Alternatives to I Understand for Daily Conversations | Upgrade Your English

I understand there are two problems with this simple phrase. Now,

don't get me wrong, these words are both accurate and useful.

We use this phrase to indicate readiness when a manager explains

a new process; empathy,

when a customer shares a problem with a product or service;

and care when a friend shares struggles and fears due to a recent

medical diagnosis. But here's the issue first.

Both native speakers and advanced English speakers use a wide

range of expressions to indicate understanding and not all of

those expressions are obvious in their meaning to avoid confusion,

misunderstandings, and frustrations.

I want you to know what those common expressions are so that you know exactly

what they mean when you hear them. The second issue,

although I understand is clear and straightforward.

It can also limit what you really want to say.

Maybe you want to respond more empathetically, positively,

respectfully or professionally,

and having the right way to indicate your understanding can help you do that,

making your conversations more engaging. And lastly,

having a variety of expressions in your back pocket helps you to avoid

repetition and it helps you sound more natural in your communication.

So by the end of this lesson today,

you'll have 19 new ways to say I understand.

Plus you'll know exactly when and how to use them in the right conversations.

But quickly, if this is your first time here, welcome. I'm Annemarie,

an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your

life and work in English.

If you'd love to discover years of lessons just like this and get free resources

for me,

you can find all of that and more at my Speak Confident English website for

this lesson today.

You're going to learn how to say I understand in informal,

neutral, and professional ways.

Let's start with several examples we use in informal conversations.

These first five examples are perfect when enjoying casual

conversation with friends, family members,

even coworkers you know particularly well,

or if you work in an environment that values casual

conversations or an informal work culture.

The first one here is Gotcha.

This is a shortened or even blended form of the words I've got you,

and we'll talk more about those in a moment.

But what it means is simply I understand and here's an example of how you

might use it. Gotcha. I'll send the email right away.

The second one in this category is clear as day.

If something is as clear as day, it is very easy to understand,

very clear to see. For example,

your explanation was clear as day. I know exactly what to do. Now.

Next, Roger that.

This was originally a military expression used to acknowledge receipt

of and understanding of a message or request.

It's now quite often used in informal conversations,

and here's a quick example, Roger, that I'll finish the report by tomorrow.

Number four here is I get the picture.

We use this when someone is describing a situation to us and we

want to indicate that we understand this particular description that they've

provided. For example,

let's say a team member has faced a series of very unexpected

and challenging events. As a result,

there's some difficulty in getting their work finished by a particular deadline.

So in the conversation you might say, I get the picture,

you need more time to get this project finished. And lastly,

I catch your drift or I get your drift.

This is used to say that you understand the general idea of what someone is

saying. In fact,

we often use it when someone goes on and on and on in their description

and we want to say, okay, I get it. I understand what you're trying to say.

Let's move on, or let's move on to the next part of the conversation.

For example, I get your drift.

You want us to change up our marketing strategy,

so let's talk about how to go about doing that.

Before we go on to more neutral phrases that balance the informal and

professional,

I want to share two example scenarios with you that give you a little bit more

context. Before I do that,

I mentioned at the start of this section that these are appropriate in a

workplace that values casual conversation. Now,

if you are not sure about whether it would be appropriate to use this language

in your particular work environment, I've got a tip for you.

Take a few days to observe the conversations happening around you.

Listen carefully to your coworkers.

What words and phrases do they tend to use to indicate their understanding?

If you hear phrases that we've just talked about,

then that indicates it's perfectly appropriate for you to use the same language

in your conversations at work. Now,

if you don't hear any of these examples,

perhaps you'll hear examples that we'll talk about in a moment when we go over

neutral phrases and more professional phrases. Now,

let's talk about these two quick scenarios. First,

I want you to imagine a best friend is describing her new job and you're not

really sure exactly what her role is, at least not initially,

but after a few more details and some clarification, you might say, oh, gotcha,

okay, I get the picture now. So you'll be analyzing market trends.

Is that right? And now scenario number two,

I want you to imagine you're on your way to a family gathering and while

you're on your way,

one of your siblings calls and asks you to run a few errands before you arrive.

In response to this request to do a few things, you might jokingly say,

"Roger that boss, I'll be there soon." With those informal examples in place,

let's move on to neutral ways to indicate,

I understand these are neither to casual or to formal or

professional, so they're appropriate for a variety of situations,

whether it's friends, acquaintances, coworkers, neighbors,

someone you've just met, et cetera. The first on this list is,

I've got you. We heard this earlier with the reduced form. Gotcha.

When someone says, I've got you, it indicates understanding.

It also indicates that someone has a situation or a task

covered. It's under control. As a result,

we tend to use this expression when we want to provide reassurance that a

situation is fully under control or to indicate a firm

understanding of what has been said. For example,

in a conversation in which there has been some clarification provided,

once you are clear on what has been said, you might say, ah,

I've got you. That makes sense now, and that leads me to our next one.

Make sense or that makes sense.

We use this to say that something is logical and clear. For example,

after someone describes a process to you, you might say, make sense?

I'll start with the first step tomorrow.

Number three in this category is I see we tend to use

this to say that we understand someone's point of view or problem.

It doesn't mean that you agree with their point of view, but you understand it.

For example, I see,

so you think we need to revise the proposal next. Fair enough.

We use this to indicate that something seems reasonable and it's clear.

For example,

if there has been a request for you to change something that you've already

done, you might say, fair enough. I'll readjust the schedule accordingly.

Number five here is I know what you mean.

Not only does this indicate understanding,

it also can indicate empathy or a shared experience.

For example, I know what you mean. I've been in that situation before.

If you want to go one step further in showing your understanding and empathy,

you could use, I would feel the same or I would feel the same way.

In addition to that understanding and empathy,

it also provides validation for how someone might be feeling a particular

circumstance. For example,

I would feel the same way if I were in your shoes.

Number seven in this category is perfect.

When you want to indicate active listening,

let's say that you're in a brainstorming conversation,

and of course when brainstorming,

we might share an idea that isn't perfectly formed yet we don't have all the

little puzzle pieces in place. As a result,

we might be sharing our ideas as they come to us.

We talk about this as being your train of thought in English.

So let's say you're listening to a coworker sharing her train of thought,

and as you're listening you might say, I follow you or I'm following you.

What this means is that you understand what they're trying to express.

For example, I follow you, so you think we need to gather more data first.

Next, that's clear, very simple, very straightforward. It means what?

It says that the message is clear, for example, that's clear.

I'll update the document with those changes. And finally,

for our neutral phrases, we have,

I get the gist or I've got the gist.

This is used to indicate that you have a general or broad understanding of

something. For example, I get the gist of what you're saying.

It sounds like we need to go back and review the initial proposal.

Before we go on to our professional examples to indicate understanding,

I want to look at two more scenarios that provide a more robust context

so that you can see exactly how these might get used. First,

I want you to imagine you've just started a new job and on day number one,

one of your coworkers is providing a lengthy,

detailed explanation of a process that everyone follows when contacting

customers. And once that explanation has been provided, you might say,

yes, I follow you. So before I contact a customer,

I need to ensure these other steps have been completed first and next.

I want you to imagine a neighbor is talking through some

frustration over home repairs due to some water damage.

Maybe in the past year you had a similar experience,

so in that conversation you might say, I know what you mean.

I went through this same thing a few years ago.

Have you contacted a contractor yet? Okay,

let's move on to our last category with five phrases for saying

I understand in more professional or formal circumstances.

First understood this simple word is used to

acknowledge and show that you understand something that has been said or

a request that has been made, for example, understood.

I'll make the appropriate arrangements. The second one in this category,

all clear, thank you. This is similar to a phrase we learned earlier.

That's clear. It's simply more formal and polite. For example,

all clear, thank you. All proceed is discussed. Next,

I comprehend the situation.

Not only does this indicate understanding,

it also emphasizes an awareness of the context,

the factors and potential outcomes involved in a situation.

In other words, you have a firm grasp of the entire picture.

For example,

I comprehend the situation we need to consider all potential impacts

before moving forward. Number four, point taken.

Earlier we talked about the phrase I see as a way to indicate understanding of

someone else's point of view. Point taken does exactly the same thing.

It doesn't mean that you agree, but you understand someone's perspective.

For example, point taken. I'll keep that in mind for future decisions.

And finally acknowledged. This is similar to simply saying, understood.

It allows someone to know that you've received information,

you're acknowledging receipt of that information and indicating that it's been

understood. You don't necessarily agree with what has been said,

but you acknowledge that you've heard it, processed it and understood it.

For example, acknowledged. I'll be sure to inform the team. Once again.

Let's take a broader look at how we might use a couple of these in context.

In this first example,

I want you to imagine your manager has asked you to join a meeting to discuss a

company issue. Initially,

several people in the meeting might share some key information and then your

manager might ask, do you have any questions? And in response you might say,

no, I comprehend the situation. However,

I'd like to know what steps have already been taken. For our final scenario,

I want you to imagine you're in a conversation with a professional peer at a

conference you've just attended.

You have both appreciated some of the presentations,

but you have different perspectives on these topics.

You might feel that your peer has some valid points,

but missed something important in that conversation. You might say,

point taken. To be clear, I think the statistics were outdated,

but we can still see strong evidence of increased AI usage among children

and teenagers.

You now have 19 fantastic ways to say,

I understand allowing you to indicate your understanding in a variety of

contexts and conversations. Remember,

having all of these examples not only provides more flexibility in your

vocabulary and your ability to sound more natural,

it also allows you to respond the way you want in the moment,

whether it's with more informal language, professional language,

empathetic language, and so on. Of course,

I would love to know what your new favorite phrase is to indicate understanding.

You can share your favorite with me down in the comments below.

If you want to go a step further,

you can also practice using it in an example scenario, just like I've done here.

You can provide a few details with context and then your example sentence.

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Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.