Want to sound more like a native speaker?
Idioms are a simple but great way to show off your understanding of English. But first, what are idioms?
An idiom is a phrase with a meaning that is not literal. For example, you might hear someone say this:
‘This January, the weather has been horrible. It’s been raining cats and dogs!’
The idiom here is, ‘It’s been raining cats and dogs!’. Clearly, this doesn’t mean cats and dogs have been falling out of the sky. However, native speakers use this expression to emphasise how much it has been raining.
So, ‘raining cats and dogs’ means ‘raining a lot’.
Now that you have a better understanding of what idioms are, here are five more idioms that are especially useful to use during a General English class:
1. Wrap your head around something
When Brits are confused or struggling to understand a concept, they might say, ‘I’m trying to wrap my head around this.’
In this case, this idiom means that they are trying to understand the problem. Here are more ways to use this idiom, with a translation.
‘Have you wrapped your head around it?’ means ‘Do you understand?’
‘I’m starting to wrap my head around this.’ means ‘I’m starting to understand this.’
‘Let me wrap my head around this.’ means ‘Give me some time to understand this.’
2. Under your belt
After practicing your vocabulary, you might say, ‘I’ve got that under my belt.’
This means that you have good understanding of your vocabulary.
Here are some more examples of when you might hear this idiom.
‘Now that I’ve got nouns under my belt, I can work on adjectives.’
‘Now that I understand nouns, I can work on adjectives.’
’10 words to learn? No problem. I’ve got this under my belt.’
’10 words to learn. No problem. I can do this easily.’
3. Under the weather
This winter, you might hear a lot of people saying they are ‘under the weather’.
This is another way of saying, ‘I’m feeling ill’.
Here are more ways this idiom can be used:
‘She went home as she was feeling under the weather.’
‘She went home as she was feeling ill.’
‘I’m feeling a little under the weather. May I go home?’
‘I’m feeling a little sick. May I go home?’
4. On the ball
When you are doing really well in class, a teacher might compliment you by saying, ‘You’re on the ball today’.
Here, your teacher is saying, ‘You’re doing a great job’. Well done!
5. Call it a day
At the end of a great day of learning, your teacher might say they are ‘calling it a day’.
This means that they are ending the lesson. Here are more ways you can use this idiom.
‘Let’s call it a day there.’
‘Let’s end it now.’
‘If you complete the next exercise, we can call it a day.’
‘If you complete the next exercise, we can finish.’
Now, take some time to wrap your head around these five idioms. Once you have them under your belt, it’s time to call it a day and celebrate!
Interested in learning more English? Join a General English course at IH London: