Oh yeah? What's that?

I'm pregnant!

Wow!

Graduations!

What?

ConGregGations!

What?

ConGgGrations

Huh?

ConGRAYshuns!

What are you saying?

Have a good baby!

Okay, what about when something like this happens?

Some positive thing in someone's life happens, maybe a new job, a new house, a new baby.

How can you--

Of course, nice and easy: 'congratulations.'

Okay, the pronunciation can be difficult, doesn't have to be; let's break it down.

'Cun' not 'Con'. 'Cun'.

'Gra'

There's a glottal stop at the end. 'Gra.' 'Gra.'

'Cungra'

'Cha.'

Again a schwa sound. 'Cha.'

'Cungracha.' ' Cungracha.' 'lations.'

'Cun-gra-cha-lations.'

Say it with me. 'Cun-gra-cha-lations.'

You are amazing, you are perfect.

In other situations, maybe that person did something really cool, and you want to say you are awesome.

You did a cool thing.

This one you could also use these responses.

'Well done.'

Or more casually, 'Nice one.'

Again, did you notice the pronunciation of that 'L'.

I didn't say 'well done' - you can, you can, that's not wrong, but more commonly, more commonly this is what you hear in the real world - you hear 'well, well done, well done.'

It's faster speech it's more casual...That's what you hear.

You can even combine them.

For example: 'Oh my God, I got a new job.' 'Nice one, well done.'

Now you might hear this one.

'Good for you.'

Just be careful when you use this.

Why? Well, in the real world when you say this, your immediate thought is sarcasm.

So it sounds like this: 'Good for you.'

It doesn't sound sincere, it doesn't sound real, so, if you say 'good for you', first, probably don't say in a text because you can't read the context.

Secondly, if you say in person make sure you sound genuine and sincere.

Good for you.

I'm happy for you.

You can modify this with, 'I'm really happy for you', or 'I'm so happy for you'.

Reacting to bad news or good news.

How can you react? How can you show sympathy, and how can you react in a positive way?

Okay, your friend has bad news. How can you react?

You need to show sympathy, so how can you do that?

If there is a death, specifically, that's the sentence you need.

'I'm so sorry to hear that.'

That is the standard sentence.

Um, if you want to add more to that, you could say: 'Oh that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that.'

Now yes, this word, 'sucks', that is informal. It is casual.

But, if you're being genuine it's okay. If you're being sincere, that's okay.

However, don't use this in a formal situation because some people might think that you don't care.

So, just be careful.

For example, if that's your friend, you know each other, she knows that you care, that's good, but if that is, I don't know your boss or someone new, or someone older, they might not like that word, so just be careful.

'Oh mate, that's awful.'

So, in this one, we add a more personal feeling, right?

'Mate', we're showing that we're close to you.

'Mate' is a British term, it means friend, right?

So, 'Mate that's awful'.

'Awful' means very, very bad. Terrible.

Pronunciation: notice again I said that 'L' like in 'L' 'Awful.' 'Awful.'

Say with me, 'awful'. 'Mate that's awful.'

Good!

Okay, more positive news.

Your friend is going on holiday; how can you react? how can you say, 'Dude, yes'!

'No way!' It's a good reaction to good news... or bad news.

You could use this for bad news.

It's just, it's surprise, so it's good for any situation in which you are surprised.

'That's awesome'!, or 'That is cool'!

Or finally, 'That's nuts'!

This one, you're adding more emotion, more surprise like, 'Wow, that's nuts'!

'Nuts' means crazy, but in this context, it means that's crazy good.

If you want to see more videos like this, you can subscribe to my channel, hit the bell so you get a notification whenever I upload a new video.

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And I'll see you in the next class.