Espresso English Podcast

Many people make special plans and goals at this time of year, and we call these  "new year's resolutions."  In today's lesson we'll learn lots of different phrases for them. Now is the time to set your English-learning goals! If you're looking for a step-by-step program that will help you make real progress towards fluency all year long, come join the Complete Espresso English Program. In the mon...

When learning another language, it's easy to make the mistake of being a little bit rude, since you might not be aware of the phrases that are considered " polite " or "impolite" by native speakers. I'm sure you already know to say "Please", "Thank you," and "Excuse me" – but today I'll teach you  15 more ways to make your  English  sound more  polite. Polite   English  is especially important if...

Do you ever notice that we use the word "said" a lot? He said this, she said that, then I said something else. Now there's nothing wrong with the word "said," it's perfectly fine – but the English language has TONS of other options. Today we're going to learn  40 words you can use instead of "said"  – and as you will see, each one adds some extra meaning. If you want to expand your vocabulary even...

Today I'm going to explain why we  never say "more better." English learners sometimes say things like, "My English is getting more better" – but it's ALWAYS incorrect. Take the lesson to learn the right way to express comparatives! I hope this helps make things clear! If you already understand this well and you're ready for a more advanced study of grammar, come join my  Advanced English Grammar...

Once I asked my students, "What are the most difficult English words for you to pronounce?" and I got a lot of great answers! Today we're going to practice 15 words  that English learners often find hard to say. I'll say each one once slowly, once at normal speed, and then I'll say an example sentence – so listen and repeat after me each time. Did you know that you can improve your pronunciation a...

The verb "be" is one of the most common words in the English language – but it has different forms, like  be, being, and been . Do you know when to use each one correctly? I'll explain it today, with plenty of examples! If you're looking for simple, clear, step-by-step grammar lessons, check out my  Basic & Intermediate Grammar E-Books. They'll teach you essential English grammar so that you can u...

Today I'm answering a question from a student who asked how to use the phrases  "I couldn't agree more"  and  "I couldn't care less"  – so today I'll explain them by using a couple of mini-dialogues. When you're learning English phrases, it's so helpful to learn them in context – that way you can see how people use them, and understand the phrases better.   That's why the lessons in my  Everyday E...

Today I want to help you avoid a very common mistake that lots of people make – and that is writing the word "grammar" like this:  G-R-A-M-M-E-R. There's actually NO "e" in the word grammar; the correct spelling is  G-R-A-M-M-A-R. But when we speak, we pronounce it like "er" –  grammer , not gram-MAR – so that's why people often misspell it with -er. It's an understandable error. There are actuall...

Today I'm going to teach you 10 English idioms for talking about problems and difficulties. Speaking of problems, idioms like these can be a problem when you're learning English! When you're watching TV or listening to a native speaker talk, you'll often hear idioms and they're hard to understand because you can't translate them word-for-word; you have to know the meaning of the whole expression....

Today we have a GREAT question from a student who asked: "Which is correct:  if I was… or if I were…? " The answer is that we use BOTH in English, but in different situations! I'll give you some good examples to make it clear. Try to practice this right away by writing two sentences – one with "if I were" and one with "if I was" – to help you remember when to use each one correctly! Do you sometim...

Today we're going to learn some very  practical phrases  that native English speakers use for making invitations and responding to them - whether you want to accept the invitation (say yes) or decline the invitation (say no). When you know the phrases that native English speakers use, then you can use them confidently without worrying if your English sounds strange or wrong. That's why I created t...

It's the goal that every English learner dreams of... being FLUENT in English! But what's the fastest way to get there? Today, I'm going to tell you my opinion and response to this question.  

If you're working on improving your spoken English, you might have a problem with  pauses .  Maybe you start a sentence, but you hesitate because  you're not sure how exactly to express your thought  in English. You know how to say it in your native language, but you're just not sure how to translate it. This is really annoying because even though you can speak  some  English,  you feel slow and i...

Yesterday you learned how you can get fluent faster by focusing on learning phrases, NOT on memorizing individual words or grammar rules. But there's another problem that might be holding you back from becoming fluent. That problem is not being confident in your English. Here are three simple ways you can increase your confidence to speak English.

Over the next four days, I'm going to share with you my best tips for improving your English  speaking . Let's get started! Here's one reason it can be hard to speak English. You might know a good number of English words... but then it's  difficult to put them together into sentences  when you speak. First of all, it's a LOT of work to put together an entire sentence word by word. It takes a lot o...

A collocation is two or more words that go together naturally. Learning collocations is essential for making your English sound fluent and natural! Today we'll learn  50 English collocations  with the words big, great, large, deep, strong, and heavy. These words all seem rather similar, but they are used in DIFFERENT combinations of words. WOW, those were a LOT of collocations – are you ready to s...

Are you ready to practice your pronunciation with some longer words? The ones we'll practice today all have  5 syllables – like the word vocabulary: vo- CA -bu-la-ry I'll say each word twice – once a little more slowly with some separation between the syllables, and then once at normal speed. Repeat after me both times. To improve your pronunciation FAST, join my  Pronunciation & Shadowing Courses...

When writing letters and e-mails in business English, it's really important to avoid mistakes - which can make your writing look unprofessional. Today you'll learn about  10 common mistakes in business English writing . I'll explain why they are wrong and how to correct them. If you want to learn the phrases that native English speakers use for business English letters, e-mails, interviews, meetin...

Today we're going to do a vocabulary with pictures lesson to help you learn  20 words for shapes in English , both two-dimensional and three-dimensional ones. You'll learn both the noun form (the name of the shape itself) and the adjective form (how to describe something else with this shape) – in some cases those are the same, and in other cases they're different. Have you ever wanted to say some...

Come along, come across, come off, come on, come out, come over, come up... Phrasal verbs like these can be easy to confuse because they all seem so similar! Today we're going to learn  1 0 phrasal verbs with the word "come,"  and I'll give you an example sentence for each one to show you how it's used in English. I challenge you to try writing your own sentences with each of these phrasal verbs –...

Right now it's summer, and it's  hot as blazes!  (= the weather is extremely hot). This inspired me to teach you  15 English words and expressions with "hot." Some of these are idioms – short phrases or expressions that you can't understand literally, you can't translate them word for word to get their meaning – instead, you have to know the meaning of the whole phrase. Your own language has idiom...

If you had to  talk with a  doctor  in English , would you know what to say? In today's lesson you'll learn  phrases  and vocabulary for talking about medical problems. Now you're a bit better-equipped to talk to a  doctor  in English if you ever need to someday – but there's a lot more to learn! In order to be fluent and CONFIDENT in English, you have to be comfortable speaking English in many di...

Today's lesson will be a challenging one – we're going to look at  10 more advanced vocabulary words. But I'm not going to just tell you what they mean… instead, you've got to try to figure out what they mean based on an example sentence. I'll show you a sentence with the word and give you three choices for what it means. Try to choose the correct answer, and after a few seconds I'll show you the...

The English language has a lot of  silent   letters  that cause difficulties for both native speakers and English learners, because they make the spelling of words different from their pronunciation. You don't want to make embarrassing mistakes by saying these words wrong, so today let's practice pronouncing some common English words with  silent   letters  from A to Z!   Thanks for practicing wit...

What's today's date? Can you answer quickly in English? A lot of English learners have doubts about  how to say and write dates correctly , and you don't want to make mistakes with something so common and basic. So let's make sure you're doing it the right way, because there are a lot of little details to remember. If you want make less mistakes fewer mistakes in your English, it's good to learn t...