Common Idioms In English (Phrases You NEED To Know!)

Wow that party got really out of hand last night. Huh? Out of hand? Which hand? Let’s find out. 

 

What’s up guys? My name is shane and today we are talking about idioms.

 

Idioms are very important in English because they are used by native speakers very often. And whenever I listen to native speakers, I’m really surprised as to how often native speakers use idioms.

 

But don’t worry because today we talk about 5 idioms that native speakers use very often. But before we get started, we need to talk about what an idiom is.

 

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a different meaning from the words by themselves.  For example, I recently put out a piece of content on Instagram regarding an idiom. 

 

Person 1 says maths is a piece of cake.

 

Person 2 says maths is a subject.

 

Person 2 is right. Maths is a subject.

 

But person 1 is also correct because piece of cake can mean very easy.

 

So when person 1 says maths is a piece of cake, he means maths is very easy.

 

So an idiom is a phrase where the words together have a different meaning from the words by themselves. So if you ever see a phrase that doesn’t really make sense, it might be an idiom.  So write it down and comment down below and contact me on Instagram and I will explain it for you. 

 

But don’t worry if this sounds confusing to you because today we talk about 5 common idioms, what they mean and when and how to use them. And make sure you watch until the very end of the video because there will be a quiz to test your understanding. Okay, let’s get started. 

 

Idiom #1

Let’s pretend you loan someone some money and they said you would pay you back in 1 week but they don’t pay you back in a week.  They actually pay you back in 1 year.

 

We can say better than never. What do you think this means?  This means it’s better that they paid you back late than they didn’t pay you back at all. 

 

Because two things could have happened. Number 1 – they didn’t pay you back or number 2 – they paid you back late.  So which one is better? Number 2. They paid you back late.

 

Am I happy they paid me back late? No? But am I happy that they paid me back? Yes.

 

So you can use this idiom when something happened later than you expected but you’re happy it happened rather than it didn’t happen at all. 

 

Idiom #2

Let’s pretend you are trying to buy a nice watch. But whenever you go shopping for watches, all you can find is cheap watches that aren’t very good quality. Wherever you go – a jewelry story, a watch store or a shopping center, you just see cheap watches.

 

What can we say in this situation? 

 

We can say: cheap watches are a dime a dozen. A dime a dozen.

 

A dime is 10 cents.

 

And a dozen is a set of 12. So if you buy a set of 12 things, for 10 cents, is that expensive or cheap? It’s very cheap.

 

So when we use this idiom, a dime a dozen, it means the thing that you are talking about is very common. It’s very cheap. It doesn’t have much value.

 

Another example could be: these books are a dime a dozen or .. these chairs look really nice but they are a dime a dozen. So you can use this idiom, a dime a dozen about something that’s cheap or very common or very easy to get. Or something that doesn’t have much value. 

 

Idiom #3

Let’s pretend last week, my boss gave me a task to do. And I should have finished it yesterday. The deadline was yesterday but I still haven’t finished. 

 

And then today I go up to my boss and I say hey boss how are you? Do you remember that task you gave me last week? Well I started it and it was going really really well.  I started the report. It was going really really well.  I wrote half of it. And I just keep talking like this.  Talking talking talking. But I don’t say that I haven’t finished it yet.

 

We can say I am beating around the bush.  Beating around the bush. 

 

This means you are not saying what is important.  You are not saying what needs to be said.  This is the meaning of beat around the bush. 

 

Beat can mean to hit and bush is a small plant. 

 

So if he keeps beating around the bush, is he saying what’s important?  Yes or no?  No he isn’t. 

 

So this is a very good idiom to use when someone keeps talking talking talking. But they don’t say what’s important. They don’t say what needs to be said. They are trying not to say what’s important. 

 

Idiom #4

Let’s pretend last night I had a party. And I invited 20 of my friends and all those people came and the party was going great. Everybody was having fun.

 

Everybody was having a good time but then more people started to come who I didn’t know. 20 more people. 30 more people. 40 more people. And they started making trouble. They started fighting. They started smashing things. Smashing windows.

 

Everyone was drunk. Everything was chaos. Nobody knew what was happening. It was going crazy so in the end I had to call the police. 

 

In this situation we can say the party got out of hand.  The party got out of hand. 

 

Could I control the party? No.  Could I manage the party? No. So this idiom here we use to talk about something that you couldn’t control. You couldn’t manage it.

 

It’s often used with parties because parties sometimes get out of control.  It can also be used with arguments.

 

So if 2 people are fighting or having a problem, you can say the argument, the fight, the problem it got out of hand. This means that they couldn’t manage, they couldn’t control it.

 

We can also use it with prices so if I say the petrol price has gotten out of hand, do you think the price is too high or too low? It’s too high.

 

We’ve said it’s gotten out of hand so this means we can’t control it so it’s probably going up up up up to a really high price. 

 

And note here how we say has gotten. Has gotten. Idioms are just like other sentences, you’ve always got to think about what tense you’re using. And we’ve got a has here so normally after has, we use the past participle. And the past participle of get is gotten. So if something can’t be controlled and it’s causing big problems, you can use the idiom get out of hand.

 

Idiom #5

Okay, get a piece of paper and a pen. And start here, put your pen here. Draw a line all the way over to the right hand corner and then start drawing a line down the page all the way down to the bottom right corner and then draw a line all the way to the way left hand corner or to make a long story short: draw a rectangle. 

 

What do you think to make a long story short means? 

 

To make a long story short means when you say the most important things and you don’t say any of the details.

 

This idiom is often used when people are telling stories and they tell you every single detail.  They tell you what time it was, where they were, what temperature it was, what smells they smelled, what the air felt like on their skin.  They tell you every single little detail.

 

So if anyone is ever telling you a story like this and you just want the most important part, you can say make a long story short please.

 

This means don’t tell me all the details, just tell me the most important parts in a few words. 

 

 

Quiz

Now we have learned 5 new idioms so it’s time to test you understanding with a little quiz. I will tell you a situation and then you will see 3 idioms and I want you to tell me which idiom is most suitable for the situation. 

 

Situation number 1.  I was meant to meet my friend at 1pm at the park. 1 pm came along and he wasn’t there so I texted him and he said oh, I’m coming now, I’m coming now. 1:30 comes along. He is still not at the park.  I text him again. Where are you? Where are you? He says oh, I’ll be there in 5 minutes. 2 o clock comes and he finally arrives.  What idiom can I use to describe this situation? And the correct answer is c: better late than never. I am not happy he was late. But I am happy he came.

 

Number 2. I borrowed my friend’s car last night and when I was driving, someone smashed into the back of me and smashed up the back tail light. And I took the car back to my friend and I said hey last night I was driving and the weather was really good, I was listening to some really good music, there weren’t that many people on the road, it was pretty quiet.  And I just keep talking and talking and talking.  I don’t tell him the most important part. What idiom can be used to describe this situation?  And the correct answer is: b.  I am beating around the bush. I am not saying the most important part that someone smashed into his car.

 

And number 3: I always see those cars on the road, they are everywhere.  Everywhere I look I see those cars. They’re cheap and they’re everywhere.  What idiom could we use to describe this situation?  Yes the correct answer is b.   We could say those cars are a dime a dozen. Because they’re cheap, they’re everywhere and they are easy to get.

 

And that is the end of the lesson today. Try using these idioms with your friends and if they don’t understand, you can teach them what the idioms mean. And if you’re interested in learning more phrases that native speakers use all the time, you can check out this video right here. And if you haven’t subscribed already, make sure you subscribe right now so you don’t miss any video that can help you understand English like a native speaker.  If you have any questions, please comment down below.  And if you learned something today, pease hit like and share this with your friends so they can learn 5 new idioms. And for daily quizzes, weekly posts, videos and lessons, follow my Instagram and I will see you in the next video.  And number 3. I always see those cars on the road.  And try using them with you’re, there. Follow my.