10 Better Ways to Say “I’m Hungry” in English [524]

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In this episode, you’ll learn different ways to describe hunger in English. Instead of using the same basic sentence, you’ll expand your vocabulary and express different levels of hunger more clearly. I explain how each phrase is used so you can speak more naturally in everyday conversations.

You’ll learn practical phrases used in British English, including polite alternatives and common slang. These expressions will also help with IELTS, TOEFL, and CAE exam preparation. Improve your vocabulary and make your English sound more natural.

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Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. So anything that you need, you know where to contact me, www.englishlessonfikaskype.com. I'm always very, very happy to hear from you. Okay, so this is an advanced English lesson and we're looking at ways to describe hunger. Now, we're going to look at it in a few different ways. We're going to look at it in terms of when you're a little bit hungry, so a little bit more polite. When you're very hungry, so you've got a bit of an appetite, or when you're very, very hungry, so you're really starving. So different words can describe different levels of hunger that you feel. And we've all been in those situations. You know, we just want something quick, we just want something filling, or we want as much food as we can possibly get because we feel as if we haven't eaten for days. So all these words, advanced expressions and ways to describe hunger. So I've got 10 in total. Let me go through them with you. First one, very British this one, and it means when you're a little hungry, so you're not starving, okay? You're a little hungry. Say, I'm peckished, okay? So somebody might say, would you like something to eat? I'm a little peckished. I don't want much, just something small, but I'm a little bit peckish. A peck is like what a hen or a bird does. They peck, peck, peck, peck at the food, or the woodpecker. You hear the name of the woodpecker? Peck, peck, peck. So when you're feeling a little peckish, it's not a big, big meal that you want, just a little meal to help you get over until you have your full dinner or lunch, whatever it is that you're going to eat. So I am peckished, or I'm a little peckish. Or a nibble. Yeah, I could have a nibble. A nibble, again, is something very small. If you pick up a biscuit and you bite little pieces from it, you nibble on the biscuit. Or if you see a squirrel or a mouse, they nibble at the food. They don't take big, big chunks. That's just the way they are. So they nibble. So if you said, yeah, I could have a nibble, it means I could have something small, not something huge, something quite small. But yeah, it would be appetizing and enjoyable, but not something big. We used to have a game with biscuits when we used to hold the biscuit and eat the outside of the biscuit and then move your way in rather than taking big bites of the biscuit and little nibbles. How many nibbles could you get? Okay, so first one, I'm peckish. The second one, I could have a nibble. Okay, and the third one, yeah, I fancy a bite to eat. And again, it's a way of saying that politely that you'd like something to eat, but not a big, big meal. Yeah, so what do you want to do? Do you want to go for coffee or do you fancy a bite to eat? Yeah, I fancy a bite to eat. A cup of coffee and a sandwich or a cup of coffee and a biscuit or a cup of coffee and a snack is another way of explaining it. Then these are polite ways of saying that you are a little hungry, but not really, really hungry. Okay. Now, if we are feeling very hungry, then we might say I'm starving. Okay, now the definition of starvation is a lot worse than that. Somebody who hasn't eaten for three or four or five days, then they can be literally suffering from starvation. But when we say I'm starving, it usually means that we've been doing some exercise, perhaps a workout in the gym, or we've been working hard all day, and we've skipped our lunch. So when we get home in the evening, you know, our partner says, you know, would you like something to eat? Oh, yeah, I'm starving. I haven't eaten all day. And that sounds as if you're about to die. But of course, you're not. But it's just the way you feel. I'm starving. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonfireskype.com and you can apply for a free try lesson and we'd be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Another way of saying I'm starving is rhyming slang. Now, if you don't understand the British English so well, rhyming slang comes from a particular area of London. The real Londoners, the East Londoners, are called Cockneys and they have a certain language that they use called rhyming slang where words rhyme together and they have a very different meaning. So for example if they want to go up the stairs they refer to the apple and pears and it rhymes with stairs. I'm just going to go up the apple and pears means I'm going to go up the stairs. So when they're talking about being starving, starving as we'd like to pronounce it, starving they say, I'm Hank Marvin. Hank Marvin. Now Hank Marvin, for those of you who are not at my age, he used to be with the group called the Shadows and the Shadows were a very famous group, English group, who used to back Cliff Richard and Cliff Richard is still alive now. I think he's in his 80s but he was a real, one of the first British pop stars of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s. He had so many many hit records and the backing group that he had were called the Shadows. So lots of his earlier records were Cliff Richard and The Shadows and one of the members of the group the Shadows was this guy called Hank Marvin. So people from London now use this and have used it for many decades as part of their rhyming slang. I'm Hank Marvin means I'm starving. I really would like something to eat. Okay, I'm not even sure if Hank Marvin is still alive today. Hopefully he is. But if you feel like a blast of the past, go onto the internet and download some music from The Shadows. They've got some real cult music that you'd recognize from that era, some really classic guitar work. And Hank Marvin was a guitarist and really, really a good guitarist. And then if you listen to some of the records of Cliff Richard and The Shadows, you'll understand who I'm talking about. Okay, so to be Hank Marvin starving. Okay, but Hank Marvin is his name. Starvin, but we should pronounce it correctly, starving. Number six, if we're really, really hungry, somebody could say, oh yeah, I'm really hungry. I could eat a horse. So hopefully they won't eat the horse, but it means they've got a really big appetite, and they've, you know, maybe been training hard in the gym, playing a football match, a rugby match, whatever. They're really hungry, so yeah, I could eat a horse. Or very simply, I'm famished. So when somebody is famished, they're very, very hungry. I'm famished. I don't think I've eaten since breakfast this morning. I'm famished. And if it's a cold day where a nice bowl of hot soup followed by something else, we'll just hit the exact spot. I'm famished. I'm starving. Another degree above being famished and above being starving is I'm ravenous. So that really explains how hungry you are. Yeah. Oh, the kids, they were ravenous when they came home from the couple of days away from home. They went on a school trip. I don't know what they were doing. I don't think they got fed properly. But when they came home, they emptied the fridge in minutes. They were ravenous. So to be ravenous means really, really hungry. Yeah, ravenous. Or if your stomach starts to rumble or growl, as we call it, you say, oh, yeah, my stomach has been rumbling for hours. I could really do with a good meal, rumbling or growling for hours. So the rumbling of the stomach or the growling of the stomach seems to suggest that my stomach is empty and I really need to fill it. So a nice bowl of hot soup or a big plate of potatoes and other vegetables is just what I want. So to stop my stomach rumbling or to stop my stomach from growling. In the Irish English expressions, we hear this phrase, my stomach thinks my throat has been cut. So it sounds very gruesome, yeah, but it gives you the impression that your stomach has been empty for a long time and you haven't eaten, and my stomach thinks that my throat has been cut. So as I said, a little bit gruesome, but you get the picture. And then the last one, number 10, I'm dying for something to eat. I'm dying for a burger. I've been thinking about a burger and chips all day. So you've got yourself into that particular mood that you're working hard and you say, oh, I know what I'm going to have when I go home. I'm going to have a burger and chips, a big double burger or a big mac and plenty of French fries and ketchup on the side, whatever. So I'm dying for a burger and chips. Or if you haven't eaten a particular meal for a while, it doesn't necessarily mean you haven't eaten at all, but you haven't eaten your favorite meal for a while. Oh, I'm dying for a pizza. Yeah, I've been on a diet for several weeks and I've been trying to stay off some of the fast foods. So I'm dying for a pizza. I'm dying for a burger. I'm dying for a bowl of spaghetti. Whatever it might mean, dying for means I really, really can't wait. I really want that type of food. So I'm very, very hungry for that particular item. Okay, so there are 10 different ways to say that I'm hungry. Some refer to a little bit hungry, as we said, I'm peckish. Some to being very hungry, like I'm starving. And then those that mean I'm really, really hungry, like I'm ravenous. Okay, so let me get them to you one more time quickly. Number one, I'm peckish. Very British English. I'm peckish. A little hungry. I could have a nibble or I could have a snack. I fancy a bite to eat. Something not so big, a bite to eat. I'm starving. I'm starving. I haven't eaten all day. I'm Hank Marvin, as I said, this rhyming cockney slang. I'm Hank Marvin. I could eat a horse. I could eat a horse. Hopefully not. I could eat a horse. Of course, there are many countries in the world where horse meat is really acceptable there, and that's what they grow. I could eat a horse. I'm famished. Absolutely famished. I'm ravenous. Oh, I'm so hungry. I'm ravenous. My stomach is growling. My stomach is rumbling. And then finally, I'm dying for, dying for that burger and chips. Okay, so ten individual ways in which you can say I'm hungry. So practice some of those. Practice them with your friends. See, do they feel the same way? Listen out for what they say when they are talking about what they're going to eat. And you might pick up on some of these expressions. And if you need some additional help, then please write to me, www.englishlessonbyscape.com, and I'm really happy to help you with some additional expressions and additional phrases. The best way for you to understand them, the best way for you to remember them, is to write them down. Try to use your own words, situations, and that really, really will help you. Okay, so this is Harry Stane. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. As always, join me for the next lesson.

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