20 Important Business English Phrases

0:00 Hey, I'd love to pick your brains on some best practices.

0:03 Do you have a minute to hop on a call?

0:06 What in the world, pick your brains?

0:09 Am I some kind of Frankenstein monster?

0:12 No, absolutely not.

0:13 These are some common business English expressions that if you work in English,

0:18 if you speak with clients in English,

0:20 if you speak with coworkers or colleagues in English,

0:23 you need to know these phrases so that you can accurately convey what

0:27 you want to say so you can understand what other people are saying,

0:31 and so you're simply not embarrassed in the workplace.

0:34 Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

0:37 And today I have some good news,

0:40 you are going to learn 20 Essential Business English phrases,

0:46 plus five bonus acronyms that you are likely to see in the workplace,

0:51 and you need to know what they mean.

0:53 Like always, I've created a free PDF worksheet for you

0:56 with all 20 of these essential phrases plus the five acronyms.

1:00 And at the bottom of the free worksheet,

1:03 you can answer Vanessa's Challenge Question.

1:05 You can click on the link in the description to download that free

1:09 PDF worksheet today and never forget what you are about to learn.

1:13 Let's get started with the first Essential Business English phrase.

1:16 It's kind of a two for one.

1:19 It is a case of the Mondays, or you might hear some people say,

1:23 "Mondays, am I right?" I got a question for you.

1:27 Do you love waking up early on Monday morning and going to work?

1:32 If you said no, well, you're not alone.

1:35 A lot of people really do not look forward to starting a new work week.

1:40 They had a great time relaxing over the weekend and ugh,

1:44 here comes Monday again.

1:46 So sometimes we just simply blame Monday.

1:49 You could say, "Ugh, I just don't have any motivation to do anything today.

1:54 I guess, I have a case of the Mondays." Or you could say,

1:59 "Ugh, this printer really isn't working.

2:01 Mondays, am I right?" Of course,

2:03 it's not Monday's fault that the printer isn't working,

2:07 but it's kind of a silly way to blame Monday.

2:11 Poor Monday.

2:12 The second Essential Business English phrase

2:14 is actually a question and it's extremely

2:16 polite and you just heard me say it at the beginning of this lesson,

2:20 when you have a minute or do you have a minute?

2:23 This is a great way to ask, do you have some time to help me?

2:27 I see that you're in the middle of your work, but I'd like to ask you a favor.

2:32 So you can use this really polite phrase, "When you have a minute,

2:36 could you look at this report for me?" Or, "Do you

2:38 have a minute to look at this report?" Wonderful, polite phrase.

2:42 Essential Business English phrase number three is a fun one.

2:46 I'd like to bounce some ideas off of you.

2:49 Do you get the idea here that there's a bouncy ball, the ideas,

2:54 and one person shares an idea, the other person shares an idea.

2:58 Your idea gets better and better and better

3:01 as you bounce ideas off of each other.

3:03 This is a wonderful phrase to use when you want

3:06 to share an idea and you want the other person's opinion,

3:09 but they don't have to give you solid answers.

3:12 You just want to share your idea.

3:14 Let's look at some sentences.

3:15 Do you want to grab some coffee right now?

3:18 I'd like to bounce some ideas off of you for this assignment.

3:21 You just want their opinion.

3:23 I've been thinking about this project and I'd

3:26 like to bounce some ideas off of you.

3:28 Do you have time?

3:29 And just a little note, sometimes we cut off the final of and we simply say,

3:35 "I'd like to bounce some ideas off you." Both of these are equally acceptable,

3:40 and it's just a personal preference.

3:42 Essential Business English phrase number four is, first thing in the morning.

3:47 Notice that there is no the, in this phrase.

3:50 Take a look at a sentence, "First thing in the morning,

3:54 I make a pot of coffee." Or, "If I don't hear from her today,

3:59 I'll call her first thing in the morning."

4:02 This is a good fixed phrase to remember

4:05 and you can add it when you're talking about something that you do right away.

4:09 Sorry, I don't have time to finish the report today,

4:12 but I will do it first thing in the morning.

4:16 Essential Business English phrase number five is pick your brains.

4:19 This is a fun one, and it means that you're asking

4:23 for someone's input or advice when they have more experience than you.

4:27 So you could say, "I know you've worked at this company for five years,

4:31 so I'd love to pick your brains about what

4:34 it's like to work here." Or you could say, "Could we hop on a call and I

4:40 can pick your brains about what you're thinking about

4:43 the next quarter?" This means you simply want

4:45 to know what they're thinking about the next quarter.

4:48 Phrase number six is one I just used, to hop on a call.

4:53 This could be a phone call or it could be a Zoom call,

4:56 which are becoming more and more popular nowadays.

4:58 And it means you're talking probably unexpectedly.

5:02 It's not planned, it's spontaneous, and you want to discuss something.

5:07 So you could say, "Do you have a minute to hop on a call?

5:10 Our client has some questions and I don't know

5:13 exactly how to answer them." Or you could say,

5:15 "I was going to send you an email, but it might be easier to talk.

5:19 Can we hop on a call?" Great phrase.

5:22 Essential Business phrase number seven is kind of two for one.

5:25 It is to shoot off an email or to fire off an email.

5:29 Both of these verbs to shoot and to fire have the sense of it's quick,

5:35 it's fast, it's organized, it's not long and drawn out.

5:39 So this means that you are quickly sending an email.

5:42 You could also shoot off a text on your phone,

5:45 but it has this idea of something fast.

5:47 So you could say, "I'm going to fire off an email

5:51 with these questions before we meet with the client." Or you could say,

5:55 "Shoot me an email and I'll get to it first thing in the morning." Oh,

5:59 a good way to combine both of these phrases,

6:01 shoot me an email and first thing in the morning, check.

6:05 Check Essential Business phrase number eight is keep someone in the loop.

6:10 If we have a loop, that means that no one is left out, everyone is included.

6:16 So we often say, "Hey, I missed the meeting yesterday,

6:21 so could you keep me in the loop and still send

6:24 me the emails?" This means I don't want to be not included.

6:28 Please send me the information I need to know.

6:30 We can change that pronoun in the middle.

6:33 You could say, "The boss wants you to keep her in the loop."

6:37 That means you are going to need to tell her everything that's going on.

6:43 You need to tell her everything, you need to keep her in the loop.

6:48 Essential Business phrase number nine is brainstorm.

6:52 This is commonly used to talk about generating new ideas.

6:57 So you could say, "Hey, tomorrow during our meeting,

7:01 we are going to brainstorm our new marketing ideas for the next quarter." Great.

7:06 Everyone's going to throw out ideas.

7:07 Maybe some of them will be great, maybe some of them won't be great,

7:11 but we're going to put all ideas on the table and just see what works.

7:15 Or you could say, "Our team got together

7:18 to brainstorm better ways to help our customers." Excellent.

7:21 Essential Business phrase number 10 is debrief.

7:25 This is when you're kind of summarizing or giving information after an event.

7:31 So you could say, "After the project is complete,

7:35 let's have a meeting to debrief." Maybe you're

7:38 getting together and you're talking about what went well,

7:41 what didn't go well, how can we do it better the next time.

7:44 After the project is finished, we'll have a meeting to debrief.

7:48 You can use this as a noun.

7:50 So you could say, "We had a debrief and decided to make some changes

7:55 the next time we do this project." This is a debrief versus to debrief,

8:01 but they all mean the same thing.

8:04 Essential Business phrase number 11 is one that you do not want to have to use.

8:10 It is a slacker.

8:12 Oh, no.

8:13 This is someone who is lazy and does not do their part of the work.

8:18 You might unfortunately say, "Ugh, he's such a slacker.

8:22 He's always late with his projects and he expects me to work harder

8:26 to keep up." No one wants to work with someone who's a slacker.

8:30 Have you ever been part of a group project and said this?

8:34 In every group project,

8:36 there's always a slacker who expects other people to do the work for him.

8:42 That's so frustrating, isn't it?

8:44 But on the other hand, our next phrase is beautiful.

8:49 Essential Business phrase number 12 is the opposite

8:52 of a slacker, it is a workhorse.

8:55 This is someone who works really hard and diligently.

8:58 So you might say, "He is a real workhorse.

9:02 Whether it's in the office or at home,

9:04 he always gets projects done." Or you could say,

9:07 "She really deserves a promotion.

9:09 She's a workhorse." We know that she is always on the ball.

9:13 So I hope for you, you are more of a workhorse and less of a slacker.

9:19 Essential Business phrase number 13 is all hands on deck.

9:24 This used to come from boating and sailing.

9:27 The main part of a boat where you walk is called the deck,

9:31 but here we're using this more figuratively to talk

9:35 about a project that is really all consuming, so we need everyone to be active.

9:41 We need all hands on deck.

9:43 So you could say, "We need all hands on deck if we're going to finish

9:47 this project on time." You might even hear this phrase twisted just a bit.

9:51 You might hear someone say, "The boss called for an all hands meeting

9:57 on Thursday." That means everyone needs to be there.

10:00 It sounds pretty urgent.

10:02 Talking about manager's,

10:03 Essential Business English phrase number 14 is really annoying.

10:10 It is micromanage.

10:12 Ugh.

10:13 This is somebody, usually a boss or a manager,

10:17 who tries to control every little detail that their employees do.

10:21 If you've ever been micromanaged or you've had a micromanager watching you,

10:27 ugh, that's so frustrating.

10:29 You could say, "He tries to micromanage his team by telling everyone how

10:35 to do their job." And if you have a boss who micromanages you,

10:40 you might say, "No one likes to be micromanaged.

10:43 Can't you just trust me to do

10:45 my work?" Business English phrase number 15 is align.

10:50 Notice that the G is silent align.

10:54 And this is talking about being in agreement or supporting something.

10:59 So you might say, "You know what?

11:02 That project does not align with the company's goals,

11:05 so we're not going to do it." For example,

11:08 I get contacted by companies all the time who want me to promote their products,

11:15 but 99.99% of these products don't align

11:18 with the Speak English With Vanessa goals,

11:21 which are teaching you better English and helping you speak confidently.

11:25 So I just tell these people, "No, I'm sorry.

11:29 Our goals don't align.

11:30 This isn't a good fit for us." We can also

11:33 use this to talk about supporting someone else or another company.

11:37 So you could say, "The company aligns itself with other organizations

11:43 that have similar goals." They're friends or allies with other companies.

11:49 It aligns itself.

11:50 This is a very beautiful business english expression.

11:53 Essential Business English phrase number 16 is to streamline.

11:58 This is not going crazy all over the place.

12:02 Nope, it is effective and efficient.

12:05 So you could say, "If we take time to streamline this process,

12:10 we will lower costs and be more efficient." So when you have a good system,

12:17 when your system is streamlined, it's not an email here,

12:20 a document here, a call here.

12:22 No, it's very streamlined.

12:23 They know what to do at what time.

12:26 You can lower costs and be more efficient.

12:29 Or you might say, "The organization streamlined its

12:33 company by reducing the number of managers." Great.

12:37 Essential business English phrase number 17 is scalable.

12:41 You'll especially hear this for small businesses that would like to grow.

12:47 This means that you are efficiently able to expand

12:50 the business and grow profits at the same time.

12:53 So you could say, "This business is small,

12:56 but it is scalable and has a lot of potential for growth." For example,

13:02 if I were teaching English in a classroom, well,

13:05 I can only fit maybe 30 people in the classroom,

13:09 but teaching English on YouTube is scalable.

13:12 I can teach millions of students around the world at the same time.

13:17 Great.

13:17 Or you could say, "She proved that her idea was scalable and it brought

13:23 increased profits to the company." Essential Business

13:26 English phrase number 18 is in the weeds.

13:30 Sometimes we say lost in the weeds.

13:34 This is the idea that you are too focused

13:38 on unimportant details and you're not seeing the big picture.

13:42 So you could say, "Let's not get lost in the weeds.

13:45 We need to focus on the main goal." If you're having

13:49 a meeting about an important topic and people start to go off topic

13:53 and they're sharing ideas that maybe are too detailed or there's something

13:57 that you should focus on later down the road in the process,

14:01 you can use this expression, "All right,

14:03 everyone, let's not get lost in the weeds.

14:06 We can focus on those details later.

14:08 Let's talk about the overall goals right now." Essential

14:11 Business English phrase number 19 is to circle back.

14:15 So if you start here and then you make

14:18 a circle and you end that circle, where are you now?

14:22 You're at the same place that you began.

14:25 That's the idea here.

14:26 It means you are going to come back to something or reconsider something later.

14:31 So talking about a meeting that kind of gets out of hand.

14:35 People are talking about things that are not so related to the main topic.

14:39 You might say, "Okay,

14:41 can we circle back to those questions later in the meeting?

14:45 I want to make sure that we can

14:47 finish the main reason for our meeting first." Okay.

14:50 Your questions are important, but we will circle back to those later.

14:55 And maybe if someone forgot to circle back to your question, you could say,

15:00 "To circle back to my question earlier,

15:03 when do we need to get this done?" Great.

15:05 That means, "Hey, I asked you this earlier.

15:08 You haven't answered it yet,

15:09 but I want to politely and clearly tell you my question again." Beautiful.

15:14 All right.

15:15 Let's go to our 20th Essential Business English

15:18 phrase before we get to some bonus acronyms.

15:21 Our final Essential Business English phrase number 20, is to put a pin in it.

15:28 This is somewhat similar to circling back to something.

15:31 It means that, Hey, I think your idea's important.

15:34 We don't have time to discuss it now,

15:37 but let's [inaudible 00:15:39] put a pin in it,

15:39 so a mental, or maybe you're writing it down,

15:42 a little reminder to circle back to this later.

15:45 Let's put a pin in it and we'll circle back to that later.

15:49 Wonderful phrase.

15:49 So you might say, "Let's put a pin in it

15:52 and we'll discuss it at next week's meeting." Okay,

15:54 you're saying, "I want to talk about it.

15:56 We can't talk about it right now, but I made a mental note that we'll

16:00 talk about it next time." Before we go today,

16:03 I'd like to share with you five important Business

16:06 English acronyms that are specific to work culture in English.

16:10 I'm sure you'll see these in emails.

16:12 You might even hear people say them, and hey,

16:14 even if you don't use English in the workplace,

16:17 you'll probably see these on TV shows and movies.

16:19 You might get an email that says,

16:22 "We need this report by EOD on Wednesday." What in the world?

16:27 EOD means end of day.

16:29 But they maybe didn't want to type out that whole thing,

16:33 so they might have written,

16:35 "We need that report by EOD on Wednesday." You're not really likely to hear

16:40 someone say this, but you will definitely see this in emails or in reports.

16:44 You might send someone an email, and then you get an auto reply back that says,

16:50 "Sorry, I will be OOO until February 5th." What?

16:54 This means out of office.

16:57 I don't know why someone didn't just write out of office, but hey,

17:03 you're going to see OOO to mean I'm not here, but I'll be back at this date.

17:08 The next business acronym you will hear people use

17:12 in spoken conversation as well as written Business English,

17:15 and that is this fun one, ASAP.

17:18 That's how we would pronounce this.

17:20 Or you can say each individual letter, A-S-A-P.

17:23 And it means immediately.

17:25 So you could say, "Hey,

17:28 I didn't receive your reports that you sent me yesterday.

17:31 Can you send them over ASAP?" Or, "Can you

17:34 send them over ASAP?" This conveys extreme urgency, now.

17:38 I need it now.

17:40 So be careful using ASAP because it does mean this is

17:44 really important and I need it absolutely without any delay.

17:49 You can use this in written English.

17:51 For example, in an email, you might say,

17:53 "I'm sorry, I didn't receive the reports yesterday.

17:56 Can you send them over ASAP?" Make sure you capitalized ASAP.

18:01 What if you got an email that said this, "FYI,

18:06 the meeting time has changed to 1:30." FYI?

18:09 For your information.

18:11 If you're just adding a little extra bonus information,

18:14 this is something that's pretty important though too.

18:17 You might add FYI.

18:19 It's just like saying, "Hey, just to let you know,

18:23 the meeting time has changed to 1:30." But in business emails,

18:27 you might see that written as FYI.

18:29 Sometimes you'll hear people say this in spoken English, "Oh, FYI,

18:32 I can't make it to the party tomorrow."

18:34 You might hear people use that in spoken English,

18:37 but it's more common in written English.

18:40 Our final business acronym,

18:41 and the last one to finish off this lesson is a fun one, TGIF.

18:47 I can't wait for the weekend.

18:50 If you have a company chat where

18:52 you chat about different things throughout the day,

18:55 at the end of the work week, you might see someone send you TGIF.

19:01 Huh?

19:01 This is thank God, or thank goodness it's Friday.

19:06 This is a expression of, "Yes, it's the weekend.

19:09 We finished this week, and now I can go and have a relaxing

19:14 or fun weekend." So this is a common thing to write.

19:17 You might hear people say this in conversation, "TGIF,

19:20 have a good weekend." But it's a little less common to say.

19:25 Instead, you might write this in a business chat

19:27 with someone or in a chat with a friend, TGIF.

19:30 Great.

19:30 Well, congratulations on learning 20 Essential Business

19:34 English phrases in English plus five bonus acronyms.

19:37 I have a question for you.

19:39 In the comments let me know, do you need to use English for your work?

19:44 Or maybe you'd like to get a job where you need to use English?

19:49 This can be a great motivating way to practice

19:51 English if you have to use it for your job.

19:54 Let me know in the comments.

19:55 And don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet

19:58 for this lesson with all of the essential phrases,

20:02 sample sentences, ideas, and concepts.

20:04 You can download that free PDF with the link

20:07 in the description and never forget what you've learned.

20:09 Well, thank you so much for learning English with me,

20:12 and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

20:17 Bye.

20:17 But wait, do you want more?

20:19 I recommend watching this video next where you

20:23 will learn some essential polite Business English phrases,

20:26 including how to politely leave a conversation if someone's talking

20:31 too much and you need to get out of there.

20:35 Watch that video to find out, and I'll see you there.