Better Ways to Say 'I Don't Know' [English for Work]

Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English. And let me ask you a question.

Do you panic or get super stressed when you know someone's going to ask you a

question and the only answer you can find is,

I don't know? In English,

maybe it's because the question is unexpected.

Maybe it's because you're just feeling stuck.

You can't find the word or the expression that you need in English.

So the only thing you can think of is, I don't know.

So today I want to share with you 14 better ways to say,

I don't know,

so that we can alleviate or remove that stress and worry.

These answers will help you sound more professional and confident in your

English.

And they're perfect for those situations when you should know the answer,

but you don't. Or when it's not your area of expertise,

but someone still wants to know what you think about it and you'll have answers

you can use for those questions when you need a little bit more information to

give them the right answer.

And then at the end I'm going to share with you some casual slang ways that we

say,

I don't know in English for those moments when it is okay to say it.

All right. Let's start with situation number one,

which is the hardest on this list because you should know the answer but you

don't. Instead of saying, I don't know,

here are three great options.

I'm not sure right now but I'll find out and get back to you soon or simply I'll

find out.

I'll look into it and I'll let you know what I find or the third option.

That's a really good question and I want to give you the most accurate answer I

can so let me get back to you by the end of the day.

These are much better options than simply saying,

I don't know because the other person asking the question feel certain that

you're going to get them the right answer or the right information.

Situation number two is when someone asks you a question that is not in your

area of expertise but they want to know what you think. For example,

my area of expertise is English confidence and fluency.

I focus on spoken communication skills.

So if someone asks me about climate change,

it's not my area of expertise. I might have my opinions on it.

I have some thoughts, but if it's a technical question,

I might not know how to answer it. And again,

instead of saying, I don't know, there are some better things that we can say.

For example, I'm not sure I'm the best person for you to ask,

but here are my thoughts and you would continue to share your opinion or ideas

or here's what I know and here's what I don't know on this topic.

And then again,

you would continue to talk about the things that you do know or think and then

be honest or clear about the things that you're not so sure about. And finally,

a third option that you can use in this situation is based on my understanding

or based on what I understand, here's what I think.

So going back to that example,

if someone asks me something really technical about aviation,

climate change or economics,

I might know a little bit about those things, but I'm certainly not an expert,

so I might start my answer with based on what I know or based on my

understanding, here's what I think.

Situation number three is when someone asks you a question and you realize that

you don't know the answer exactly,

and this is also a really good opportunity for you to learn together with

someone. An example might be if you're training someone new at work,

someone recently joined your team,

they ask you a question and you kind of know the answer,

but you also know this is an opportunity to train this person so that they know

what to do going forward and they don't have to ask this question again.

So in those situations,

here are two great things you can say instead of simply saying,

I don't know, number one, that's a great question. Let's look into it together.

And number two, let's see if we can figure that out together.

Or let's see if we can find that information.

Let's see if we can figure out this process. And finally,

situation number four,

those moments when someone asks you a question but you're really not sure what

they're asking,

you need more information or more specific details instead of simply panicking,

getting stuck and saying, I don't know, you could say,

before I answer that question,

could you provide a few more details or before I answer that,

could you clarify what you mean? When you do that?

It forces the other person to continue speaking and to get more specific and

clear about what they're asking you.

And it gives you time to think about what to say.

Now that you've got some better alternatives to I don't know,

let's look at some common slang or casual expressions you might hear when it is

okay to say I don't know. For example,

maybe you've got a friend who always loses her keys.

Every time you see her, she says, um,

have you seen my keys? Do you know where I put them?

And of course you don't know. So instead of saying, I don't know,

you could also say, I don't have the foggiest idea.

I don't have the foggiest idea.

Fog is the clouds that you see when they're close to the ground. For example,

sometimes in the morning or evening when the weather's changing,

you'll see clouds really close to the ground and it makes it difficult to see.

Nothing is clear,

so when someone talks about having a foggy idea or they don't have the foggiest

idea, it means that there's no clarity.

There isn't a clear picture in their mind.

Now let's get back to more examples of some great expressions to say,

I don't know. You could also say, I don't have a clue.

Don't ask me. Who knows?

And your guess is as good as mine.

So the next time one of your friends asks you a question and you definitely have

no idea what the answer is, which one of those would you use?

Now before we finish,

I definitely want you to practice and try to get some of this language into your

active vocabulary.

The best way to do that is to immediately practice what you've learned so that

it sticks in your mind and you can use it easily in those situations where you

really need it. So here are a couple of questions for you. Number one,

I want you to tell me,

what would you say if one of your colleagues asks you a question in a meeting

tomorrow and you should have the answer but you don't,

how would you respond? And number two, I've got a question for you.

It might not be your area of expertise, but I want to know your thoughts.

What do you think is the best way to become confident in speaking English?

Give me your thoughts and you can share with me in the comments below. Now,

if you found this lesson useful to you,

I would love to know there are three ways that you can tell me. Number one,

give this video a thumbs up on YouTube. And number two,

subscribe to this channel so you never miss any of my lessons. And number three,

share it with friends or colleagues by email or Facebook.

And if you want a similar video,

I've also got a lesson on better ways to say yes, no,

maybe, and I can't. I'll leave a link to that for you in the notes below.

With that, thank you so much for joining me.

Have a fantastic week and I'll see you next time for your Confident English

lesson.