Learn English Idioms

This group of English idioms video lessons is a series of lessons to help you learn English idioms according to their function.

English books, lessons, teachers, websites, etc. nearly always group English idioms according to the words in the idiom. You always find ESL materials with “Idioms From Animals” or “Idioms From Colors” or “Idioms From Food”.

But that doesn’t seem very useful to me. If I’m in a situation where I’m feeling strongly about something and I want to express myself in a powerful and meaningful way, I probably wouldn’t think to myself, “Hmm, what idiom can I use right now that is about animals…”

No, I would probably think something more like, “I’m feeling surprised and angry because this person told everyone my secret- how can I express myself in English?”

And then I’d say: “You let the cat out of the bag!” “Why didn’t you keep it under your hat?!” or “I’m really angry and this is the last straw!”

So I made these videos about English idioms by function for Intermediate to Advanced students learning English as a second language.

English Idioms By Function

English Idioms To Say Something Is Scary

December 22, 2012

Here are three idioms to talk about when something is scary. It’s scary! Oh no! Help! It’s scary. Maybe you’re watching a scary movie, or something happened that made you scared. The first one: people say, “It makes my skin crawl.” My skin crawl, my skin. My skin crawl. Crawl: C-R-A-W-L. The word ‘crawl’ just(…)

6 English Idioms To Talk About Something Fast

December 21, 2012

Hi everybody, I’m Fred the online English teacher. Here are some idioms to talk about something that is fast. Doing something fast, with no delay: quickly. The first one is “right away”. I’ll do that right away. “I’ll do it right away” means immediately; I will do it immediately. Another one is if something is(…)

English Idioms About Getting Ready

December 28, 2011

Here are a couple of idioms to talk about when you are preparing something. You’re getting ready and you want to have everything exactly in the right place, everything ready. There’s two idioms people use to say this. The first one is: get your ducks in a row. Your ducks in a row. Duck, chicken,(…)

English Idioms To Tell Somebody To Wait

December 10, 2011

Here are some idioms to talk about when you want to tell somebody to wait. “Just wait; wait a minute; please wait.” Okay? One time I had a student who was going to America, now he lives in America, and when he was in my class he said he had friends in America. And he(…)

English Idioms To Talk About Telling A Lie

December 3, 2011

Hi, I’m English Teacher Fred. How are you today? Here are some idioms to talk about a lie. Something is not true. Somebody’s lying. The first one, it’s called a “tall story” or a “tall tale.” T-A-L-E Tale means story. A tall tale or a tall story is a lie or an exaggeration. When somebody(…)

3 English Idioms To Talk About Keeping A Secret

July 23, 2011

Here are a few idioms to talk about keeping something a secret. If you want someone to keep a secret, you might say, “Keep it under your hat!” Keep it under your hat. Shhh. Keep a secret. Keep it under your hat. Under your hat. You’re wearing a hat and you keep the secret under(…)

2 English Idioms To Talk About Having A Bad Day

June 22, 2011

Here are two idioms to talk about when you’re having a bad day. You know, sometimes you have a good day: you get up, everything’s great… Sometimes you have a bad day; it just seems like everything goes wrong. Everything happens wrong on a bad day. There are good days and bad days. And one(…)

English Idioms To Talk About Losing A Job

June 7, 2011

Here are some idioms to talk about getting fired. To get fired means you lose your job. It’s also called being made redundant. Losing your job. You go to your job and your boss says: Go home! No more job! Stop! Get fired, all right? So here are some idioms to talk about that. The(…)

English Idioms To Talk About Changing After Already Starting Something

May 25, 2011

Here are two idioms to talk about when something has begun and then it’s changed in the middle. When you begin to do something and then suddenly you change and do something else. It’s often used in business because a business will begin to do one thing and then turn around and change and do(…)

English Idioms To Talk About Being Original

May 6, 2011

Here are a few idioms to talk about being original, doing something new and different, not doing the same thing that everybody has done before. These are common for business, business situations. Because in business people often say, “Oh, we need to be original! We need to do something new! To think in a new(…)

English Idioms To Talk About A Secret Plan

April 24, 2011

Here are a couple of idioms, two idioms to talk about a secret plan. All right? You have a secret plan. The first one is, you say you have an “ace in the hole”. “I have an ace in the hole; don’t worry.” Maybe my company is worried because I have some suggestion, some plan:(…)

Two English Idioms to Say You Will Like Something Later

March 31, 2011

Here are a couple of idioms to talk about when you don’t like something at the beginning, but after some time then you will like it, later. Eventually you will like it but at the beginning you’re not sure. The first one is, people say, “It grows on you.” Or, “It will grow on you.”(…)

Three English Idioms To Say You Are Upset And You Have Had Enough

March 17, 2011

Here are three idioms to talk about when you’ve had enough. Something has been bothering you so you feel a little frustrated, irritated, a little bit angry. And you get to this point where you say, “Okay, that’s enough. That’s all. Now I can’t take any more. I’ve had enough.” Some ways to say this(…)

Three English Idioms To Say Someone Is Arrogant

March 9, 2011

Here are three idioms to talk about somebody being arrogant. Somebody who is arrogant; it means that they think they are better than everybody else. They think they are the best: they’re arrogant. It’s not polite, not a good way to be. This first one is, we say: he has a big head. A big(…)

English Idioms To Say One Person Is Different From The Rest

March 3, 2011

Here are two idioms to talk about when one person is different than the group. There’s a group and then one person is a little different. And maybe also a little bad. But not really bad. It’s not saying they are really terrible but maybe just a little bit bad also. And also both of(…)

English Idioms To Say A Secret Is Revealed

February 22, 2011

Here are a couple of idioms to talk about when a secret is revealed. First there was a secret, nobody knew. “Shhh, keep it a secret!” And then the secret was revealed. It was let out, and now everybody knows. Okay, the first one is: let the cat out of the bag. Somebody let the(…)

English Idioms To Say Someone Is Boring

February 16, 2011

Here are three idioms to talk about a boring person. Three idioms to say that a person is really boring. They’re no fun, they’re just boring; they’re not interesting. These are kind of funny idioms. Idioms are fun, you know? The first one is: a stuffed shirt. “He’s just a stuffed shirt. He’s so boring.”(…)

English Idioms To Say When People Understand Each Other Or Not

February 7, 2011

Here are a couple of idioms and a phrasal verb about how to say when two people are understanding each other, or not. Sometimes people talk together and they understand each other and everything’s great. Sometimes people talk together and they just don’t… they just don’t get it. They just don’t understand each other. They(…)

English Idioms To Say Something Is Important Or Not Important

February 5, 2011

Here are three idioms to talk about when something is not important. Okay? To say, “Don’t worry about it; it’s not important.” The first one is a saying; it’s a saying where people say, “Don’t cry over spilt milk.” It’s sort of a “wise saying”, sort of an idiom: don’t cry over spilt milk. It’s(…)

English Idioms To Talk About Stopping Fighting Or Arguing

February 3, 2011

Some English idioms to talk about stopping fighting or arguing, or when a fight or argument is finished: bury the hatchet; let bygones be bygones; water under the bridge; put it behind us; to make up.

English Idioms To Say A Child Is The Same As Their Parent

February 2, 2011

Here are three idioms to talk about when a child is the same as the parents. Okay? You’re saying the son or the daughter is same as the mother or the father. First one is, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. Do you get it? “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”(…)

English Idioms To Say Something Is Expensive

October 28, 2010

Hello I’m English Teacher Fred how are you today? Today I’ve got some idioms about money. It’s four idioms that mean basically the same thing. They all mean something is…

English Idioms

English Idiom – To Bomb

August 18, 2012

Hello, let’s talk about an English idiom. Here’s one right here: to be a bomb. A bomb. You know what a bomb is? Boom! A bomb explodes, right? “It’s a bomb!” It’s very dangerous. But as an idiom, it means a failure. If something is a bomb, it’s a failure. Usually it’s used for a(…)

English Idiom – To Goof Off

June 27, 2012

Hello! I’m Fred from EnglishTeacherFred.com; how are you today? We’re looking at idioms. I have idioms on cards and I’ll pick one and we’ll see what it means. To goof off. Can you see this? Goof off; goofing off: what does it mean? To goof off means take it easy, be lazy. You should do(…)

English Idiom – To Be All Thumbs

June 27, 2012

Hello! Here’s another idiom in English: to be all thumbs. To be all thumbs: this is a thumb. Finger, finger, finger, finger- thumb. You have two thumbs on your hands. To be all thumbs means the same thing as “clumsy.” Not graceful. “I’m all thumbs! I can’t do it very well.” Something physical that I(…)

English Idiom – Bite Your Tongue

June 22, 2012

Hello, I’m Fred from EnglishTeacherFred.com. How are you today? I have some idioms; we’re talking about idioms. And I’ll pick one and see what it means. This one says “to bite one’s tongue.” To bite your tongue. Bite, you know? Take a bite. When you eat, you bite. Bite. And then, your tongue. This is(…)

English Idiom – To Be All Ears

June 20, 2012

Hello, I’m Fred from EnglishTeacherFred.com; how are you today? I have my deck of idioms here, a whole bunch of idioms on cards. And I’ll choose one and see: what does it mean? How about this one- to be all ears. All ears; to be all ears. What does it mean? It means, “I’m very(…)

English Idiom – To Have A Ball

June 18, 2012

Hello, I’m Fred from EnglishTeacherFred.com. I have my idiom cards today. We’re looking at idioms. I’ll pick one and we’ll see: what does it mean? How about this one, to have a ball. Have a ball. Ball: B-A-L-L Like soccer ball, basketball. To have a ball, what does it mean? It means have a lot(…)

English Idiom – Down The Drain

June 11, 2012

Hi, my name’s Fred, also called English Teacher Fred. Right now what I have is a deck of idioms. Each card has an idiom and we’re talking about the idioms. Idioms are very important if you’re learning English. Learning any language, you must learn many idioms. So I’m just going to pick a card and(…)

English Idiom – To Get The Axe

June 4, 2012

Hi, this is English Teacher Fred. How are you today? We’re looking at idioms. I have the deck of idioms: one idiom on each card and I’ll pick one and we’ll see: what does it mean? Here, I’ll pick this one right here. It says, “to get the axe.” To get the axe. A-X-E, axe.(…)

English Idiom – To Get At Something

May 25, 2012

Hi, my name’s Fred, also known as “English Teacher Fred”. I have with me a deck of idioms. Each card has one idiom on it and I will just pick one and we will talk about it. See what does it mean. How about this one, what does it say? To get at something. The(…)

What Is An Idiom

May 23, 2012

Hi, this is English Teacher Fred. Welcome to my online classroom. I’m in Vietnam right now. It’s a four day weekend, a holiday weekend. So I have a lot of free time, sitting here at my desk making videos and talking to students on Skype. Come by my website, it’s called EnglishTeacherFred.com. I thought I(…)

English Idiom – To Have It Made

May 21, 2012

Hi, this is English Teacher Fred. We’re looking at idioms today! Idioms are very important. If you’re learning English you must learn a lot of idioms. If you ever study TOEFL, you know. Every TOEFL book has a whole section on idioms and it’s very very important. You have to learn hundreds of idioms. Okay,(…)

English Idiom: To Get Out Of Hand

May 14, 2012

Hi, this is Teacher Fred. Welcome to my classroom. I’m here in Vietnam, teaching English online. I’m an English teacher. I have a bunch of cards here. And on each card is a separate phrasal verb or idiom. So I’m just going to cut the cards- it means I’m going to choose one card. And(…)

English Idiom To Give In

November 28, 2011

Hi, my name’s English Teacher Fred. Today I have my deck of idioms. Its a bunch of cards and an idiom on each one. So Ill just pick one, and well see: what does it mean? How about this one? To give in. Give in. To give in means basically the same as give up.(…)

Three English Idioms With COVER

November 21, 2011

Hello, let’s talk about this word: cover; to cover. The word “cover” C-O-V-E-R has a lot of meanings and a lot of idioms in English. So it’s very useful. To cover something, the very basic meaning, would be put something on top. Like the blanket covers the bed. A hat covers your head. So: put(…)

English Idioms With KNOW

October 28, 2010

Here are some English idioms using the word “know”.

English Idioms with GET

October 28, 2010

Hello I’m English teacher Fred. How are you today? We’re talking about some idioms with “get”. There are many many, many idioms with get but here’s just a few, just four. Okay, the first one is…

Learn English Idioms

Like on Facebook

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Most Commented Posts

Recent Search Terms