As language learners, we all understand the importance and the stress of speaking. I had studied Spanish for 3 years at university level before I moved to Chile. I knew I had lots of words and lots of Spanish already, but I knew that I didn’t sound ‘normal’. What is interesting is that I tried to sound more normal by learning more and more words. However, it wasn’t until I had been in Chile for a while that I realised what I needed was a way to react normally to someone talking to me. That’s when I started learning expressions like:

• A ver…..
• Lo que pasa es que…
• Que pena!
• Que dijo?
• Vale
• Vamanos
• Que mas?

If you understand Spanish, then you will understand how basic these expressions are. For those of you who don’t understand Spanish,  they are ‘Let’s see; What happens is; What a pity!;What did she say?; Ok; Let’s go; What else’.  If I have translated them incorrectly, please let me know. This is how I translate these expressions in my head.  They are not advanced level Spanish. However, when I learnt these expressions in Spanish, I felt like my level increased dramatically. Of course, it hadn’t, but something inside me felt more ‘native-like’ and my confidence increased because I knew I was ready with a standard normal reaction to whatever a Spanish speaker said to me. So, I’d like to give you the same feeling in English. These are not difficult expressions in English, but they are USEFUL EXPRESSSIONS, and you will hear native speakers using them all the time.

1. What did he say? What did she say?
2. Really?
3. Would you like to + base verb?
4. Oh, you poor thing! Oh, the poor thing!
5. That’s a great question.
6. You know what I think? I think that….
7. Is there anything else? What else do I need?
8. I’m not sure about that.
9. If I were you, I would + base verb
10. What do you think about……? What do you reckon about…..?

If you’d like to see these expression used  in context, I’ve made a free handout with example situations where I would say them. Click here to get a copy of it.

Have a great day!