Learn 31 Advanced English phrases

There's a better way to study English than just reading a dictionary. In today's English lesson, I'm going to teach you 35 common English phrases and idioms that are actually so useful when speaking English. If you want a copy of these 35 idioms with definitions that you can read, make sure to use the link below to subscribe to my email list and you'll receive the free PDF right to your inbox. Now, let me teach you 35 phrases that you can add to your English vocabulary. Have you ever had a food that you tried at first and you didn't like it, but the more and more you tried it or you were exposed to it, the more you started to actually enjoy it or you liked the taste? In English, we call this an acquired taste. I'm sure you're really familiar with the concept. For this concept, I think of sushi because most people in the United States, Americans, we don't like sushi the first time we try it because we typically don't have a lot of raw fish or uncooked fish and we're not even that much of rice eaters and we definitely don't have a lot of dried seaweed. For me, when I tried sushi, I had to try it quite a few times before I really started to like it and enjoy it. I had to acquire the taste or acquire the liking for sushi. You can use this phrase, an acquired taste, to talk about other things like clothes, music, movies, just things that take a long time to start to like. You have to be exposed to something for many times to acquire the taste. An acquired taste. This next phrase can be really funny to use. If you see someone and they are staring at someone they like, oftentimes in English, we call that their crush. If you see a girl and she really likes a boy, but she hasn't told them yet, she will have what we call googly eyes. You could say, why are you making googly eyes at him? That just means you're looking at them in a really loving way. So this is a really informal phrase that just means you have an expression on your face that you're staring at someone because you probably really like them if you're giving them googly eyes. Another way we use this phrase, googly eyes, is just to explain how a cartoon looks when they have just funny eyes. We call them googly eyes. Try saying this phrase because it's super fun and funny to say googly eyes, googly eyes. To tie someone over. So when we use this phrase to tie someone over, or often we say this will tie you over, this is an incredibly useful phrase. It means you're coming up with a temporary solution. So something that's going to fix a problem only for a little bit, until you can find a long-term solution to their problem. So for instance, if somebody doesn't have any money, but they're going to get paid pretty soon, you could say, here's a couple of dollars to hold you over or to tie you over until your paycheck on Friday. So that means the few dollars should help, but they need to get paid on Friday to actually solve the problem. Or if someone's really hungry, but it's not dinner time yet, you could say, here is a quick snack to tie you over until dinner. So when they eat dinner, they won't be hungry anymore, but if you give them just a little snack before dinner, they'll not be hungry just for a little bit. Or if someone's really bored, you can say, hey, here's a book to tie you over until, you know, you have something to do. I find this next phrase in English, especially over email, to be incredibly useful because it helps people do things that you want them to do for you. So recently, I was emailing someone about getting a certain service, and I wanted a really good price. And they said, sorry, we can only give you this price. I responded, could you work your magic and ask if you can get me a better price? So this just means I'm kind of complimenting the person, like what they do is magic to get me a better price. So in this way, using this phrase, I was being kind of manipulative. You don't always have to use this phrase in quite a manipulative way, but you can use it just to compliment someone on the work they do. Sometimes we use this phrase, just work your magic, to mean just get it done however you get it done. I totally trust you. So if you're asking someone, hey, could you help me with the cleaning over here? They could say, yeah, how do you want me to clean it? You could say, well, just work your magic. You know how to do it. So this just means just help me get it done. I don't care how you get it done. Work your magic. Work your magic. Time to work your magic. A really important phrase to know in English is a hard copy. What do we mean when we say I need a hard copy of this? Maybe you've already heard this phrase, but you didn't know exactly what it means. Basically, when you ask someone for a hard copy of a document, you're asking for a printed version on actual paper. Nowadays, there are so many things that are sent digitally on the computer, but sometimes we actually need to see what we need to read on paper or maybe we need to sign it or give it to someone else. So we ask for a hard copy or a printed copy on paper. One way that I use this phrase is sometimes I say, yeah, I actually read a hard copy of this book. This means that I didn't listen to it on an audiobook or I didn't just read it on my computer or my phone. We are hard copy right there. Oh, well, I am hard copy, please. I mean, I'm sure you printed out a copy. You have a hard copy, right? This next English phrase is really useful, especially if you're starting a new job or you're going to a new university or school or you're learning a new language. The phrase is a crash course, and you probably would not be able to guess exactly what this means in English. So listen carefully. If you give someone a crash course on a subject, it means you teach them just the bare minimum about something really quickly so that they can do the job. But they're not going to be able to do it well if you just gave them a crash course. For instance, long ago, I was a barista, which means I worked at a coffee shop. And on my first few days, I had just had a crash course on how to make all of the drinks on the menu. So I was making a lot of mistakes because I was not taught thoroughly how to make everything. And so a lot of people were getting their coffee incorrect that day. If you are going to go to a new country, maybe you don't speak the language. So you just get a quick crash course on the basics. You'll learn how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you. Where's the bathroom? You're not getting actual lots of information. You're just getting a crash course, which means a brief overview or just the bare minimum. I'm going to give you a crash course, OK? Crash course and manipulation. This next English word is really important because an English learner asked me about this question the other day. A student of mine asked me, what does it mean when someone says you look bloodshot? And actually, in English, we typically say your eyes look bloodshot. Bloodshot eyes are eyes that are pretty red for either the reason that the person is very tired, which is usually why I have bloodshot eyes. Or if a person is intoxicated, they can have bloodshot eyes. Or maybe there's just a medical problem that it was the reason that they have bloodshot eyes. If you have an injury in your eye, your eye will look bloodshot or very red. And it can be quite scary if you have extremely bloodshot eyes. So now you know how to describe someone with very red eyes using the word bloodshot in English. Bloodshot eyes. No, it's not the bloodshot in your eyes. When you were a child, you probably raced your brother or your sister or your friend. And maybe they started the race before you. In English, we call this getting a head start. So when you were a child, you know, having a race, you might have said, hey, that's no fair. You got a head start. I mean, you started first. So anytime someone starts a competition early, giving them an advantage, we call that giving them a head start. In the United States, there is a big government program that provides preschool services to young children because not everyone gets to go to preschool here. It's not as common as other countries. And it's typically given to children who are lower income. We call it head start. So it's basically just trying to give these children early exposure to school and academics to give them a head start in school. So hopefully they'll be successful early on. So giving someone a head start can just mean trying to give them an advantage early on in a competition or a job or whatever it might be. It's better to get a head start. OK, pal, you got a head start. Head start. One phrase that I really, really like to use to be polite and just express my gratitude or my thankfulness for something that somebody does for me, as I say, thank you for going to the trouble. So a lot of times when I visit my sweet grandmother, she will make me a meal. She'll make me breakfast, lunch, dinner, no matter what time of day it is. Even if I said, you know, really, you don't have to cook. She'll go to the trouble of cooking. So we just mean, you know, going to the effort, using effort to do something for someone else. So I'll say to my grandma, you don't have to go to the trouble of making me food. Or I'll say, thank you for going to the trouble of making me food. So this is just a really common phrase we use in English when we're thanking someone or if we're just, you know, explaining to someone that they don't have to do something because we think it's going to inconvenience them. So it's seen as a pretty polite phrase in English. Thanks for going to the trouble. I go to the trouble. I don't want you to go to the trouble. Have you ever told someone something and they seem to just not listen and do the complete opposite? Well, the good phrase that we have in English for this exact scenario is we say it went in one ear and out the other. So this is just a funny image of, you know, telling someone something and it just goes through their head and it doesn't stay in their brain and they don't listen. So a lot of people with their husband or their wife, they'll tell them something and when they feel like they're not listening to their advice or what they ask them to do, they'll say, well, I feel like that just went in one ear and out the other. Meaning, I just feel like you are not listening to me, which we usually use this phrase when we are very frustrated with someone in English, in one ear and out the other. In one ear and out the other with you, isn't it Marge? In one ear and out the other. Have you ever gone on your phone and said, I'm just going to watch a couple of videos, maybe just for one or two minutes, and then you keep scrolling and scrolling and one thing led to another and then you've been scrolling for over an hour? Well, this English phrase, one thing led to another, it just means that even though you think you're just going to do one thing, it literally leads to you taking more time and doing things related to that one thing. Another example I can think of that's quite common with this phrase is when you say to yourself, I'm just going to quickly clean up, I'm not going to do too much here. And you start organizing and maybe you take out your old clothes and you start vacuuming, one thing leads to another, all of a sudden you're cleaning your entire house. So this phrase just means that you intend to only do one thing or a small thing and that leads to you doing a lot of different things. And we definitely use this phrase more often when we feel guilty about something, like, for instance, you could say, I'm just going to have one cookie and one thing led to another and you eat the whole box. So you feel kind of guilty and you say, well, I just was going to have one, but it led to me eating the whole box. One thing leads to another and one thing led to another. This next phrase was actually one that was new to me recently. I actually learned this English phrase, but I was asking other people in my life and they were quite familiar with this English phrase. As an English learner, it would be useful to know the phrase from soup to nut. So when you use this phrase, it just means that someone has done something thoroughly or they've covered everything completely. For instance, you could say, my wedding planner had everything covered, had everything planned from soup to nuts. This just means from the beginning to the end. Or maybe you're a project manager on a construction site and you made sure that everything about the project has gotten done and it's gotten done really well. You could say, I have overseen the construction project from soup to nuts. This means just completely. I just think this is a funny phrase and it's one that I learned recently, but I've found it to be quite useful now as well. Complete plans, security system, soup to nuts. Take their bus from soup to nuts. If you want to tell someone that you want to learn more about them, the most natural English phrase that you can use is to say, let's just get to know each other. Or if you want to let someone know that your intentions are just to become friends, maybe you're not trying to date them right away, is you can say, I just want to get to know you. Or we should just get to know each other. This phrase is really useful in conversation because it just lets a person know right away that you're interested in getting to know them or learn about them rather than trying to date them. Or you just feel like you want to tell them that you need more time to get to know them before you date them. Or before you do something serious like start a business. Like we could be business partners, but let's just get to know each other a little bit better first. You could even use this phrase when you start a job with someone, you know, oh, let's just get to know each other before we talk about business. Get to know each other better. People really seem to be getting to know each other. This phrase to go to town, it definitely doesn't mean exactly what you think it would mean. When American English speakers use this phrase to go to town, it means that you are doing something with a lot of energy and just enthusiasm. So in some families, we celebrate Christmas and the children usually sometimes take turns opening presents. So maybe the youngest child will open a present and then the next youngest will open a present. And then the oldest will open a present. Everyone kind of watches each other politely and kindly. Now, this is different in other families. Some families, they'll just let their kids go to town on their presents. They'll say, okay, everyone opened your presents and they just rip all the paper and there's no taking turns. There's no watching each other politely. They are going to town. So this phrase can be used in a ton of different ways. Let me give you a couple more examples. Maybe you are someone who really enjoys shopping or buying clothes. And if there is a sale at your favorite store, if you are just going to go spend a lot of money and buy a lot of things, you can use this expression because I'm just going to town when I go shopping today. This means that you are not limiting yourself and you're buying a lot of things. Or if you see someone who really enjoys a certain type of food, you can say, wow, they're really going to town over there. That means they're eating a lot of the food. They're not restricting themselves. You know, they're not trying to be polite eating. They're just, they're going to town. They're eating a lot. They're excited about it. So this, this is usually a positive phrase and it just means we're not limiting ourselves and we're being really enthusiastic about what we're doing when we're going to town. Go to town. Then she can go to town. You might've heard English speakers use this phrase, you name it at the end of a list. So when we're listing things and we want to say, you know, just everything in this category, we'll say this at the end. Let me give you an example. So maybe you ask someone, what kind of music do you like? And they say, I like everything. And you're like, like, what do you mean? They're like, I like rap. I like country music. I like pop music. You name it. I like it. This just means like any thing in this category you can think of and you name or say, I like it. And we can use this phrase just in a lot of different ways when we want to say just everything in this category. Maybe you ask someone, oh, I didn't know you knew how to cook. And they'll say, oh yeah, I cook a lot. I cook pizza. I cook spaghetti. You name it. I know how to make it. This just means whatever you can think of, I can do it. And this phrase, you name it, is definitely used in a more casual way when we're listing things. You know, it can almost be just kind of joking sometimes like, yeah, you name it. Of course, you know, you're saying just everything, even though, of course, if you say you're really good at cooking and say, you name it, you're probably not going to be able to cook everything in the world. But it's just a way of saying, you know, it's an exhaustive long list of things. You name it. Really? Speaking of food, this next idiom, to my liking, is also one that's very related to food. If you say, you know, this is too sweet for my liking, when we use this phrase for my liking, it just means to my personal taste. You can also hear English speakers say for my liking a lot as well. There is really no technical correct preposition that's supposed to be used here. You know, this is too sweet to my liking or this is too sweet for my liking. It just means for my personal taste. When you are watching American English movies, you will definitely hear this phrase at some point. The coast is clear. This phrase, the coast is clear, even though the coast in English means the place where the water meets the land, you can use this phrase anywhere just to mean that there is no danger or obstacles present. And it doesn't have to be literal danger. It can just be, you know, you're kind of sneaking around. For instance, maybe you want to leave your work early, but you think your boss is going to see. You might say to your coworker, do you think the boss is around? Do you think he's looking right now? They might say, no, I think the coast is clear. Go ahead and sneak out of work. So this just means, yo, everything's clear. There's no obstacles or danger. Go ahead. Coast is clear. Oh, is the coast clear? What are you wearing? If you use the phrase in English, we're in the same boat, it doesn't have to do anything with actually being in a location, but it just means you have the same problem. For instance, one time at work, I wasn't getting the emails from my boss at work and neither was my coworker. And I said, why am I not getting their emails? And my coworker said, I don't know, I'm in the same boat as you. This just means we have the exact same problem. So oftentimes we use this phrase, we're in the same boat, to mean we have the same challenge or the same difficult situation. And it can be really comforting to someone when you say, yeah, I'm in the same boat, when you want to just relate to them and say you have the same problem or issue. I'm in the same boat. But we're all in the same boat. Teamwork. If you want to say that you no longer have any problems or, you know, you had a challenging situation and now the situation is over, we use the phrase in English, we are out of the woods. If there is a storm in your area, in the United States, there's a lot of tornadoes. And, you know, after the tornado or the storm passes, you want to say you're safe. You could say, I think we're out of the woods now. This just means the storm is over. I think we're safe. We can come out of our houses. We're out of the woods. Boys, just out of the woods. Have you ever heard the English phrase that something is a blessing in disguise? This concept of a blessing in disguise is really common amongst many cultures and languages. But let me give you an example just so you know how to use the phrase in English. If you maybe were not able to go to a friend's party because, you know, you're busy or something like that and you were kind of sad at first, you thought it was a bad thing, but then you'll say, well, actually I ended up being sick that night and it was kind of a blessing in disguise that I didn't go to the party because I probably would have gotten you all sick. So even though it's a negative situation, you know, it is good that you didn't spread your illness or your sickness to other people. And the fact that you didn't go to the party was sad at first, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because you didn't get other people sick. So we use this phrase just to turn something that we thought was negative into a positive, or we're saying it actually turned out to be a positive or a blessing, a good thing in disguise. Hey, blessing in disguise. Have you ever bought something that broke the bank? This English phrase to break the bank, it just means that something is really expensive. And oftentimes it's unexpectedly expensive. For instance, recently I paid someone to professionally clean my carpets and it really kind of broke the bank. I was surprised at how expensive it was for these services to get your carpets cleaned properly. I'm glad I did it, but it did kind of break the bank a little bit. This phrase, the whole nine yards. It's a really interesting English phrase because first of all, the United States is one of the only places in the world that uses yard as a measurement, which is equal to three feet, which of course no one else uses feet. Sorry about that. But this phrase, the whole nine yards, it means you use every resource up completely. I tried to look up where this phrase, the whole nine yards, comes from because it's quite common in everyday English language. And there's three theories of where this phrase actually comes from, but nobody knows for sure. Some people thought it had to do with the amount of ammunition that soldiers in World War II would carry, nine yards. Some people think it's because cement mixers used to hold nine cubic yards of cement. And some people thought it was because when a tailor makes a suit, they need nine yards of fabric. So nobody actually knows, but when we use this phrase, the whole nine yards, it just means we need everything or we do everything. So for instance, you could say, yeah, she had a wedding and she had a photographer, a videographer, a DJ, food, whatever, the whole nine yards. This just means they did everything possible for their wedding. Or maybe you want to say that your company provides a lot of good benefits. So you could say, yeah, my company provides health insurance, paid time off, maternity leave, the whole nine yards. This just means everything, they give us everything. So this is generally a positive phrase to use, the whole nine yards. Ski mask, flashlight, the whole nine yards. When you want to say that something is really, really new and very advanced technology, you can say it is the cutting edge. When I was quite young, we thought that iPods were the cutting edge of technology, because now, you know, we could just carry around a small device to play, you know, all of our music that we own. Now, that is not the cutting edge of technology anymore, because the cutting end of technology is to carry around your smartphone, which connects to the internet, and you can stream any song that's ever been made before. And that is the cutting edge of technology. So when we say that something is the cutting edge, and often we say the cutting edge of technology, we just mean it's the newest thing, and it's the most innovative and advanced thing. Some people say that AI is the cutting edge of language learning, or AI is the cutting edge of just fill in the blank there, anything. That's a really common way that this phrase is used today. Cutting edge technology. Pretty cutting edge, huh? When you want to say that something is new, refreshing, and a positive change, in English, you can use the phrase a breath of fresh air. This is a really positive thing to say about someone when, you know, they come into a role that they weren't in before. So for instance, maybe you see someone at your job, and they just got hired, and the last person that worked in that role was maybe negative, or you didn't like them, you could say to the person, you are such a breath of fresh air. This just means like you're a very positive change. Maybe in your house, you got new furniture, and maybe some new artwork, and you could say it's just kind of a breath of fresh air for our house. This just means it's a positive change that makes you feel good in contrast to the old furniture and artwork. Pat, you are such a breath of fresh air. He's a breath of fresh air. Have you ever heard an English speaker say they want a piece of the action? This phrase is really popular in business deals, and it's often used a lot in movies and television shows, just to mean that you want to be involved in the investment or the business deal in some way. So maybe you have two friends, and they are starting a restaurant, and you think that you could be involved in the restaurant as well. You might say, hey, can I get a piece of the action here? This also means that you think their restaurant is going to be a profitable venture, and you want to join them. So you hear this a lot in television shows and movies, and once in a while in everyday life, English speakers will use this phrase as well. And some of us wanted a piece of the action. Want a piece of the action? If two of your friends are having an argument, a good way to say, like, you guys should stop your argument and get along, say you're sorry. Maybe just stop worrying about what you disagree about. You can say, why don't you guys just bury the hatchet? In English, this means just end the argument and try to get along. You'll hear people say this phrase when they just want to get along with someone that they had a lot of problems with in the past. You could say, we finally buried the hatchet. We got along, and we don't argue about this thing anymore. So this phrase means the exact same thing as let's make peace. To burying the hatchet. We must talk to Kang. Bury the hatchet. When English speakers see something that costs a lot of money, we might use this phrase, that costs a pretty penny. So if you see someone wearing a nice watch, or a nice handbag, or some nice shoes that you think are quite expensive, you could say, if you're comfortable saying this to the person, well, that must have cost a pretty penny. That means it must have been very expensive and cost a lot of money for the person. So be careful how you use this phrase. But now you know the meaning of what it means to say that something costs a pretty penny. Because it cost a pretty penny. Oh, what do you know? That's going to cost me a pretty penny. A really interesting thing about this next English phrase is that I hear it said two different ways. And I went to Youglish to confirm that the way that I say it is a little less common than the other way. So the way that I say this phrase is I say, something is cut and dry. Now, I notice that some American speakers say cut and dry. But, you know, a lot more say cut and dried. And a lot of British English speakers will say cut and dried. There's no difference in what we're trying to say here. But for some reason, that word dry and dried just gets changed sometimes. I think according to the dictionary, it's supposed to be dried. But you might hear it say dry. What this phrase means is something is straightforward and predictable. I think of the sport of MMA, mixed martial arts. So like the UFC, Conor McGregor, it's not a cut and dry sport. Sometimes if there is not a knockout or an ending to the fight, it goes all the rounds. The judges don't always have a cut and dry decision of who was the winner, who was better. So that is an example of something that is not so straightforward or cut and dry. But in some sports, things are very cut and dry. For instance, soccer, at the end of the game, whoever has scored more goals is the winner. The rules are very cut and dry. If you touch the ball with your hand, it's a handball and the other team gets a kick. So if you say that something is cut and dry, like the rules to a sport or just anything in general just has rules that cannot be changed, you are saying that the rules are not subjective. They can't be changed at all. Cut and dry. Pretty cut and dry. The other day, my friend said to me, hey, do you have plans for tomorrow? And I said, well, I was planning on going to this big event, but I have nothing set in stone. This phrase, set in stone, just means official. So I think of this phrase as being like you're building a statue of something official. If you say that something is not official, you'll say it's not a statue yet. It's not set in stone. So this phrase is just a really casual and extremely common way that American English speakers say that something is not official yet. It can be changed. Now, you can use this phrase in the opposite way as well. If you want to say that something cannot change, you could say, well, yeah, my plans are kind of set in stone for tomorrow. That means they are official. I typically hear this phrase used more often to say something is not official, not set in stone, but it can be used in the other way as well. Because nothing's set in stone. Nothing's set in stone. If you have a big plan to go to a wedding or an event or a date, whatever it is, you have your day all planned out. But on the way, your car breaks down and you're not able to get there anymore. You could say that your plan went up in smoke. This phrase is used really often when we want to say that a plan or some kind of work we're doing is completely ruined and we just can't do it anymore. Plan went up in smoke. This means that what we plan to do can't happen anymore because something went so wrong that it ruined the plan. All your dreams can go up in smoke. I'm watching the world go up in smoke. Have you ever met someone and they will argue with you and they'll start to say statistics that feel like they were just made up out of thin air? This phrase, to make something up out of thin air, it's used to emphasize that someone is just making something up with no factual basis. Like they're just coming up with it out of their head. It's kind of like saying they're lying, but they're trying to make something up usually to win an argument or a debate. They're making something up out of thin air with no evidence. For the record, I pulled it out of thin air. Pulls these so-called visions out of thin air. Now you know 35 more English phrases than before you've started this video. Make sure to click the link below if you've watched this full video so that I can send you these English phrases in a PDF form so you can keep studying the definitions and you can start using them in your own daily conversations. If you like phrases like these, I know that you'll like the next two videos on screen as well. I'll see you guys in the next English lesson with me. Goodbye!