15 Important *Real* English Vocabulary Phrases

Vanessa: Are you ready to level  

up your English vocabulary and express yourself  more clearly? Well, today I have some good news,  

you are about to learn 15 important  English phrases for daily conversation.

A few weeks ago you saw this English lesson where  I played UNO, a card game, with my oldest son,  

Theo. In that conversation, we used some important  daily life expressions that I want you to be able  

to use clearly and smoothly and easily. Today,  we're going to break down those 15 expressions  

and go over them so that you can add them to your  knowledge and use them the next time you speak.

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVvanessa.com.  And like always, I have created a free PDF  

worksheet for you with all of today's 15 key daily  life expressions, definitions, sample sentences,  

and at the bottom of the worksheet, there is  something special for you. It is a little quiz  

to test to see if you really understand these  15 important expressions. So, you can click  

on the link in the description to download  that free PDF worksheet plus the quiz today.

Let's get started with our first expression for  daily life, and it is this one, "I'm going to show  

you," but in the conversation, do you think  I said it like this, I'm going to show you?  

Nope. Instead, I used an ultra reduction.  I cut down this phrase so much and I said,  

"I'm a show you." Whoa. The word going to, this  phrase, to talk about something that you will do  

in the future, I'm going to do something, can be  reduced in several ways. Sometimes we say, "I'm  

going to. I'm going to show you." Or we could cut  off the G and say, "I'm onna. I'm onna show you."  

Or you could do the ultra reduction, which I used  and just say, "I'm a show you. I'm a show you."

Obviously, if you're speaking slowly, I'm a show  you. It doesn't work. This needs to be in fast  

daily life conversation. So, you could say, "I'm  going to show you how to bake a cake," or "I'm  

a show you how to bake a cake. I'm a show you.  I'm a show you how to bake a cake." I want you  

to see how this was used in the original context  in the conversation where I was playing UNO with  

my son. Listen carefully for that ultra  reduction. "I'm a show you." Let's watch.

One card in the middle, okay?

Theo: And then I will do...

Vanessa: All right. All right,  

you shuffled. And now I'm going to  show you another way to shuffle too.

Theo: I know. I know what it is.

Vanessa: What is it?

Theo: This.

Vanessa: 

The next phrase for daily life is, let's go, let's  do it. Together, this is the ultimate enthusiasm.  

Let's go. Let's do it. So if you are trying to  pump yourself up, or maybe pump your friends up,  

you might use this phrase. Let's imagine that  you are near a lake in the middle of winter. It's  

so cold, but you have a fun idea. "Hey guys,  let's go jump in the lake. I know it's cold,  

but let's go do it." And your friends  say, "No, no, no, it's too cold." Well,  

if you want to pump them up, you want to have an  adventure, you might say, let's go, let's do it.  

Yes. And eventually maybe they'll say yes. Let's  see how this was used in the original context.

And then I'll teach you how to play and  we'll teach my students how to play.

Theo: Okay, let's go.

Vanessa: 

Yeah, try not to touch the  microphone because it will-

Theo: Let's go. Let's do it.

Vanessa: Be too loud.

Theo: Let's do it. Let's go. Let's do it.

Vanessa: Let's do it. Okay. Now, I have shuffled.

The next two phrases go together, and they're  specific for playing with cards and card games.  

They are to shuffle the cards or shuffle the  deck and to deal the cards. Before you play  

any card game, you need to shuffle the cards.  This is simply mix the cards up so that there's  

no cheating involved. You need to shuffle the  cards, and then you need to deal the cards,  

which means to give the cards to each  player. You might see a phrasal verb  

used instead to deal out the cards. Both of  these are perfectly acceptable. You can say,  

"I'm going to deal the cards," or "I'm going to  deal out the cards to each player." For example,  

let's see how this was used in the conversation.

Theo: Now I have to [inaudible] he next step.

Vanessa: The next step is to-

Theo: The next step is to...

Vanessa: ... deal the cards.

Theo: Deal the cards.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Theo: The next step is to deal the cards.

Vanessa: How many cards  

do you think each of us will get? What  do you think the rules say? Just guess.

Theo: I don't know.

Vanessa: Two, 500?

Theo: 500.

Vanessa: 500.

The next important expression for daily life is  supposed to. Notice the pronunciation. Supposed  

to. It's not supposed to. Instead, we cut off that  ed and just say, supposed to, supposed to. So,  

in the conversation I said, "You're supposed to  start with the other person. You shouldn't give  

yourself the first card because maybe that will be  considered cheating." So you're supposed to deal  

the other person first. This is something that is  recommended, maybe even required depending on the  

circumstance. So, if you are baking, you might  say, "You're supposed to let the cookies cool  

for five minutes before you eat them." I know it's  going to be the longest five minutes of your life,  

but this is something that's recommended,  required in this situation. You should let  

the cookies cool. Or you're supposed to let the  cookies cool. Let's watch the original clip.

So we each get seven cards. So, I'm going to  start with you. I think you're always supposed  

to start with the other person. So, 1, 1,  2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7. Okay.

The next important expression for daily  conversation is a phrasal verb. To lay  

out something. We can split this phrasal  verb and say, lay it out. And that's how  

I used it in the conversation. Because  this was my son's first time playing  

UNO and children's hands are small. It's a  little hard for them to hold a lot of cards,  

I recommended to him to lay the  cards out on the table. Yes,  

I could see them. This was not the perfect game  of UNO because we could see each other's cards,  

but he was just learning. So, I said, "Lay them  out on the table." This is displaying the cards.  

Let's take a look at that clip so that you  can see how we used it in the conversation.

So can you turn over your cards  and lay them out on the table?

Theo: Okay.

Vanessa: Usually when you play this,  

you keep your cards hidden, but because  this is the first time we're playing,  

let's put them out. And that way too,  our students can learn how to play.

The next important expression for daily  life is a wonderful one, how about. Oh,  

this is a great way to make a suggestion. You can  use this in all areas of life. In the conversation  

where I was playing UNO with my son, I said, "How  about you go first?" Okay, I'm suggesting that he  

lays down the first card. Most of the time, this  is used in just a neutral way. If you say, "How  

about we eat dinner and then have cake later?"  Okay, this is your suggestion to eat dinner first  

and then have cake. But there is a way that  this expression could be used sarcastically,  

which could be seen as a little rude depending  on the context. So, let me give you an example.

Remember that moment where you were walking  beside a lake in the middle of winter and you  

wanted to jump in? Well, one of your friends who  has some common sense might say, "How about we  

don't jump in the lake?" So, he's trying to give  this suggestion politely, but also being a little  

bit sarcastic at the same time. How about we don't  jump in the lake? It feels like your idea's pretty  

stupid. Let's not do that. How about we don't  jump in the lake? Of course, if you're with a  

group of friends and obviously, this idea is  a little crazy, then it's okay to use this.

But you wouldn't really want to say it with the  tone of voice to your boss. If your boss says,  

"Hey, we're going to have a meeting at three  o'clock." Maybe you're super busy that day  

and you have no time for meetings, do not  tell your boss, "How about we don't have a  

meeting?" Not a good idea. Instead, there are  more polite ways to express that. You might say,  

"I have a lot going on today. Could  you give me the notes for the meeting  

when it's finished?" Okay, this is  much more polite in a work setting.

There's also a fun fixed phrase that you  might hear people use with this expression,  

how about. The fixed phrase is, how about we don't  and say, we did? So, if your friends think, well,  

it's a pretty crazy idea to jump in the cold lake,  someone might suggest, "How about we don't?" You  

don't need to finish the phrase and say, "Don't  jump in the lake." We just say, don't. "How about  

we don't? And we say, we did. So you tell all the  other people, "Guess what we did? We jumped in  

the lake." They'll never know they weren't there.  So, you can use this fixed phrase. I guarantee you  

will hear this in movies and TV shows when there's  some kind of foolish idea, usually. How about we  

don't and say, we did. So you're trying to find  some kind of equilibrium. You don't want to do it,  

they want to do it, but maybe you could just lie  and say that you did it anyway. Very silly. All  

right, let's watch the original clips that  you can see this in the original context.

So, what we're going to try to do is  we're going to try to match this. So,  

how about you go first? Do any of your cards  have the same color or the same symbol?

Theo: Same symbol.

Vanessa: The next expression is,  

happens to. There are a lot of different ways to  use the verb to happen, but here we're talking  

about something that is a chance or a coincidence.  "I have one card left and it happens to be red."  

All right, well, it doesn't really matter if it  was red, but here we're talking about a chance  

or a coincidence. "Oh, look at this. I have the  right color and the right number. It happens to be  

red." We can use this for a lot of coincidences.  So, you might say, "My best friend's birthday  

happens to be the exact same day as mine. What  a coincidence. We are not twins, but we happen  

to have the same birthday. How cool." Let's watch  how this was used in the original conversation.

So, now I'm going to look at my cards and  see, do I have any red cards or one cards?

Theo: You have one card.

Vanessa: I do have one. And it happens to  

be red too. Okay. So, I'm going to put that down.  Now it's your turn. Do you have any red or ones?

The next important expression for daily  conversation is a great one. I mean. Here, you're  

not really clarifying more information. Instead,  when you make a mistake, when you speak, you can  

use this to pivot, to correct yourself. So, in the  conversation we said, "You have an eight. I mean,  

a yellow." All right, so here's a correction.  You're pivoting and not saying, "Oh, well, that's  

not an eight, it's a yellow." You can insert this  great expression, I mean. So for me, I could say,  

"I've been married 11, I mean 12 years. Wow.  And this year will be 13." So, I am correcting  

myself. "I've been married for 11, I mean 12  years." That was my mistake. I mean 12 years.  

And this year we'll be 13. All right, let's watch  how it was used in the original conversation.

I don't have any eights or any yellows.

Theo: You have eight and a yellow.

Vanessa: I have a yellow,  

that's right. I'm going to play  the yellow card. It's a seven.

The next expression for daily life is, get  to. You get to choose the next card. I get  

to go on vacation. I can't believe that  I got to meet a famous person. What does  

this mean here? There is a nuance. When  we use get to, we're talking about, yes,  

something that you have the ability to, I get to  go on vacation, but there's another meaning here,  

and that is that it has the sense that you feel  like it's a privilege. "I can't believe that I get  

to sit next to this amazing person at dinner. I  didn't know that that would be possible." So here,  

it's not just something that you're able to do,  but something you feel like is super special. A  

while ago when I was on vacation in Costa Rica,  I made this video where I talked about some  

differences between get to and have two. So, if  you would like to dive deeper into this topic so  

that you can really use and understand some of  these nuances in English, I recommend checking  

out that lesson as well. All right, let's  watch the original clip for this expression.

Do you have any nines or blues?

Theo: No.

Vanessa: So what happens is you get to choose the top card,  

turn it over. What is it? Oh, you got lucky?  Okay, so you can play that card. Blue nine. Whew.

The next expression for daily conversation  is one that only parents or teachers or maybe  

grandparents might use, but you will definitely  hear this in movies and TV shows. And it is,  

wa-wa-wait. Can you understand the one word  that I'm trying to say? It's the word wait. But  

I didn't say wait. Instead, I said, "Wa-wa-wait."  I think I said this several times in the original  

conversation. Actually, maybe this is part  of my parenting vocabulary. But this is just  

telling a child, "Stop, wait." But oftentimes  as parents or maybe as teachers or grandparents,  

we have a lot of energy behind that. So,  you might say, "Wa-wa-wait. You should do  

this instead. Wa-wa-wait. There's a card that  you can play. Wonderful." So, let's see how I  

use this in the original conversation. And if  you are a parent or grandparent or teacher,  

or maybe you watch English movies and TV shows,  I'm sure you will hear this. Let's watch.

Oh. Oh, wa-wa-wait. What's that?

Theo: Zero.

Vanessa: Zero. Zero can  

match. So you change the color,  and I'm going to play an eight.

The next important expression for daily  conversation is actually a grammatical rule. And  

it is, none versus no. Take a look at these two  sentences. I have none, or I have no cards. Are  

both of these correct? What do you think? Well,  the answer is, yeah, both of these are correct,  

but we're going to use none and no slightly  differently in the conversation in a sentence  

grammatically, but it's going to have a similar  meaning. So let's take a look at another example.

You could say, "None of these shirts fit me."  Or you could say, "No shirts fit me." All right,  

so let's take a look at the first one. None fit  me. That's the main part of the sentence. None  

fit me. And none is being used as  a noun. It is the subject of the  

sentence. None of these shirts fit me.  And in the second sentence, we have,  

"No shirts fit me." Here, the subject of the  sentence is not no, it is shirts. Shirts fit  

me. But we're going to add the word no  as an adjective to describe shirts. So,  

they function slightly differently in the  sentence, but in the end, the sentence is  

going to have a similar meaning. Let's take a look  at how this was used in the original conversation.

Theo: Oh, I can do this.

Vanessa: Oh my goodness, I have so many cards.

Theo: Because I have none.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

but you played this, so it means that my turn's  next, and I don't have any greens. Oh, now I do.

The next important expression for daily life  is a fun phrasal verb, to go back to. So,  

let's imagine that you are living far away  from your parents, but once a year for the  

holiday season you go back to your parents'  house and celebrate the holidays. Maybe this  

is a really special warm time for you to be able  to see people that you love. So you might say,  

"I can't wait for next month. I get to go back  to my parents' house and just spend time with  

them." Notice that I also used, get to. We're  talking about something you're able to do,  

but also something that you feel is a privilege,  something you are excited about. "I get to go  

back to my parents' house. Wonderful."  Let's see how this was originally used.

Your turn. Do you have a yellow?

Theo: UNO.

Vanessa: Oh, okay.  

All right. So now it goes back to your turn  because this is a reverse. So can you play?

The next expression for daily life is, why  don't you... And this is another way to ask  

a polite suggestion or question. So, in  the conversation I was asking Theo if he  

understood the rules. I said, "Why don't  you want to pick up four cards?" Because  

I wanted to see if he understood that picking  up more cards means that you're probably going  

to lose the game. And it was quite interesting  because in the video, that was the first time  

he had ever played UNO. But later that  day and the next day and the next day,  

we played UNO again. And he was so fast. He got  it. He even understood some strategy. So here,  

just for the first time that we played, I wanted  to see if he could understand the rules. "Why  

don't you want to pick up four cards? Tell me.  What's the reason why you don't want more cards?"

But we can also use this expression in other  instances as well. You might say, "Well,  

if you don't want to miss the appointment, why  don't you set two alarms?" The suggestion here  

is why don't you set two alarms instead of  one? "You don't want to sleep in through one  

alarm. What if one alarm doesn't go off? What if  there's a problem? Okay, why don't you set two  

alarms?" This is a very polite suggestion.  All right, let's watch the original clip.

And a black card you can play anytime.  You don't have to match the color. So  

do you want to play that? And  then I have to pick up four.

Theo: Why don't you want to pick up four?

Vanessa: One, two, three.

Theo: Why don't you want to?

Vanessa: Because I want  

to get rid of all of my cards, and that's how  you win. So, if I have more cards, I can't win.

The next important expression for  daily life is otherwise. Otherwise.  

Are we talking about something that  is wise and intelligent? Nope. Let's  

take a look at how it was used  in the original conversation.

Theo: Ha-ha.

Vanessa: Oh no. You  

go again. Do you have a black  card or a red card you can play?

Theo: Black card.

Vanessa: 

Oh, but you know which one  that is. We switch hands.

Theo: Or what?

Vanessa: Otherwise, you have to pick up a card.  

Okay, keep picking up.

I said, "You can play that card, otherwise you  have to pick up a card." So, we could substitute  

or else. So, on the other side, this is your  other option. "Otherwise, you have to pick  

up a card." So, he's got two choices. "You could  play that card." But if he doesn't play that card,  

"otherwise you're going to have to pick  up one." Or in your daily conversations,  

if someone tells you, "Oh, hey, can you give  my friend a call and invite her to the party  

too? Here's her number." And they start to  tell you her phone number. Well, for me,  

I'm terrible at remembering things like this.  So, for me, I might say, "Wa-wa-wait a minute.  

Let me write that down, otherwise I'm going to  forget." Let me write that down, otherwise I might  

forget. So we've got two opposites. I should  write it down. That will help me remember it,  

and I will forget, and we are linking them with  this beautiful phrase. Otherwise, I might forget.

Our final important expression for daily  conversation is this one. Or do they? This  

is going to be a reflexive question, and  also it's going to be a bit rhetorical.  

That means you're not really looking for an  answer, you're just questioning yourself. So,  

when we put down two cards, one was a nine and  one was a six, and I thought that they matched,  

I said, "Oh, they match. Or do they?" Sometimes  sixes and nines look very similar. So,  

I tried to turn the card around to see if they  really matched. So, I was questioning myself,  

"Oh, they match, or do they?" This is a  great way to question what's going on.

You could also change the verb do to a  be verb. And it has a similar meaning,  

this reflexive question. So, for example,  if you're talking about your two neighbors,  

you might say, "Oh yeah, they're married. Wait,  or are they? Well, it doesn't matter." So, here  

you are questioning yourself. They are married.  So, we're going to change the verb and say, "Are  

they?" You're just questioning yourself. "I'm not  exactly sure. Well, it doesn't matter. Are they?  

Do they?" You're asking yourself this question.  All right, let's watch the original clip

Green, because these match or do they? Oh yeah,  they do. Okay, six and the nine we're tricking  

me too. All right, well, I have no greens,  but you know what I get to play? Wild card.  

This wild card means I get to change the color.

Vanessa: Which color do you think I'm going to choose?

Well, congratulations on leveling up your  English vocabulary so that you can express  

yourself clearly. I want to know in the  comments, have you ever played this card  

game UNO? This is an essential children's game  in the US, so I'm curious if it's universal,  

if it's something that you also  play. Let me know in the comments.

And don't forget to download the free PDF  worksheet that goes with today's lesson. It  

includes all of today's vocabulary, definitions,  sample sentences, and at the bottom of the  

worksheet is a quiz to test if you really can use  these expressions in your daily life. So, you can  

click on the link in the description to download  that free PDF worksheet today. My gift to you.

Well, thank you so much for  learning English with me,  

and I'll see you again next Friday for a  new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching  this video next. This is the original conversation  

lesson where I taught my son Theo, how to play  UNO. You're welcome to join me in my home,  

play UNO with us, and learn along the  way real English. I'll see you there.