Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 542

Want to sound more fluent when discussing money and cost in English? In this episode, you’ll learn 10 natural alternatives to the word “expensive” that native English speakers actually use in everyday conversations. This vocabulary is perfect for intermediate and advanced English learners who want to improve their speaking and listening skills. 

If you’re preparing for an English exam like IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge, or if you just want to feel more confident when speaking English at work or in social situations, this lesson will help you improve your vocabulary.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. And in our advanced English lesson today, we're looking at different ways to say expensive. So the idea of these particular lessons is to help you to get other ways in which you can express yourself. So we're looking at number one, and this is a very, very British expression. Dear. Okay, now dear is one of those words that has lots and lots of different uses. I can use it at the beginning of a letter. Dear Mr. Smith, I would like to write to you, blah, blah, blah. Or it can be a term of endearment. Oh, my dear, it's great to see you. Okay, but we do use the word D E A R dear when we're talking about something that is expensive. Oh, it's very dear. Yeah. So perhaps you're thinking about going for a weekend to a hotel with your husband, your partner, and he or she tells you, well, it's going to be 400 euro for two of us for two nights. Oh, that's very dear. Don't you think we could find something a little bit cheaper? Okay, so dear is a way of saying something is expensive. Now, we don't use it before now. We don't say it's dear meat. We don't say it's a dear hotel. Yeah, it's just it is dear. It's the prices. Yeah, it is dear. 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.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free tri-lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Number two, a bit more of what I would call a stronger emphatic adjective here. It's exorbitant. So the prices are exorbitant. So if you go to a five-star hotel, well then you're going to pay five-star prices and it's exorbitant. I mean it's a really, really comfortable hotel, but you have to pay for everything. The room prices, the breakfast isn't included, if you want the spa treatment. Wow, these are really, really top-level prices, exorbitant. And be careful with the pronunciation. It's not exorbitant, it's exorbitant, exorbitant prices. Okay? Oh, the prices in this country are exorbitant, exorbitant, really, really high. So exorbitant is what we would call an extreme adjective. When something is very costly, it's at one level, but when it's exorbitant, it's at a totally different level, a much higher level. So we would refer to it as one of those extreme adjectives. Now, something a little bit more informal, pricey. Don't you think it's a little pricey? Now, it's not saying the price. Pricey means expensive, okay? But it's a more informal way to refer to it. Yeah, I really love going to that new retail center out of town. I mean, it's really, really good, but it's very pricey. I mean, everything seems to be up 20% compared to the other shopping center. So when something is pricey, it just means it's a little bit too much out of your range. Perhaps it's the new latest iPhone, or perhaps it's the new gym that's opened in town, and you look at the membership. Wow, it's pricey, isn't it? I mean, yeah, but the equipment is really good. I mean, it's the best equipment. It's all technology driven. Hmm, I don't know. It's a bit pricey for me. Okay, so it's a little bit too expensive for me. Costs an arm and a leg. This is a really old, old expression. When there's something that's a little bit out of your range, you can refer to it. Well, it costs an arm and a leg, or it costs an arm and a leg. You come home with a new car and your friends are looking at this and say, wow, that's some car, man. That's absolutely beautiful. And the color is really good. Wow, that must have cost you an arm and a leg. And you say, well, I went a little bit outside my budget, but you know, I think it's going to be worth it because it really is a cool car to drive. Yeah, your friends look at this and think, hmm, I think that cost an arm and a leg. You really paid a lot for that. It cost an arm and a leg. Now, if we feel that something is completely overpriced, okay, now it could be anything. Let's say it could be tickets for your favorite football team. Perhaps they're playing in the final or the semifinal of some competition and you really want to go there and you know you might not get the opportunity again for several years. So you pay the prices, but when you come home, you give the tickets to your partner and say, well, look, I got the tickets, but I have to tell you, a total rip-off. I mean, I don't know how they justify charging this amount of money. Really, honestly, it's a joke. It's a complete rip-off. So when it's a rip-off, it means somebody is charging you much, much more than you really wanted to pay. It's a rip-off, and they're taking advantage of the fact that they know there will be a shortage of tickets. They know that there'll be people who want to go and that those people will be prepared to pay, well, anything to get to see their favorite team. So it's a rip-off. Another way of saying the same thing is it's daylight or highway robbery. Okay, now in the old, old, old days, highway robbery was when the man on the horse with a mask would stop the stagecoach and rob all the people of the jewelry and the money. And this used to happen a lot up and down the lanes of England. So these guys would be called highway robbers. You know, they would just stop you unexpectedly and yeah, they would take everything from everybody. Okay, so highway robbers. So we now use this expression, daylight robbery or highway robbery, meaning it's almost the same as somebody stopping you and taking everything that you have. Yeah, so when somebody charges you a really, really high price. So let's say you are trying to get the new mobile phone. So you get in the queue and when you get up to the door, the guy tells you that there's only a few of them left and the price is 1,300 Euro for the phone. And you go, what? 1,300 Euro for a phone? That's highway robbery. That's daylight robbery. I'm not going to pay that. Now, you can also use this expression when perhaps you've got a leak in your bathroom pipe or the kitchen pipe and you need to get a plumber and it's a Sunday and there's nobody there, but you get onto one of these emergency services and you say, look, I have a real problem. I've got a leak in my bathroom and a lot of water. I need to get it fixed immediately. The guy says, okay, yeah, fine. We can have somebody out to you in 15 minutes, but there's going to be a minimum charge of 100 Euro for a call out on a Sunday, plus parts and labor. So just to let you know, what? 100 Euro before you even look at it. That's daylight robbery. That's highway robbery. But what choice have I got? I need to get the pipe fixed. So you end up paying it. Number seven, out of my reach or beyond my reach or beyond reach. Okay, so this is where something is just that little bit too expensive. And even though you might like to get it, you're not really prepared to push yourself to those limits because you're just going to have to cut out on something else. Okay, so you're looking to change your car or you're looking to have that really wonderful exclusive holiday. So you look at the ads on the internet and you see this five-star resort. You've got scuba diving, you've got all sorts of activities, you've got all-inclusive meals, collection from the airport to the hotel and back again, luxury trips on a yacht. And then you see the price and go, oh, that sounds so wonderful, but it's just out of my reach or it's beyond my reach. Perhaps next year, we might save up a little bit more money and we might be able to go next year. But at the moment, unfortunately, it's beyond my reach or it's out of my reach. And the same way with that car. So you're passing by the car showroom one day and you see one for sale and you're looking at it. Ah, and it's just, wow, it's a dream car. So you ask the guy, what's the price? And he gives you the price. And you go, what? Wow. Oh, no, that's beyond my reach. It's out of my reach. Ah, no, no. Forget it. I'm really sorry for bothering you. Beautiful car, but I just couldn't justify spending so much money on a car. So it's out of my reach or it's beyond my reach. And in a similar way, number eight, we have the expression, break the bank. When something breaks the bank, it really pushes you over the edge. Yeah, I could afford that car. I really could, but it would have broken the bank. Yeah, I'd have to break the bank to get it. It means I'd have to spend absolutely everything I have and more besides. So I'd probably have to be calling my bank manager and saying, could I have a car loan? So I'd be breaking the bank to get it. And I really, really don't want to do that now. Look, I think I'll just drive this car for another 12 months. Let's see what happens. So if I went and I did that, yeah, it would break the bank. Nice idea, beautiful car, but it's going to break the bank to get it. Or simply, just a very straightforward expression. Look, guys, I just can't afford it. Oh, we're going away for the weekend. We haven't been away as a group for ages. In fact, since we were at college. So we'll book into a hotel, play a couple of games of golf, have a couple of meals. Guys, guys, guys, I got a baby on the way. Just started a new job. I just can't afford it. So when something is out of your reach, beyond your reach, something you just don't want to spend the money on, it's just easier to say, I just can't afford. Nice to have, but I can't or I cannot afford it. And then finally, number 10, when something is expensive and we look at it, we can say, hmm, that I bet that costs a fortune, or I bet that costs a small fortune. It means exactly the same, but when we use small, we're in some ways just using it to emphasize the fact that this is going to be very, very expensive. Oh, look at that house. Yeah. Oh, it's beautiful. I mean, really beautiful. But look where it is. It's in the center of the most expensive part of the city. So that's going to cost a fortune or it's going to cost a small fortune. I wouldn't even like to ask how much that would cost. It's just beyond our reach at the moment. Nice to see, nice to look at, but in reality, we can't afford that. It's going to cost a small fortune. And imagine the furniture that you'd have to buy to fill those rooms. I mean, the what, five bedrooms? Oh, yeah, that's going to cost a lot of money also. So no, I'm sorry. It'll cost a small fortune or it'll cost a fortune. Okay, so there we have 10, 10 different ways in which you can express something as being expensive. Okay, so let me run through you, run through them for you one more time. Something is dear. And as I said, that's very British English. It's dear. It's exorbitant. And remember the pronunciation, exorbitant. Pricey. It's a bit pricey, isn't it? It'll cost an arm and a leg. I bet it costs an arm and a leg. Ah, that. It's a total rip-off. A total rip-off. Daylight robbery. Highway robbery. Really, really expensive. How do they justify that? Daylight robbery. It's out of my reach or beyond my reach. I'd like to get it, but just a little bit more expensive than I'm prepared to pay. Out of my reach, beyond my reach. If I buy that, I'll have to break the bank. Or it broke the bank to get it, to break the bank, spend more money than I actually have. Simply, I cannot afford it. I just cannot afford it. And then finally, cost a small fortune. I bet that cost a small fortune. Don't even tell me. I bet it cost a small fortune. So they're all to do with being expensive. Yeah, you can try them, put them into different sentences. Now, you won't be able to use all of them to substitute each other. They're not all directly synonymous, but you just have to practice and see what you're talking about and see the situation and try to explain them and try to use them. And if you've got difficulties, come back to me, www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Very happy to give you more examples and show you how you can use them more accurately. Okay, this is Harry. Thanking you for watching and listening. And remember, join me for the next lesson.