I guess one of the most commonly heard expressions with God is Thank God! We say basically the same thing in Brazil – thank God is what we say when we’re relieved that something happened or didn’t happen, and so on. “Thank God you got here on time! No one can get in after the gates have been closed.” Reminds me of Vestibular in Brazil every year…
“Thank God they have my size in blue.” Thank God we were able to find a place to eat. Thank God it didn’t rain last weekend. Thank God we have the Internet. Thank God it’s still sunny outside… and so on and so forth. Oh, this one: TGIF – thank God it’s Friday. Most of you listening to this episode are probably pretty familiar with Thank God. So please leave an example in the comments – how would you use this idiom today?
Now check this out – “My friend is ill and I am going to see her in three weeks, God willing.” God willing literally means if God wants it to happen. Of course, nowadays even people who are not religious and do not believe in God use that idiom. It just means something like “hopefully.”
Here’s one I found on Twitter: “God willing, one day I’ll write a book about my career.” My next vacation I’m going to a beach, God willing. Someone else said “God willing eight months from now I hope to be living in my new house.”
And how about this one – for God’s sake! Also, for God’s sakes. This one’s considered a bit rude over here – why? Because you say that when you’re annoyed and, everyone, I can tell you that people in this country – the UK – are very discreet about showing annoyance. Basically, they don’t. You can hardly ever tell when an English person is annoyed or angry. So when someone blurts out “For God’s sakes!”, you know they’re mad.
And here’s another way to vouch for your sincerity – say honest to God. “Honest to God, I didn’t see that car coming and before I knew it, it was too late.” What you’re doing here is saying that this is really true. Here are a few nice quotes from Twitter: I honest to God don’t know what’s going on with my hair today. I am truly and honest to God shaken at the Brad and Angelina divorce news. I am not fibbing when I say I get at least four mosquito bites every day. Like honest to God, every day. And one more: Honest to God I almost threw up now from laughing so hard. OK.
So these are all expressions that we also use in Brazil, in Portuguese obviously. We say these things every single day so please leave your own examples in the comments, and talk to you next time.
Ana criou um blog de dicas de inglês em 2006, e depois de muito pesquisar o que faz alguém ganhar fluência numa segunda língua, criou seu primeiro curso de inglês em 2009.
I totally agree with Jeff: Thank God we have the Podcast from Ingles Online! Ana, I honest to God, you are awesome! God willing you’ll continue doing that amazing job!
