or maybe a different opinion

not that that person is wrong but again you

are expressing that you disagree with what they are saying

and finally you could even use some sentences with but

so this can be really useful when you want to be polite again

you could say that's interesting but and then kind of give your opinion about

the situation too okay so next we're going to take a look

at some phrases that you can use when someone has changed plans

so you've made plans with someone maybe a friend or a family member and then

towards the last minute or without much notice they've changed the plans

so these are some great ways that you could respond so the first one that you

can say is no worries so this is very simple

instead of saying don't worry about it a full-blown sentence you could just

say two words no worries and you are telling that

person not to worry about it because these things happen that's also

a great way to respond these things happen don't worry about it

no worries they're all really useful ways to

respond to this you could even just say things happen you don't even have to say

these things happen you might even just say things happen

you could also say it can't be helped so if you know that

that person is in a situation where they have to cancel your plans

you can say it can't be helped so again it's another way of saying don't worry

about it there's nothing you could do in this

situation and you had to change the plans another alternative to

no problem is no biggie so again it's not a big

deal so these are all great ways of telling

someone not to worry about it if they've changed plans

and sometimes what does happen is you tend to use more of these

in a sentence or in a conversation with someone because if someone

is telling you that they are really sorry about changing plans you want them

to feel okay about it so you might say don't worry about it

these things happen it's no biggie so already there I used

three and that would just be in a small part

of a conversation now if someone invites you somewhere and

you want to respond to tell them whether or not you can make it

these are some great phrases that you can use so very simply you could say

sounds good or sounds great if you can make it

so that way you are confirming that you can go

to the invitation that they are inviting you to whether it's dinner

a party or just to catch up also if it's something you're quite excited about you

might say i'd love to so this is a great way of responding to

show the person that you would love to accept their

invitation a polite way of responding that you

won't be able to make it is simply saying sorry I can't, you could

also say I won't be able to make it or

unfortunately I won't be able to make it so

you'd really like to be there but you can't another way of saying this

is I hate to miss it but and then giving you a reason

why you can't go and finally one that's probably a bit more american

you could say I think I'll pass but of course they don't have the elongated a

so they would say I think I'll pass.

Now if you're having a

conversation with someone but you really need to end the conversation

because you have other things to do there are some really great phrases that

you can use to do this in a polite way so one way of saying

this is I must make a move so this doesn't mean

that you need to make a move on someone but it just means that you need to get

going so this is another one that you can use

I need to get going or I must make a move

or I better get a move on so in the UK we would use this one quite a lot we

could say I better get to move on or I better get a move on

and in America they might say I better get a move on

because you need to get going because you have somewhere else to be

you could even be super polite and say I've taken up enough of your time or

I've taken up too much of your time so if you're speaking to someone and

you've spent quite a lot of time with them this is a really polite way of

ending the conversation and finally you could be completely

honest and say I have another commitment or I'm sorry I

really have to go I have another commitment that way the

person knows that you would love to spend more time with them

but you have to go because you have something else to do or somewhere else

to be so in your classroom you've probably

learned the way to say goodbye is by simply saying the word or even by

as a shortened version however in the English language there

are so many more great ways of saying goodbye and so many

more phrases that natives use one that we use a lot in the UK is see

you later so if you are saying goodbye to someone

even if you're not going to see them later that day

you would still say see you later or see you later

with the glottal t and in America they would probably shorten it even more

just to say later so they wouldn't say it like me of course

they would say it with the tap T the American T so it turns into a soft T

and they would say later you could even say it was lovely to see you.

So when you are saying goodbye to

someone you would say it was lovely to see you

and off you would go you could even say speak soon

and this is probably something that many people also write

when they're writing a text message or an email an informal one of course

they might rather than saying goodbye just say speak soon

so you know you don't know when you're going to speak to the person but it's

likely to be quite soon another way of saying this is talk to

you later so you can hear again there I'm not

really expressing each word individually there

is some connected speech there see you later so the u changes it

shortens it's more of a sound and it would probably be the same

in American English as well but again they would have the American t

the tap t sound when they say the word later so

talk to you later or talk to you later another great one

is stay in touch so a way of saying goodbye

but you still want to keep in contact with that person

you could say stay in touch and finally one of my favorites you could say take care.

So there you have it those are your 55

common English phrases that you can start using now

and learning so that you can understand natives better

to be honest there were probably a few added bonuses in there as well so it's

probably a little bit more than 55 so you've got a whole range of phrases

there that you can start learning and using to speak English more naturally.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson and if

you did I highly recommend that you check out

this lesson that Ethan made on School English vs Real-Life English

because it really connects well with this lesson

where you'll learn real-life English not the classroom

English that you might be used to and I will see you guys soon, take care!

So in school they probably taught you to say these like Serious Sam

Let's see got to, want to have to, going to.

However it's pretty

uncommon that you will hear natives speak this way

most natives will actually speak like my friend Street Stan

yeah man I'd say like gotta ,wanna gonna, have to!