30 Ways to Say: Yes, No, I Don’t Know

124,674 views ・ 2023-06-02

Speak English With Vanessa


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Vanessa: Do you want to visit  
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the us? Yes? No? I don't know? If you would like  to answer this question clearly and accurately,  
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well, I have some good news. Today, you  are going to learn 30 ways to say yes,  
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no, or I don't know in daily conversation. Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,  
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and like always, I have created a  beautiful free PDF worksheet for  
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you with all of today's expressions, all  10 ways to say yes, 10 ways to say no,  
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and 10 ways to say I don't know. You can click on  the link below this video to download the free PDF  
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worksheet today. Never forget these wonderful  phrases and use them when you speak in English. 
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Let's get started with 10 wonderful ways that you  can say yes in English. The first one is actually  
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a three for one deal. It is, yeah, yup, and yep.  All of these are very informal. So if I asked you,  
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"Hey, do you want to hang out this  weekend?" You could say, "Yeah." 
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"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "Yup." 
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"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "Yep." 
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All of these are great to use in casual  situations. The second way to say yes is,  
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"Sure thing." So if I asked you, "Do you want  to hang out this weekend?" You could say, "Sure  
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thing," and it means yes with enthusiasm, you're  looking forward to it. This is an expression that  
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you can also use in the workplace. You just need  to have a little bit of a positive tone when you  
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use it to make sure that you sound positive. So if your boss asks you, "Hey, can you have  
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that report finished by rhe end of the week?" you  can reply with this phrase, "Sure thing. I'll have  
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it done by the end of the week." "Wonderful." The third way to say yes is very strong,  
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"Absolutely." If I ask you, "Do you want  to hang out this weekend?" and you reply,  
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"Absolutely," well, I better hope that you're not  going to back out at the last second because this  
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phrase means definitely, absolutely, without a  question yes. It is very strong, "Absolutely." 
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The fourth way to say yes is another strong one.  It is, "100%" Well, you can't get much higher than  
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100%. So if I asked you, "Hey, do you want to hang  out this weekend?" and you reply, "100%," well,  
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I know that you are very much looking forward to  getting together because you said, "100%, yes." 
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The fifth way to say yes is, "For sure." Now, it  depends your tone of voice if this is going to be  
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seen as really enthusiastic or just saying a more  moderate yes. So let's take a look at an example. 
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"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" "For sure." 
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Here you got lots of enthusiasm. It means  absolutely, 100%, "For sure, let's hang  
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out," but what if you said, Do you want to hang  out this weekend?" "For sure." You can tell from  
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my tone of voice that I'm not committed 100%, but  I'm still willing to hang out and get together. 
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The sixth way to say yes is a little bit  different from the others. It is the word,  
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right. Well, there's a wrong way to use this  and a right way to use this. If I asked you,  
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"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" and  you replied with, "Right," this is incorrect,  
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this is wrong. It is not right. Instead, we  use this word, right, when we're agreeing  
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with something that someone made in a statement.  So if I said, "I can't wait to hang out over the  
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weekend," you could say, "Right, me too." Here,  you are agreeing with my statement. I didn't ask  
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you a question. Instead, I just made a statement,  "I'm looking forward to spending time with you  
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this weekend." You can use the word right and say,  "Right, me too." This is the great way to use it. 
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The seventh way to say yes is a fun one, "You  bet," or a little bit more casual, "You betcha."  
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If I asked you, "Do you want to hang out  this weekend?" and you said, "You betcha,  
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I can't wait," I know you are  really looking forward to it.  
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The full phrase here is, "You bet that  I want to hang out with you over the  
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weekend," but we've just shortened this here  to, "You bet," which means yes, emphatically. 
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The eighth way to say yes is, "Of course." "Do  you want to hang out this weekend?" "Of course,  
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I can't wait." This is very clear and it  means yes, you want to hang out. Great. 
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The ninth way to say yes is one that you wouldn't  really use in the workplace often, but you're  
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welcome to use in other situations. It is, "Sounds  good." "Do you want to hang out this weekend?"  
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"Sounds good." "Sounds great." Here, this is a  shortened version of the full phrase, "Sounds good  
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to me," "Sounds great to me," but usually, we just  shorten that and say, "Sounds good." It means yes. 
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Our 10th and final way to say yes is one that you  need to be careful with. It this sound. It's not  
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exactly a word. It's the sound mm-hmm. So there's  a couple different ways that we can use this with  
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our intonation. If I asked you, "Do you want to  hang out this weekend" and you said, "Mm-hmm,"  
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this is very positive. It's going up, but there is  a sarcastic way to use this. It's the same sound,  
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but the intonation is different. So you have to  be really careful. You don't want to come across  
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as rude if you're just trying to say yes. So let's imagine you're talking with your  
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coworkers and you say, "Yeah, our boss said that  if we all meet our sales goal for this month,  
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we'll get a raise." Well, if you don't really  believe that you're going to get a raise if you  
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hit your sales goals, you could use this phrase  to reply. You're agreeing with that person,  
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but you're being sarcastic. If you say,  "Mm-hmm, we've heard that before," did you  
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hear that tone of voice? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.  It's not mm-hmm, which is yes, mm-hmm. 
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English is sometimes very strange. We just  have sounds. So you could say happy, positive,  
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yes, "Mm-hmm," that's yes, but if you said,  "Mm-hmm, we've heard that before," "Mm-hmm, I've  
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heard that before," this is very sarcastic and  it is negative. It means, "I don't think we're  
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going to get our bonus. It's just something that  our boss likes to say." So be careful when you  
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use mm-hmm to make sure you use the right tone of  voice, mm-hmm. Now, you will definitely hear this  
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in movies and TV shows. So as you hear people  say this, pay attention to their tone of voice. 
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All right. Let's go on to 10 ways to say no in  daily conversation. Now, just as a little note,  
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sometimes it's difficult to say no, but we  have to or we just don't really want to do  
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something or we can't do something. So I'm  going to give you a couple examples of how  
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you can use the no expression, but also  make it a little bit more polite so that  
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you feel better using it and the other person  feels better receiving that phrase from you. 
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The first alternative way to say no is nah or  nope, but if you just said to someone, "Hey,  
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do you want to hang out?" and they said, "Nope,"  well, that's a little bit rude, "I don't want to  
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spend time with you. Nope." So how could you make  this a little more polite? You might say, "Nah,  
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I'm sorry, I can't. I already have weekend plans."  So you're elaborating on it a little bit, and  
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that's really what's going to help all of these no  phrases be a little more polite is if you give a  
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little more detail. If you just shut someone off,  "Nah," they might feel a little bit hurt. So you  
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can give some more details, "Oh, nah, sorry, I  can't. I have some other plans." This is better. 
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I have to share something funny with you  that I saw the other day about the word nope.  
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I was reading some articles about snakes because  where I live, there are some venomous snakes that  
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we have to watch out for, and the article was  comparing the difference between venomous snakes  
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and harmless snakes, and they gave a nickname  for these venomous snakes. It was very funny to  
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me. They called them, nope on a rope. So a snake  looks like a rope. So they said, "Is it nope on a  
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rope or is it safe?" This was just a silly way to  talk about a snake. So you might hear this online,  
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it's not very common, but I just thought  it was something funny that I wanted to  
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share because sometimes funny things help us to  remember words, and maybe you're into snakes.  
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Who knows? Maybe that's your passion. Well, I'm  sure you've heard that expression then in English  
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conversations about snakes, "Ah, that's a nope on  a rope. I'm not going to touch it." Very silly. 
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The second way to say no is, "I'm good." What?  
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This is so strange because we have a positive word  good, but we're using it to say no. Well, there  
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is a specific situation when we use this. This is  most commonly used in a restaurant or an ordering  
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situation. If you're ordering drinks, if you're  ordering food, and maybe the waitress asks you,  
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"Oh, can I bring you another beer?" If you don't  want another beer, you could say, "I'm good." You  
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might even add, "No thanks, I'm good," but you  could just say, "I'm good," and it means no.  
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That means, "Right now, I am good in my  current state. I don't need more beer,"  
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and it's a really common thing to use in  a restaurant or bar situation, "I'm good." 
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The third way to say no is similar to, "I'm good,"  it is, "I'm all set." So here, we're focusing on  
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the positive, "I'm all set." When would you use  this? Well, maybe in the workplace if your boss  
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asks you, "Do you need any more information  to finish this project?" you might say,  
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"I'm all set. I think I can do it," and this  means, "No, I don't need any more information.  
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I think I can do it. I'm all set it. I have  everything that I need. I am set." Great. Just a  
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little note that you can use this in a restaurant  as well. If the waitress asks you, "Would you like  
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another beer?" you could use this expression  and say, "I'm all set." Great. It means no. 
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The fourth way to say no is a tricky one. We  use this in negative and positive situations.  
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It is the expression, "No way," and it  all depends on your tone of voice. Let's  
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imagine that we're taking a hike and we see  a snake slither across the path, and I say,  
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"Hey, you want to pick up that snake?" You  might say, "Oh, nope on a rope, no way."  
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Here, you are saying emphatically no, there's no  question about it, the answer is no, "No way,"  
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but how could we use this in a positive way? Well, let's imagine I'm telling you about my  
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hike and I say, "You know what? Last week, we  went for an amazing hike and there was a snake  
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that slithered across the path, and do you know  what my husband did? He reached down, picked it up  
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behind the head, very gently. He picked it up and  showed us the snake." You might be shocked, you  
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might say, "No way. How did he do that? Why did he  do that?" Here, you are showing some surprise, but  
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it's not necessarily in a negative way, "No way."  Instead, you're just showing surprise, "No way." 
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Maybe if your boss says you've got a promotion,  you might say, "No way. That's great." Here,  
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we're using it in a positive tone of voice to show  surprise about something that's either neutral,  
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something surprising or something  positive. You got a raise. Great. 
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The fifth way to say no is a fun one, "Not going  to happen." We often use this cutting offhand  
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gesture, "Not going to happen." So let's imagine  your coworker walks up to you and says, "Hey,  
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could you help me proofread these five emails  before the end of the day? I'd really appreciate  
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it." Okay, that's a very polite question, a polite  favor to ask, but maybe you have no time. You  
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might say, "Sorry, not going to happen. The boss  wants me to finish this huge report by the end of  
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the day and I am swamped." You gave some details.  You made it more polite by giving more details,  
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but you did use this strong expression and said,  "Nope, not going to happen. I have a lot to do  
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right now. Sorry. Maybe you can ask her." The sixth way to say no is another fun one,  
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"Thanks, but no thanks." If I ask you, "Hey, do  you want to hang out this weekend?" you might say,  
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"Oh, thanks, but no thanks. I have family  visiting me this weekend." You're thanking  
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me for my invitation, thank you, but you're  really declining the invitation by using this  
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polite no phrase, "Thanks, but no thanks. I have  family coming into town so I can't get together." 
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The seventh way to say no is another polite  one. It is, "Afraid not." Well, you're not  
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really afraid. Instead, if I asked you, "Do you  want to hang out this weekend?" and you said,  
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"Afraid not. I have a lot of housework to  catch up on and I just need a break to do  
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nothing." Everyone understands this. Everyone  understands having a lot of things in the  
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house they have to do that they've been putting  off, and you just want a weekend with no plans,  
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"Afraid not." It's a polite way to say, "No,  I really would like to, but I'm afraid I  
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can't. Afraid not, I have a lot to do." The eighth way to say no is a nice soft  
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way to deliver some bad news. It's actually two  expressions for one. It is, "If only I could," or,  
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"I wish I could." Here, you're trying to frame  it in a positive way, "If only I could," "I wish  
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I could." So let's look at a scenario. "Do you want to hang out this weekend?" 
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"I wish I could, but I'm  going to a friend's wedding." 
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They're not saying, "No, I don't like you.  I don't want to spend time with you ever  
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again." No. Instead, they're saying, "Oh, I wish  I could, but I have other plans," or you could use  
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the second phrase, "If only I could." I think this  expresses a little more longing, "If only I could,  
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but I have to go to a friend's wedding this  weekend." So here, you're just trying to say  
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a soft no by expressing it in a positive way. The ninth way to say no is, "I really shouldn't."  
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Here, you're going to use this when you know  that you shouldn't do something, but you're  
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tempted to say yes. So if I ask you, "Hey, do you  want to hang out this weekend?" you might say,  
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"I really shouldn't. I need to help my sister  paint her house. I promised her that I would."  
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You're showing that you're tempted to hang out  with me. In fact, hanging out with me is more fun  
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than helping your sister paint her house, but you  made a promise that you would help your sister,  
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so you're going to use this expression and say,  "Ah, I really shouldn't, but I want to still." 
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The 10th way to say no is a little bit silly.  It's just a sound. Remember how we used a sound to  
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express yes, mm-hmm? Well, we can use a similar  sound to express no, mm-mm, mm-mm or uh-uh.  
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You can accompany this by a shaking of your  head back and forth like this. In the US, this  
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is a cultural gesture that means no. So you could  just say ... with no words, but it's a little bit  
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odd to not accompany it with some words. So you  could say, "Mm-mm. Uh-huh." So if I asked you,  
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"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" and you  are feeling extremely tired, you've had a long  
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week, you might say, "Mm-mm. I'm feeling so tired.  I just need to take a break this weekend." Well,  
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you're using that sound to express your  tiredness, "Mm-mm, I'm just feeling so tired." 
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Now, I want to let you know with a slightly  different intonation, we use this to say no to  
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children, and it has an authoritarian feel to  it. You have to be the authority, the parent,  
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the teacher, someone in authority in order  to say this, but let's imagine that you catch  
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your child opening the box of cookies and they  start to eat them, and you walk into the room,  
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you might have something stronger to say or you  might just say, "Mm-mm. No. We don't eat cookies  
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in the middle of the day," or whatever kind of  phrase you're going to say, but did you notice  
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I used that same sound, "Mm-mm. Mm-mm," very  strong, usually shaking my head trying to express,  
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"I am displeased with what you did." This  is a very parental sound, "Mm-mm. We don't  
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do that." So you might hear parents saying this  to their children in the form of that no sound. 
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All right. Let's go on to our final  section, which are 10 ways to say I  
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don't know in English. The first one is a casual  reduction, "I dunno. I dunno." The word, dunno,  
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is not a word. It's just a smushing together  of don't know, I dunno. So we use this more  
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in informal situations. If I asked you, "Hey, can  you hang out with me this weekend?" and you said,  
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"I dunno, I need to check my schedule."  We're friends. We're just chit-chatting,  
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so you can use this expression and say,  "I dunno. I need to check my schedule." 
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In the workplace, I would be a little bit more  hesitant to use this and I'd be more likely to use  
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the full phrase, "I don't know." "Can you have  this report finished by the end of the week?"  
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"I don't know. I need to check my schedule."  You're just being a little bit clearer in  
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saying the full phrase in the workplace. The second way to say I don't know is,  
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"I'm not sure." Can you hang out with me  this weekend?" "I'm not sure. I need to  
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check my schedule." You can also say this in  the workplace. "Can you finish this report by  
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the end of the week?" "I'm not sure. Let me check  my schedule." Great. Both of these are excellent. 
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The third way to say I don't know is a longer  phrase. it's a full sentence, and that's,  
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"I am not 100% on that. I'm not 100% on that."  You could add, "I'm not 100% sure on that," but  
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we sometimes just cut out the word sure, "I'm  not 100% on that." So if I asked you, "Hey,  
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can you hang out this weekend?" you might say,  "Well, I think I already have something going on,  
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but I'm not 100% on that. Let me check my  schedule." This is a perfect time to use  
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this. You're letting them know you are not 100%  sure. You can use other percentages. Sometimes  
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we use this in conversation as well. So you  might reply to me and say, "I'm 80% sure that  
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I have something else going on this weekend, but  I'll check my schedule and let you know." Well,  
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80% is just a random figure that you made up,  but you can say something like this too if  
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you want to lessen the surety of your statement. The fourth way to say I don't know is a fun one,  
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"Beats me." I found myself saying this last  week when I think there was a one hour period  
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when my husband asked me three or four times where  something was, different items, and I was just so  
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tired, I was involved in something else. So when  he said, "Hey, do you know where the candle is?"  
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and I said, "Beats me." "Hey, do you know where  this is?" "Beats me. Just find it yourself." 
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So here, I'm saying, "I don't know," in a casual  way. It could be a little bit sarcastic, a little  
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bit annoyed, "Beats me. Go look for yourself," but  you can also use this in just a silly way as well.  
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So if I ask you, "Hey, do you want to hang  out this weekend?" you might say, "Beats me,  
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it's only Monday. I don't know what my weekend  plans are." You can use this in a couple different  
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ways, but it's almost always casual. The fifth way to say I don't know is,  
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"Ya got me." Ya, which is a reduced version  of the word you, "Ya got me." So let's imagine  
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a situation where one of your coworkers said,  "Hey, did you hear what the meeting is supposed  
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to be about this afternoon?" and if you have no  idea, you don't know what the meeting's about,  
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you could say, "Ah, ya got me. All I heard was  that there would be free donuts at the meeting.  
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So I'm going to be there." So it's like,  "You caught me. Oh, I should do something.  
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I should know something, but I don't. Ah,  ya got me. All I heard was free donuts." 
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The sixth way to say I don't know is, "I have  no clue," or you can shorten this to just,  
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"No clue." When I ask you, "Hey, do you want  to hang out this weekend?" you might say, "Oh,  
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I have no clue. Today has been so hectic. I  haven't even looked at my weekend schedule,"  
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or you could shorten that and say, "No clue, I  have a lot going on. Let me check my schedule  
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and get back to you." "You want to hang out?"  "No clue. Maybe I want to, but I don't know  
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if I can. I have no clue. Everything's  hectic right now. Let me get back to you." 
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The seventh way to say I don't know is, "Don't  ask me." We usually use this when someone else  
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has a piece of knowledge or information and we  don't. It's a good way to deflect the question  
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off of you and maybe onto someone else. So it's  great to use if maybe there's some gossip going  
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around the office or around your friend group  and someone says, "Hey, did you hear about Sarah?  
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I think she might be pregnant." You might not  want to get into the gossip. You don't really  
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want to share any information that you have  or don't have, so you could say, "Don't ask  
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me. I haven't talked to her." You're saying,  "I don't know. I haven't talked to her. Don't  
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ask me." You are deflecting that information.  Maybe someone has the answer, but it's not you,  
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"Don't ask me." Sometimes we put up our hands  like this. It feels like a police interrogation,  
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"Don't ask me. I don't know. I'm innocent.  Don't ask me. I don't want to get into it." 
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The eighth way to say I don't know is another way  to deflect a question from you. So if I ask you,  
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"Hey, can you hang out this weekend?" you  might say, "I can't say. I might have plans.  
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I might not." In this situation, it feels like you  probably have plans, but you don't want to tell me  
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about them. Maybe it's a secret. Maybe that's a  surprise party for me or maybe there's something  
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going on that you just don't want to tell me about  yet. So you might say, "Well, I can't say. I might  
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have something going on, I might not." It gives  the other person the hint that they probably  
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shouldn't ask more questions because you're  really not feeling comfortable sharing the answer,  
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"I can't say, I might have plans, I might not." Surprisingly, this is a phrase that you can use  
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in the workplace too. So if your boss asks you,  "Hey, can you have that report finished by the  
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end of the week?" you might say, "I can't say  for sure yet, but I'll get back to you and let  
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you know." This is a common way to deliver bad  news in the office is by offering a solution.  
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So at the moment, you don't know, "I can't say  for sure, but ..." and here's your solution,  
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"I'll get back to you." Great. You're not  just saying, "I can't say. I'm not going to  
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tell you." Instead, you're offering to follow  up later, "I can't say for sure, but I'll get  
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back to you and let you know." Very polite and  a great way to use this phrase in the workplace. 
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The ninth way to say I don't know is a full  phrase, "Your guess is as good as mine." That  
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means, "I don't know. So whatever your guess  is is going to be the same correctness as my  
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guess." So if I say to you, "Hey, do you think  we're going to get our bonus at the end of the  
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month?" you might say, "Eh, your guess  is as good as mine. Sometimes we get it,  
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sometimes we don't." That means, "I don't  know. I have no clue. So your guess is as  
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good as mine." Don't forget each of the parts  of this expression, "Your guess is as good as  
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mine." We're comparing two things, your guess  and my guess. Well, they're both the same amount  
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of correctness because neither of us knows. The 10th and final way to say I don't know in  
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English is a sound. Yes, you guessed it. We  had an affirmative sound for yes, mm-hmm. We  
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had a negative sound for no, mm-mm, and  now, we have an I don't know sound, it is,  
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"Iuhno." I love this. The intonation of  your voice is just like a rollercoaster,  
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"Iuhno." Here, we are reducing I don't know, I  dunno, and Iuhno. You're using that same sound,  
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the same sound pattern, but you're just making  the sound Iuhno. Now, because this is so extremely  
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reduced, I don't recommend using this in a formal  situation or really even in a casual situation  
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with your friends where you're trying to just tell  them simply, "I don't know." We use this sound,  
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I won't say word, we use this sound when  we're trying to be dismissive of something. 
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So let's imagine at the workplace, some people  are gossiping, "Hey, I think Sarah's pregnant.  
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Do you think she's going to quit? Is she going to  keep working?" and you don't want to get involved  
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in the workplace gossip, and they look at you  and say, "Hey, you're Sarah's friend. Is Sarah  
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pregnant? Is she going to quit her job?" you might  use this dismissively to reflect the question away  
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from you and say, "Iuhno." It shows you don't  care, you don't want to talk about this, and it  
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gives the idea too, that this isn't something  we should be talking about. It's not nice,  
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"Iuhno. Let's just go on and do something else." So make sure you do not say this to your  
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boss when he asks you, "Hey, can you  have that report finished by the end  
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of the month?" If you say, "Iuhno," it  means you don't care about your job. Oh,  
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no. So make sure you only use this in situations  where you're trying to show, "I don't know and  
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I don't care," not towards your boss, ideally. Well, congratulations. You just leveled up your  
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vocabulary with 10 great alternatives to yes,  10 alternatives to no, and 10 alternatives to  
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I don't know, Iuhno. I hope that this lesson was  enjoyable for you. Don't forget to download the  
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free PDF worksheet, which includes all of these  expressions, the nuanced ways that you can use  
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them, and a couple extra sample sentences for  each one so that you can make sure you're using  
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them correctly in the right situation and  expressing yourself completely. There is a  
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link in the description below this video where  you can download the free PDF worksheet today. 
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Now, I have a question for you. Let me know in  the comments which one of these phrases was new  
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for you today. I would love to see which one it  was, and it's an opportunity to be able to use  
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it so that you don't forget it. Let me know in  the comments and thank you so much for learning  
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English with me. I will see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 
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Wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this  video next where you will level up your vocabulary  
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and learn 20 important expressions, polite  expressions to use for dangerous conversation  
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topics like religion and politics. Oh, no. How  can you be polite in these situations but still  
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express your opinion? Well, I have some good news?  Watch that video and find out. I'll see you there.
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