– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Are you ready to learn real English from

a real English conversation? I hope so,

because today you are going to learn 10

naturally used English phrases from the

conversation that I had with my neighbor

Michelle a few weeks ago here on my

YouTube channel. Not only will you learn

how they were used in that conversation,

but also how you can use them, including

one expression that if you use it in the

wrong way, could be kind of rude. So,

you have to be careful. But don't worry,

I will teach you how to use it well. Hi,

I'm Vanessa from

speakenglishwithvanessa.com.

And like always, I have created a free

PDF worksheet that includes all of

today's vocabulary, definitions, sample

sentences, and all of those nuanced

meanings that we'll talk about today so

that you can use these expressions in

your daily life without being too rude,

right? Plus, as a bonus, I have included

in the worksheet a little quiz. test

yourself and see if you can really

remember the expressions that you're

going to learn in today's lesson. So,

how can you get this worksheet? All you

need to do is click on the link in the

description, enter your name and email

address, and voila, just like that, the

worksheet plus the bonus quiz will land

in your email inbox. And do you want to

know something even better? You never

have to sign up for my free PDF

worksheets again. I will send them to

you automatically every single week. You

sign up once and you never need to sign

up again. How great. This is my gift to

you. So, make sure you click on the link

in the description to get today's PDF

and bonus quiz. All right, let's get

started with our real natural English

expressions. The first expression is

outside the box. I'm going to be telling

you what the expression is and then

you're going to see the clip where it

was used in the original conversation

with my neighbor Michelle. This will

give you some context and then we'll

talk about the expression and then

you'll watch that clip again. I have a

feeling that you're going to understand

that clip a lot better. So, your

listening skills will grow, your

vocabulary skills will grow, and I hope

you'll have a great time. All right,

let's take a look at the clip where we

used outside the box. Let's watch.

And I feel like your garden style is

like so much more outside the box

than mine. I've got like raised beds in

these orders, these little seed stars,

and you got like snails and bags.

That's because I spend too much time on

Instagram.

In this clip, I said, "I feel like your

garden style is more outside the box

than mine." And it's true. Michelle's

style of gardening is a little more

creative or unusual than mine. Mine is

pretty standard. I have little boxes

where I grow each of my plants and I

plant them in my garden beds. Now, this

expression was quite clever, if I do say

so myself, because I was talking about

garden boxes. And here the expression is

outside the box. Great. Well, let me

give you another example of how you can

use this. If you're having a marketing

meeting and you're trying to figure out

how to get more customers, one of your

co-workers might say, "Well, we can

spend more on our advertising." You

might say, "Well, I think we need to

think outside the box more. We've tried

spending more money on advertising and

it didn't lead to more customers." So,

what are you suggesting here? You're

suggesting different, creative, or

unusual ways to get more customers.

Let's not think of the usual ways. Let's

think outside the box and come up with

some new ways. All right, let's watch

the original clip again when we used

outside the box. I want you to listen

for that expression and understand more

than the first time. Let's go. And I

feel like your garden style is like so

much more outside the box

than mine. And I've got like raised beds

in these orders, these little seed

stars, and you got like snails and bags.

That's because I spend too much time on

Instagram.

The second real life English phrase is,

"I'm cheap.

Are we buying someone? Is this product

cheap?" Not exactly. Let's take a look

at the original clip and then I'll

explain it. Let's go. I You've been

growing like a lot of these starts at

home. Why don't you just go to the store

and buy

little tomato plants?

Because I am cheap.

So, this is cheaper.

This is This is a lot cheaper.

In this clip, Michelle was explaining

that she likes to grow things from seeds

at home by herself because she said,

"I'm cheap." It doesn't mean that we're

purchasing, Michelle. A product can be

cheap, but also a person can be cheap,

too. And this simply means that you

don't like to spend money. Michelle

doesn't want to spend money on buying

expensive plants. She knows that she can

try it herself and save money. I would

say that it's best to not call someone

else cheap. If you say you're cheap,

it kind of implies that they're stingy.

They're kind of rude and don't want to

spend money on necessary things. But

really, you can call yourself cheap and

it's totally fine. I think that goes for

a lot of kind of rude things. You can

call yourself that, but you shouldn't

call someone else cheap. If you want a

little bonus expression for how we can

talk about someone not wanting to spend

money but in a nice way, you can use the

word frugal. If you say he's frugal,

that means the same thing. He doesn't

like to spend money, but the nuance is

that it's positive. He's careful with

his money. It's not just that he's

cheap. He doesn't want to spend any

money. He wants to keep it for himself.

No, instead he's frugal. He's careful

with his money. All of these little

nuances of the expressions will be

included in the PDF worksheet. So, make

sure that you download it so that you

can remember all of them. All right,

let's watch that clip one more time and

hear how Michelle said the word cheap. I

You've been growing like a lot of these

starts at home. Why don't you just go to

the store and buy

little tomato plants?

Because I am cheap.

So this is cheaper. This is this is a

lot cheaper.

The next expression is kind of an

advanced one. It is the least I could

do. Hm. I want you to watch the original

clip and then we're going to break down

the nuance of this so that you can use

it accurately. Let's watch. I released

them elsewhere. One of them accidentally

died. Um and you buried that. Thank you.

I felt like I had this. The least I

could do is bury the groundhog.

But like what's it going to be this

year? In this clip, Michelle said, "I

felt like the least I could do was bury

the groundhog."

So, we trapped many groundhogs. I think

it was seven groundhogs that were eating

our vegetables last summer. I trapped

them. I relocated almost all of them,

but one of them died. It was pretty sad.

So, what would we do with that? What

should we do with that dead groundhog?

Well, Michelle felt like she owed me.

She felt like she had a debt to me. I

was taking care of the other six

groundhogs. I was doing that work and I

was happy to do it, but she felt a

little bit guilty. So, that's the nuance

here. She used this expression, it was

the least I could do to bury the

groundhog because she felt like she

should do more. She felt like I need to

do more than just bury the groundhog.

So, I'm going to do this to kind of make

myself feel less guilty. So, let me give

you another scenario for when you can

use this because you're probably not

burying groundhogs, I imagine. But, let

me give you a common scenario. So, a

couple weeks ago, one of my friends had

a new baby. And I know when you have a

new baby, you have no time to do

anything else except for care for that

baby. So, I made her a lot of food. I

made her a couple dinners. I made her

family some muffins, some desserts. I

brought over food several times. This

was my pleasure. I was so happy to do

this for her. And even though it was my

pleasure, she still felt a little bit

guilty. She wanted to do something for

me, even though she did not need to. I

told her this is just me giving back

because so many people gave to me when I

had my babies. But even though that was

the case, she still felt like she wanted

to do something for me. So when she gave

back the containers of the food after

she ate it and she washed it and gave it

back to me, she put in there some

packets of tea that I love. This was a

little gift for me. And when I opened

it, I said, "Oh, you didn't need to do

this for me." And she used this

expression. She said it was the least I

could do. She felt a little bit guilty

that I gave her so much and she was only

giving me a little bit in return, just

some tea. But it was my pleasure. I was

very happy to do it. I didn't expect

anything in return, but she felt a

little guilty. So, that's a great way to

use this phrase, and it's a good way to

show I appreciate all your hard work. It

was the least I could do. I am happy to

give you this. Let's watch that clip one

more time and I want you to hear that

expression. It was the least I could do.

Let's go. I released them elsewhere. One

of them accidentally died. Um, and you

buried that. Thank you.

I felt like I had this. The least I

could do is bury the groundhog.

But like, what's it going to be this

year? The next expression is a fun

question and it has a nuance with the

way that you say it. What else do you

need? What else do you need? Notice this

excitement, this heightened

anticipation. What else do you need?

I'm not asking this sincerely. What else

do you need? No. Instead, this is a

rhetorical question. I am not expecting

an answer. I want you to listen to the

way that it was used in the conversation

with Michelle and then I'll help you use

it yourself as well. Let's watch. Also,

we have lots of extra eggs right now.

Extra. See, think about it. We got eggs.

We have tomatoes. We can make omelets.

It's fine. What else do you need?

It's true. Yeah.

Yeah.

In the conversation, we were talking

about all of the different types of food

that we grow or have at our houses

already. We have eggs. We have tomatoes.

We could make an omelette. That's fine.

What else do you need? So, here this

phrase is implying we don't need

anything else. If you sincerely ask,

"What else do you need?" It's a

question. You want an answer. You want

to know what else that person needs. But

when you say it like this, what else do

you need? What else do you need? Notice

that inflection. It implies you don't

need anything else. You're not expecting

an answer. This is called a rhetorical

question. You're not expecting an

answer. You're just making this

statement as part of the conversation.

So you might say that about learning

English as well. You might say, "I'm

learning English with Vanessa. What else

do I need?"

Which implies, "You don't need anything

else. All you need are my lessons." All

right, let's watch the clip from the

original conversation one more time. I

want you to listen for the inflection in

our voice. Let's go.

Also, we have lots of extra eggs right

now.

Extra. See, think about it. We got eggs.

We have tomatoes. We can make omelets.

It's fine. What else do you need?

It's true. Yeah.

Yeah. The next phrase is rain or shine.

I want you to watch the original clip

and hear about what it's like to have a

cow.

Let's watch and then we'll talk about

rain or shine.

Like it's just every day you milk them,

right?

Twice a day. Rain or shine. They're out

there for 30 minutes.

Otherwise, they're in pain.

The cow's in pain. You have to milk your

cow.

And they even have like a little

machine. In this clip, I was talking

about someone I know who has a milk cow,

and they said they have to milk their

cow, rain or shine, every day for 30

minutes. Well, yes, they have to do it

if it is raining or if the sun is

shining. But this has more nuance to it.

This expression is more figurative. It

means if there are bad things happening

or good things happening in their life,

it doesn't matter. Maybe the farmer has

the flu and they can't get out of bed.

They have a fever. It doesn't matter.

They have to still milk that cow. Maybe

it's a beautiful day and they're so

excited to be outside, they have to milk

the cow. So, it implies it doesn't

matter the circumstance, you still have

to do it. Rain or shine. So, let me give

you another example that doesn't involve

going outside or the weather to show you

you can use this expression to not talk

about outside at all. Well, let's say

that you are a mother like me. You are

in charge of feeding your family. That's

me.

Well, your kids and your family are

hungry probably three times a day. So,

what does that mean? You have to cook

dinner. Rain or shine every day. Okay,

who cares about the weather? You're

inside. That's probably where you make

dinner. Well, if you're feeling not too

well, you have to cook dinner. If you're

tired, you have to cook dinner. If

you're busy, you have to cook dinner.

Hopefully, you have some help in your

life. So, you actually do get a break.

For me, my husband and I often split

cooking duties. He cooks a couple times

a week. I cook a couple times a week.

though he can help if I'm actually

really sick. But in general, my family

has to eat dinner every night, rain or

shine. So, I need to cook rain or shine.

All right, let's watch how this was used

again in the original conversation, and

I want you to feel empowered to use this

yourself. Let's watch. Like, it's just

every day you milk them, right?

Twice a day, rain or shine, they're out

there for 30 minutes.

Otherwise, they're in pain.

The cow's in pain. You have to milk your

cow. Yeah. And they even have like a

little machine. The next real life daily

expression that we used in the

conversation was I looked into it or

just the phrasal verb to look into

something. To look into something. Let's

watch the original conversation clip and

then we'll break it down together. Let's

go. Someone else would have a cow.

Goats would be the same way. You know,

they'd be the same. And plus, you have

to have like a setup to send the goat in

that holds them still while you're I

looked into it. I'm not doing it. Yeah.

In the conversation, Michelle was

talking about having a goat.

She said you have to have a setup for

where you milk the goat. I looked into

it and I'm not going to do it.

So, she has researched getting a goat.

What does it mean to have a goat? How

much work is it? Is it easy? Is it worth

it? She researched it or she looked into

it and she decided, uh-uh, this is not

for me. So, this phrasal verb to look

into something means that you research

it. Simply that. You could use this to

mean I'm looking into the box. But

that's a figurative way. We use that

less often. Instead, we can use it in a

more figurative way to talk about

researching something. Let me give you

another example for how to use to look

into it. Well, if you have ever watched

the news, you know that the media tries

to portray everything as big news,

infuriating news, get angry about this,

get worked up about this, this is so

important. But often the news and what

goes on in the world is way more complex

than the news really wants to show. So,

if you are talking about the news with

your friend, you might use this phrase

and say, "You know what? I looked into

it and this topic is way more

complicated than the media is trying to

tell us. The media is making it seem

like this is the good guy, this is the

bad guy." But really, I looked into it.

It is so complicated. And isn't that the

truth? Most topics, especially when it

comes to politics, are really

complicated. And if you look into it,

you see there's a lot more nuance than

the media would like to portray. All

right, let's watch this clip one more

time so that you can see how to look

into it was used. Let's watch. Someone

else would have a cow.

Goats would be the same way. You know,

they'd be the same. And plus, you have

to have like a setup to send the goat in

that holds them still while you're I

looked into it. I'm not doing it. Yeah.

The next real English phrase is a long

one. You just never know. This is used

often altogether as a fixed phrase. You

just never know. So, let's listen to how

it was used in the conversation and then

we'll talk about it together.

I would rather if it's available, buy

meat

and not have to be that person. I'd

rather grow tomatoes and

but you want to be able to if you have

to. You know, you just never know. And

prices are going up. I mean, I don't

know about other parts of the world, but

eggs are seven bucks a

for a dozen. Now,

in the conversation, we said you need to

be able to take care of yourself because

you just never know. Notice this

pronunciation. The word just is reduced

so much is said so quickly that it's

hardly there. Listen when I say it. You

just never know. You just just

My lips don't even move. You just never

know. You just never know. You just

never know. But it's still important

that it's there in the sentence. You

just never know. You just You just never

know. Here we're talking about scenarios

that we can't plan for something

unexpected. So I often say that about

recording these English lessons for you.

I have a lot of moving parts in my life.

I have three kids. Two of them are in

school. One of them is taking a nap

right now. Who knows? Maybe one of those

kids is going to get sick. Or maybe my

child won't take a nap. How am I going

to record this lesson? Well, I need to

record them a little bit in advance

because you just never know. You never

know what's going to happen. So, when I

tell my friends, "Hey, sorry, I can't

get together today. I need to record

some lessons for my students." They

might say, "Hey, didn't you just record

lessons last week?" And I would use this

phrase. Well, you just never know. My

kids could be homesick from school

tomorrow and then I can't record

anything. So, I need to do it in advance

when I am available and can because you

don't know what's going to happen in the

future. You just never know. All right,

let's watch this clip from the original

conversation so that you can use it

yourself. I would rather, if it's

available, buy meat and not have to be

that person. I'd rather grow tomatoes

and

but you want to be able to if you have

to. You know, you just never know. And

prices are going up. I mean, I don't

know about other parts of the world, but

eggs are seven bucks a

for a dozen. Now,

the next real life expression is feels

like. This is often used with

temperature. So, I want you to listen to

this clip from our real conversation and

hear how feels like is used with

temperature and then we'll talk about

it. Let's go.

During the day, you can't come out here.

I know. The other day I went downtown

with the kids and it said 92 feels like

106.

Yes. Like, what are we doing out here?

In this clip, we were talking about the

hot hot hot summer weather and I said I

went downtown with my kids and the

temperature said 92. feels like 106. So

here often, especially where I live,

it's really humid. So that means that

whatever is the real temperature, it

feels way hotter because of the

humidity. If you live somewhere dry, you

probably don't experience this on a

daily basis, but if you travel to

somewhere that's humid,

the heat is just a totally different

thing. So, this phrase feels like is

often used to talk about what the

temperature actually feels like. We can

also use this in the winter. So, if

there's a lot of wind and it feels a lot

colder than the actual temperature, it

might say, "Well, the weather today, the

temperature is 31° F." Okay. So, 2° the

temperature is 2° feels like -10. Ugh.

So that means the wind is blowing so

much that it's going to feel that much

colder than the real temperature. So you

can say, well, it's 92, but feels like

106, whatever that is in Celsius. I'll

put it here.

But it's talking about the difference

between the real temperature and what it

feels like. All right, let's watch that

original clip so that you can see how

this expression was used. And you can

use it, too, to talk about temperature.

Let's go. During the day, you can't come

out here.

I know. The other day I went downtown

with the kids and it said 92 feels like

106.

Yes. Like, what are we doing out here?

The next expression is dense. You have

to be careful with this one. I will

teach you how to use it carefully, but

we're going to watch how it was used in

the conversation and then we'll break it

down. Let's go.

Let's see. The one that I just showed

you

is uh vintage wine.

Dense this is.

And then there's another one called San

Marzano. I know. I tried to prop them up

in the conversation. We were going on a

tour through the garden and said, "Look

how dense this part of the garden is."

When we're talking about a thing, it is

absolutely okay to use the word dense.

It means it's packed together. So, you

might say, "The dense rows of corn were

difficult to walk through." Okay, it's

all packed together. But, warning,

warning, warning. Do not say that

someone is dense. If you use this or you

hear someone use this to talk about a

person, it means they're not smart, they

are dumb. It's not a nice thing, right?

So, if you hear someone say maybe in a

movie or a TV show, "Man, he's so

dense."

It's not nice. I could imagine this used

in a scenario where maybe the girl is

flirting with someone and the guy just

has no clue. She says, "Oh, yeah, we're

friends and we're going over here and

we're doing this and the girl is

flirting so much she's trying to make

him see, I like you. I want to be with

you." But he has no clue. Well, she

might say, "Man, he's so dense. He

doesn't see that I'm trying to flirt

with him.

So, it's not a positive thing when we

use dense to talk about a person, but to

talk about something, it's no problem.

All right, let's see how this was used

in the original conversation. I want you

to listen for that word dense. Let's go.

Let's see. The one that I just showed

you

is uh vintage wine.

Dense this is.

And then there's another one called San

Marzano. I know. Oh, I I tried to prop

them up.

Our final real life English phrase is as

you can see. There's a little nuance to

this phrase. So, let's watch how it was

used in the conversation and then I'll

break it down for you so you can use it,

too. Let's go. So, yeah. As you can see,

like a lot of my pathways are taken over

because I don't have good uh planning

skills for how big plants get.

Me neither. Me neither. In this clip, I

said, "As you can see, a lot of my

pathways in the garden are taken over by

plants."

A lot of the plants by that point in the

summer had grown so big that we couldn't

walk on the pathways that were planned

for us to walk on. But it's kind of

obvious, right? If you look at it, you

can see there's no pathway.

But it's kind of a little bit rude to

just say all of the pathways are

covered. Instead, I want to acknowledge

that it's something obvious. As you can

see, all the pathways are covered by

plants. I didn't plan it very well and

they just grew so big, which I guess is

a good problem to have, right? But you

can use as you can see when you're

pointing out something obvious, but you

want to be polite about it. So, let's

imagine this scenario. You're having a

business meeting and you're showing a

graph. You're showing all of the

purchases made for the last quarter and

it goes like this.

It goes up. Great. That's a good thing,

right? But if you're talking about this,

you might say, "Oh, our purchases have

gone up or our revenue has gone up."

It's fine. But if you add this

expression, it shows, hey, I know that

you're not dense. You can see that the

revenue has gone up. So, you can add

that phrase. As you can see, the revenue

has gone up because we have been selling

more products. This is just a nice

expression to add when something's

obvious and you want to show the other

person, I trust you can see this, but

I'm going to say it anyway. All right,

let's watch how that was used in the

clip one more time so that you can use

it yourself. Let's go. So, yeah, as you

can see, like a lot of my pathways are

taken over cuz I don't have good uh

planning skills for how big plants get.

Me neither. Me neither.

Well, great work practicing all of those

real life English expressions. Now, my

challenge for you is to download the

free PDF worksheet for all of these

phrases. I have included all of the

nuance, the extra expressions, the

sample sentences, everything so that you

can use these correctly yourself as

well. And when you're watching a movie

or TV show, you'll be able to remember,

oh yeah, that's what they're really

trying to say, even though that's what

their words are saying. Maybe the nuance

is a little different. So, you can click

on the link in the description, enter

your name and email address, and voila,

just like that, the free PDF worksheet

plus the bonus quiz will land in your

email inbox. This is my gift to you. I

will continue to send you my free PDF

worksheets every single week. You never

need to sign up again. 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? If you

haven't had a chance to watch it yet, I

recommend watching the original

Conversation with Michelle. Immerse

yourself in real English conversations

and be able to use real English

yourself. I'll see you there.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
outside /ˌaʊtˈsaɪd/ B1	adjective - beyond the usual or conventional limits
box /bɒks/ A1	noun - a container with four straight sides and a square or rectangular shape
creative /kriˈeɪtɪv/ B1	adjective - relating to or involving the use of the imagination or original ideas
unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒuəl/ B1	adjective - not habitual or commonly occurring
cheap /tʃiːp/ A1	adjective - low in price; inexpensive adjective - reluctant to spend money
frugal /ˈfrjuːɡəl/ B2	adjective - economical with money or food; thrifty
least /liːst/ A2	adjective - smallest in amount, extent, or significance
rhetorical /rɪˈtɒrɪkəl/ C1	adjective - relating to or concerned with the use of rhetoric
shine /ʃaɪn/ A1	verb - to emit light
research /rɪˈsɜːrtʃ/ B1	verb - to study a subject in detail
nuance /ˈnjuːɑːns/ C1	noun - a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound
dense /dɛns/ B2	adjective - closely compacted in substance adjective - stupid; slow to understand
obvious /ˈɒbviəs/ A2	adjective - easily perceived or understood; clear