How to agree in English - 12 different ways

How many ways can you think of to say ‘I agree’? In this lesson we’re going to

spice up your English with different phrases and we’ll fix some common mistakes.

If someone gives an opinion or makes a suggestion that we like, we can say ‘I agree’. Let’s

see the phrase in action. You know, I think we should buy a big new

camera. Oh what a good idea!

We want one with high resolution. I agree.

Very high resolution. Yes, you’re right.

And we want one that films in slow motion. Oh yes, I agree with you. You always have

such wonderful ideas. Wake up. Wake up. Did you fall asleep again, Jay?

Err no, no. Because we need to talk about the equipment.

Oh right. I think we should buy a big new camera.

What? That’s a terrible idea. So in Jay’s dream, you heard me agreeing

several times. Now, I have a question. Is this phrase correct too? NO!!! And what about

this one? NO!!! Agree is a verb in English, not an adjective. To make questions and negatives

use 'do'. So ‘Do you agree?’ or ‘I don’t agree.'

In many languages the word for ‘agree’ can be a verb AND an adjective. Think about

it. If you translate, can you say ‘I am agree’ in your language? In English you

can’t because agree is always a verb, so we don’t use it with the verb 'be'.

However, the word agree does have an adjective form in English. See if you can spot it.

So are we all agreed? Uhuh.

Did you catch it? So are we all agreed?

Uhuh. So in this question agreed, with a d, is an

adjective and we use the verb ‘be'. But this is an unusual thing to say. You’ll

only hear it in very formal situations, maybe a business meeting but only if it’s very

formal. I don’t think you need it, so let’s forget it.

Just remember, ‘agree’ is a verb. Make questions and negatives with do.

Now, while we’re talking about mistakes, there are some other things I’ve heard students

say that don’t work in English. They’re all translations from other languages.

Don’t say them because they’re all wrong in English! Let’s throw them out too and

talk about things you CAN say. 'I agree'. This phrase is very clear, but

be careful not to use it too much. Students often overuse it so they sound a little formal

and unnatural. In normal conversation, English speakers will signal agreement in lots of

other ways, often more informal ways, so let’s look at some in a conversation. While you

watch, see how many agreement phrases you can spot.

OK. The 10 best old movies. Let’s write a list.

Yes. Yeah!

How about ‘The Godfather’? Definitely. It’s the best.

Absolutely. Write it down. And 'Star Wars'. Oh totally!

You bet. May the force be with you.

Hey, 'ET'. Yhat was a fantastic movie. You’re right.

You can say that again. Now what about an Alfred Hitchcock movie?

He made such scary movies. Exactly!

You’re dead right there. Write down 'Psycho'. Uhuh.

And 'The Terminator'. 'The Terminator'?

Arnold Schwartzenegger. I’ll be back… In that conversation we signaled agreement

in eleven different ways. Yes, eleven! How many did you spot?

Let’s go through them. The most common way to show you agree in English is to say yes,

or something like it. Yes.

Yeah. Uhuh.

So that’s easy. And of course you can say people are correct or right.

You’re right. You’re dead right there.

Notice the word dead here. In many situations dead means ‘not alive’. For example, a

dead flower. But in other situations dead can mean completely or exactly. So dead silence,

is complete silence. If something is dead centre it means it’s exactly in the middle.

And if you say ‘you’re dead right’ it means you’re exactly or completely right.

There are other ways to say this: Exactly!

Definitely! Totally!

Absolutely! You can use all these words to add emphasis

and indicate you think statements are completely correct and accurate.

Now, what about this idiom? You can say that again.

It means you’re so completely right, you can repeat it. I don’t know why repeating

it helps, but it’s just something we say. And just one more expression.

You bet. ‘Bet’ is an interesting word. It can mean

to gamble, so to risk money on a race or something. We might bet money on a horse we think is

going to win, or bet money at a casino. But in this expression it just means ‘You’re

right’. It’s informal and we say it when we want to emphasize that someone has made

a good suggestion. So these expressions are all very positive

ways to signal we agree. They short and easy to learn and they’re going to make your

English more natural and colloquial. Now what about if we don’t agree? Well,

that’s more complicated because people don’t like to disagree in English, or in any language.

Disagreements can damage relationships, so we have to overcome that problem. We’re

working on another video about that so make sure you subscribe to this channel so you

don’t miss it. If you’ve enjoyed this video please share

it with a friend and why not write and tell us what your favourite old movie is.

It’s the terminator, right? Goodbye everyone.

We'll be back, next week.