Uploaded April 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Imagine you said or did something that hurt your closest friend. You feel terrible, and you want to ask for forgiveness. How should you express yourself? What words should you use? It's not always easy to say the right thing in difficult situations. I am here to help. In this lesson, I will teach you vocabulary that will allow you to express yourself in conversations of an awkward or upsetting nature. We will look at words like "regret", "empathize", acknowledge", "mend", and more. I will also give you a few examples, and we will practice together to help you sound genuine during a difficult conversation. You might even be able to fix the situation if you use the right words. So watch the lesson, do the quiz at engvid.com/english-vocabulary-apologies-condolences and good luck.
NEXT, watch these videos for more vocabulary:
1. How to talk about religion:
youtube.com/watch?v=HMrfHk5Y7Iw&index=10&list=PL1MxVBsQo85q6Yb2v9hLIurN6nm7vTBMi&
2. Don't care about religion? Maybe you want to talk about DRINKING!
youtube.com/watch?v=2_52p4x0ugI&index=9&list=PL1MxVBsQo85q6Yb2v9hLIurN6nm7vTBMi
TRANSCRIPT
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Hi. James from engVid. Dreaming, what am I dreaming about? Well, this lesson, to be honest. I'm trying to find a way that would be easier to have difficult conversations. It's a dream, but it's a dream I'm going to help you turn into a reality. Today what we're going to look at is nine words... ten words to give you to use in conversations that you might find difficult in English that no one else has given you. I will give you some situations that you could use these words in, and then we're going to play, have a little bit of fun. Okay? It's something you can do by yourself, you can do it with a friend, or a group, and it will help you become more creative and a lot better with English, more like a native speaker because you'll understand what these words are and how to use them appropriately. Are you ready? Let's go to the board. As E says, these are difficult conversations. There are many different types, from relationship and work, so we're going to have a bit of fun. And I'll start off with the words first.
Let's look at the word "confess". When you confess something it means you must give the truth or tell the truth about something, something that someone hasn't known, you will have to tell them. Right? I have to confess that I like yellow and I'm wearing yellow underwear. You didn't know, it's hidden, but now you know.
"Resolve", it means to find a way. If you resolve to do something, you want to resolve, you have decided to do something and you've got a strong... A strong desire to do it. A resolve to lose 15 pounds means I've made a promise to myself to work towards that to do that.
"Regret". Regret, you say you're sorry, and it means I feel bad about it. When you regret you wish you didn't do it. I regret breaking off with a girlfriend five years ago because she would have made the perfect wife. I regret.
"Condolences", use this one what we call sparingly, which means don't use it a lot. Condolences... Or the word "condolence" is usually reserved for death. Okay? So, when you say "condolence", if you say: "I give my condolences", you wouldn't say that if someone lost their job. "Oh, you lost your job? My condolences." They're not dying. They just don't have work. Okay? They have a future. But if you hear someone is really sick, they have cancer, serious cancer or their parent or someone that they know has died, then you would say: "I offer my condolences." You can even use it for a pet, if their dog that they've had for ten years has died, offer condolences. It means I'm extremely, extremely sorry that this has happened to you. Okay?
"Empathize". "Empathy" is to feel like someone else. "Empathize" is to... We can understand and have... Share the emotion with you. We have that empathy. And I say, I see a poor person on the street, and someone says: "Look, they're lazy." I go: "Can't you empathize? Imagine what it would be like. Feel what they feel."
"Mend". "Mend" means to fix, fix something. You want to mend it. You can mend a relationship. If you're fighting: We need to mend this relationship. All right? We need to make it better, fix it. If you break your arm and it's fixed, the arm is mended, you go your arm will mend; fix.
I like "disillusion". "An illusion" is something you think is true, but it's not. It's an illusion. Magic tricks. Here you go, here it's gone. Whenever I go like this, there's the illusion that I've been standing here waiting for you to come back. Right? It's all cameras. To be disillusioned is to believe something was true and you find out it's not true anymore. You think your mother or father is the greatest person on the planet, and then you find out, just like you, they have flaws or weaknesses, and they make mistakes. […]
Imagine you said or did something that hurt your closest friend. You feel terrible, and you want to ask for forgiveness. How should you express yourself? What words should you use? It's not always easy to say the right thing in difficult situations. I am here to help. In this lesson, I will teach you vocabulary that will allow you to express yourself in conversations of an awkward or upsetting nature. We will look at words like "regret", "empathize", acknowledge", "mend", and more. I will also give you a few examples, and we will practice together to help you sound genuine during a difficult conversation. You might even be able to fix the situation if you use the right words. So watch the lesson, do the quiz at engvid.com/english-vocabulary-apologies-condolences and good luck.
NEXT, watch these videos for more vocabulary:
1. How to talk about religion:
youtube.com/watch?v=HMrfHk5Y7Iw&index=10&list=PL1MxVBsQo85q6Yb2v9hLIurN6nm7vTBMi&
2. Don't care about religion? Maybe you want to talk about DRINKING!
youtube.com/watch?v=2_52p4x0ugI&index=9&list=PL1MxVBsQo85q6Yb2v9hLIurN6nm7vTBMi
TRANSCRIPT
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Hi. James from engVid. Dreaming, what am I dreaming about? Well, this lesson, to be honest. I'm trying to find a way that would be easier to have difficult conversations. It's a dream, but it's a dream I'm going to help you turn into a reality. Today what we're going to look at is nine words... ten words to give you to use in conversations that you might find difficult in English that no one else has given you. I will give you some situations that you could use these words in, and then we're going to play, have a little bit of fun. Okay? It's something you can do by yourself, you can do it with a friend, or a group, and it will help you become more creative and a lot better with English, more like a native speaker because you'll understand what these words are and how to use them appropriately. Are you ready? Let's go to the board. As E says, these are difficult conversations. There are many different types, from relationship and work, so we're going to have a bit of fun. And I'll start off with the words first.
Let's look at the word "confess". When you confess something it means you must give the truth or tell the truth about something, something that someone hasn't known, you will have to tell them. Right? I have to confess that I like yellow and I'm wearing yellow underwear. You didn't know, it's hidden, but now you know.
"Resolve", it means to find a way. If you resolve to do something, you want to resolve, you have decided to do something and you've got a strong... A strong desire to do it. A resolve to lose 15 pounds means I've made a promise to myself to work towards that to do that.
"Regret". Regret, you say you're sorry, and it means I feel bad about it. When you regret you wish you didn't do it. I regret breaking off with a girlfriend five years ago because she would have made the perfect wife. I regret.
"Condolences", use this one what we call sparingly, which means don't use it a lot. Condolences... Or the word "condolence" is usually reserved for death. Okay? So, when you say "condolence", if you say: "I give my condolences", you wouldn't say that if someone lost their job. "Oh, you lost your job? My condolences." They're not dying. They just don't have work. Okay? They have a future. But if you hear someone is really sick, they have cancer, serious cancer or their parent or someone that they know has died, then you would say: "I offer my condolences." You can even use it for a pet, if their dog that they've had for ten years has died, offer condolences. It means I'm extremely, extremely sorry that this has happened to you. Okay?
"Empathize". "Empathy" is to feel like someone else. "Empathize" is to... We can understand and have... Share the emotion with you. We have that empathy. And I say, I see a poor person on the street, and someone says: "Look, they're lazy." I go: "Can't you empathize? Imagine what it would be like. Feel what they feel."
"Mend". "Mend" means to fix, fix something. You want to mend it. You can mend a relationship. If you're fighting: We need to mend this relationship. All right? We need to make it better, fix it. If you break your arm and it's fixed, the arm is mended, you go your arm will mend; fix.
I like "disillusion". "An illusion" is something you think is true, but it's not. It's an illusion. Magic tricks. Here you go, here it's gone. Whenever I go like this, there's the illusion that I've been standing here waiting for you to come back. Right? It's all cameras. To be disillusioned is to believe something was true and you find out it's not true anymore. You think your mother or father is the greatest person on the planet, and then you find out, just like you, they have flaws or weaknesses, and they make mistakes. […]
