in today's lesson I'm going to teach you 40 phrases that native English speakers use every single day my name is Michael Anton I'm the founder of English at the ready and if you're a beginner or intermediate student make sure to watch this video because the phrases I'm going to teach you today are absolutely necessary if you want to become fluent in English before we start make sure to subscribe to English at the ready here on YouTube and to turn on notifications so you don't miss any future English lessons from me let's get into the lesson
and look at the first phrase on our list you've probably heard this first one how have you been how have you been it's a question and you ask it when you're asking somebody how they have been since the last time you saw them for example hey Mark how have you been I haven't seen you since last month or Alice it's been ages how have you been keeping you could say how have you been keeping or how have you been it's like asking how are you now some people say been other people say been I personally
say been but there's no right or wrong way of saying this word how have you been how have you been you could also say what have you been up to what have you been up to when you ask somebody what they've been doing recently you would say what have you been up to for example hi Tom long time no see what have you been up to these days what have you been doing recently what's new Sarah I haven't heard from you in a while what have you been up to lately what have you been doing
lately what's new what have you been up to if somebody asks you how are you you might respond I'm doing well thanks how about yourself how about yourself so if you ask Jack how's it going he might say I'm doing well thanks how about yourself if you ask Emily how are you she might say I'm doing well thanks for asking how about yourself so it's another way of saying I'm doing well how are you how about yourself very very common when you first meet somebody you will probably say pleased to meet you pleased to meet
you you this is a very polite way of introducing yourself to somebody hi there I'm David pleased to meet you pleased to meet you Mrs Johnson I've heard so much about you please to meet you please to meet you you can also repeat after the phrases when I say them please to meet you could you give me a hand could you give me a hand is used to ask for help if you need somebody to help you you could ask them could you give me a hand for example John could you give me a hand
with these boxes they're quite heavy or hey Maria could you give me a hand figuring out this problem I'm a bit stuck could you give me a hand means could you help me to give a hand I'm a bit confused if you're not sure about something you might say I'm a bit confused for example could you explain that again I'm a bit confused or if you ask somebody for directions and you don't understand you could say the direction are unclear I'm a bit confused about where to go next I'm a bit confused if you didn't
understand what somebody said you could say can you say that again please can you say that again please for example I didn't catch that which means I didn't understand can you say that again please or the connection is bad can you say that again please you're asking somebody to repeat themselves pardon me pardon me this is a formal way of saying excuse me pardon me for example pardon me could you please repeat what you just said or pardon me I didn't mean to interrupt pardon me my apologies I didn't catch that I didn't catch that
means I didn't hear that or I didn't understand that I didn't catch that for example my apologies I'm sorry my apologies I didn't catch your name could you say it again or my apologies I didn't catch what you you said could you please repeat it I didn't catch that catch you later catch you later this is another very very common phrase and it's an informal way to say goodbye for example I have to run now which means I have to go catch you later see you later catch you later thanks for the chat catch you
later I'll see you later I'll catch you later very common now if you want to ask somebody their opinion you could say what are your thoughts what are your thoughts what do you think or what are your thoughts for example we've discussed the options what are your thoughts on the matter what are your thoughts what do you think before we decide what are your thoughts on this proposal what do you think what are your thoughts when you agree with somebody you could say I'm in agreement I'm in agreement for example I think that's a good
plan I'm in agreement after considering the options I'm in agreement with with your suggestion I'm in agreement or just I agree we share the same idea and opinion we in agreement now if you disagree with someone if you don't agree with them if you don't share the same opinion you can use this you can say I beg to differ I beg to differ this means you don't agree with them and it's a very polite way of saying it for example I'm sorry but I beg to differ with your opinion on this matter I don't agree
I beg to differ or everyone seems to agree but I beg to differ I think we should reconsider I beg to differ very very polite way of saying this and it's perfect at work or in more formal contexts I beg to differ means I don't agree that's fascinating fascinating when you're interested in something or you admire something you might say that's fascinating for example I didn't know that that's fascinating or she told me about her travels and it was truly fascinating when you're really interested in something you can use the word fascinating it's a synonym
of interesting fascinating that's fascinating now how are you as we saw before has several synonyms there are lots of different ways of saying how are you one of these ways is how's everything going you're asking how things are what's up how are you how's everything going for example hi Sarah how's everything going with the new project or I haven't seen you in a while how's everything going how are you doing how's everything everything going when you haven't seen somebody in a long time you could say this it's been a while it's been a while for
example hi John it's been a while since we last met it's been a long time or I wanted to catch up with you it's been a while it's been a long time again you can say been or been it's been a while or it's been a while both are correct okay next up we have this one anything new it's a question anything new and it means probably what you think it means anything new can be used if you're asking somebody if there's news or there's something that's new in their life anything new for example hey
Jane anything new happening with you or we haven't spoken in a bit anything new with you anything new how's your day going okay very simple it could be how's your day how's your week how's your holiday right anything can replace day and and it's very straightforward it means you're asking somebody how their day is for example hey Mike how's your day going so far or she greeted me and asked how my day was going how's your day going now to express sympathy when you hear bad news you could say I'm sorry to hear that that
I'm sorry to hear that for example somebody tells you I failed the test and you say oh I'm sorry to hear that if somebody tells you my dog passed away yesterday means died passed away means died you might say I'm so sorry to hear that I'm sorry to hear that when you hear bad news and you're expressing sympathy you would say this I'm sorry to hear that now the opposite of this is good news and when you hear good news you might say that sounds wonderful that sounds wonderful for example we're going on vacation next
week oh that sounds wonderful you might say if somebody tells you she's getting married in Paris you might say wow that sounds wonderful that sounds wonderful before we continue the video please let me know in the comments if you're finding this lesson useful and make sure to subscribe to English at the ready and turn on notifications so you don't miss any future lessons if you're really serious about improving your English this year then click the link in the video description to learn more about how I can help you become fluent now let's get back in
to the lesson when you're not sure of something you can say I'm not certain I'm not certain are you coming to the party somebody asks I'm not certain yet you say I'm not certain yet should we go now somebody asks you might say I'm not certain about the weather maybe it's raining you're not sure you don't know you're not certain if you want to give yourself some time to think you can say let me think about it let me think about it for example would you like to join us for dinner let me think about
it can you lend me some money let me think about it and get back to you you need time to think let me think about it you could say let me think about it you could also say I'll get back to you on that I'll get back to you on that when you promise to provide an answer or response later you could say I'll get back to you on that for example can you let me know by tomorrow somebody asks sure I'll get back to you on that or if somebody asks you what do you
think about this proposal you might say let me discuss it with my team and I'll get back to you I'll get back to you I'll tell you later again how was your day you could also say how was your weekend or how was your week for example hi Sarah how was your weekend do anything fun how was your weekend getaway a getaway is a short trip to another city or Another Place getaway how was your weekend how was your weekend getaway now if you're at a cafe and you want to sound polite when you order
a coffee yes you could say can I get a coffee but it's much more polite to say may I have a coffee please for example may I have a coffee please black with sugar when you drink coffee black it means you drink it with no milk black I'd like to order a latte may I have a coffee please may I have very polite where are you originally from when you ask this question you're asking somebody about the place they were born their Hometown for example you have an interesting accent where are you originally from you
speak English fluently where are you originally from where were you born where is your hometown where are you originally from now if you hear a word and you're not sure how to spell it you don't know how to write it you can say how do you spell that word how do you spell that word for example I'm not sure how to spell this how do you spell that word can you spell your last name for me please can you spell your last name for me please see you soon this is an informal way to say
goodbye I have to go now see you soon or see you soon at the party see you soon goodbye it was nice chatting with you it was nice chatting with you let's do this again sometime or thanks for your time it was nice chatting with you this means it was nice speaking with you it was nice talking with you chatting is informal speaking you chat with friends you talk about informal topics you speak with your boss or with your employer it's more formal but when you chat it's much more informal and Casual it was nice
chatting with you you could also say take care of yourself or just take care you're wishing somebody well and you're advising them to stay healthy and to be careful for example I'm heading out now take care of yourself or take care she's leaving for college tomorrow take care of yourself and call me often take care what's on your mind when you're asking what somebody is thinking you might say what's on your mind you seem distracted what's on your mind you look troubled there's something going on there's something wrong what's on your mind what are you
thinking what's on your mind let's catch up soon when you say this you're making plans to meet or talk again in the future let's catch up soon for example it's been too long let's catch up soon or we should catch up soon how about next weekend I'm looking forward to it I'm looking forward to it means you are excited about it you are looking forward to it for example we have a trip planned next month I'm looking forward to it I'm excited about it the concert is tomorrow I'm looking forward to it I'm excited about
the concert I'm looking forward to it I can't wait for that synonym it means the same thing means you're excited for example the movie comes out next week I can't wait she's visiting next month I can't wait for that I'm so excited that it's difficult for me to wait I can't wait the next on our list is very common especially if you're starting a conversation with someone that you don't know you might talk about basic topics like the weather how's the weather weather today how's the weather today nice day today isn't it how's the weather
today I heard it's going to rain how's the weather today you're asking about the weather you'd say how's the weather any plans for the weekend you're asking somebody if they have any plans for the weekend you could say it's Friday any plans for the weekend or what are your plans for the weekend what are your plans for the weekend how was your day very straightforward very simple you're asking about somebody's day hi John how is your day she greeted me with a smile and asked how my day was could you pass me the salt please
could you pass me the salt or maybe the pepper or the cheese or anything the bread I forgot to grab the salt could you please pass it to me we would use the verb to pass in this situation now next up we have the question what's your favorite Cuisine what's your favorite cuisine cuisine means means food food from a specific country or part of the world you're asking them what type of food do they like to eat Italian food Spanish food Mexican food Chinese food Indian food those are examples of Cuisines for example we're going
out to eat what's your favorite Cuisine or he loves cooking what's your favorite Cuisine to prepare there we have it we looked at 40 phrases that native English speakers use every day in conversation and if you're a beginner or intermediate student learning English you need to know these phrases if you want to become fluent if you found this video useful please leave a like and let me know down in the comments make sure to subscribe to English at the ready here on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don't miss any future English lessons from
me and if you're serious about improving your English this year click the link in the description below to learn more about how I can help you start speaking English confidently and fluently I hope you found this lesson useful and I'll see you in the next one
