Sound more natural in English: 10 informal commands

Are you having a hard time finding useful English lessons on the internet? Hang in there! You've come to the right place! In this lesson, I teach 10 common informal imperatives that will help you to sound more natural in your everyday English conversations. These are common and real English expressions that you will hear in many different situations. The informal imperatives in this lesson include: "cut it out", "get lost", "sleep tight", "chill out", "dig in", "watch your step", and more. Take the quiz to test your understanding: https://www.engvid.com/10-informal-commands/

NEXT, watch my lesson on 30 Phrasal Verb Commands in English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7_QXVcvcfQ&t=0s&list=PLrPhmmx5j5b-AjltXcrLI4iiqF7lsj_P8&index=7

TRANSCRIPT

Hey, everyone. Ah! Ugh. Ugh, okay. I should have watched my step. Okay, let's try that again. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "Informal Imperatives". What is an imperative? It's a call to action, it's a command. It's basically a base verb, like: "Stop", "Don't do that", "Watch out". Today we're going to look at a bunch of these expressions, and they're going to be informal in nature. And I'm going to give you the informal way to use the command and expression, and then tell you the more standard way that you can, you know, use this expression as well. So, you'll be getting double the knowledge, double the fun today. And hopefully I can get through this lesson without falling on my rear end, we'll say.

Okay, first one: "Cut it out!" "Cut it out" just means: "Stop it." Okay? So, if someone is, for example, like, tickling you and you're laughing, like: "Oh, stop, stop, stop. Cut it out. Cut it out. Cut it out." This means: "Stop. I don't like what you're doing. Cut it out. Stop." If you're a parent, you might say this to your kids. If your kids are, you know, fighting with each other and you just want them to stop, say: "Cut it out. Stop. Don't do that." Okay?

Next: "Get lost!" This is very rude, very strong. It's a way to tell someone to go away. "Leave me alone." So: "Go away. Leave me alone." Or: "Get lost. I don't care where you go, you can get lost in a forest somewhere or on a highway. It doesn't matter, just leave me alone." Okay? So: "Get lost!"

Next: "Sleep tight." This is more for parents I think, so if you say: "Sleep tight" to someone, this means: "Sleep well. Have a good night. Enjoy your sleep." Okay? So usually this is parents to kids who might say this, but if you ever see it on TV or something like that, you know, you will understand what "Sleep tight" means.

Next: "Chill out!" So: "Chill out!", "Calm down!" Maybe you're more familiar with: "Calm down!" or "Relax!" Okay? So, "to chill" means to cool something, so you can chill a beverage, chill a drink in the fridge or in some ice. You can chill wine if you go to a restaurant in, like, a bucket with ice. So, to chill out, like: "You're... You're too intense. Just chill out, calm down, relax."

Next: "Dig in". In this context, basically you're sitting at a table for dinner, for lunch, and everyone's sitting down and they're doing the polite thing where they wait for everyone else to sit to get ready to eat. When everyone's ready, okay, in French you would say: "Bon appetit"; in English, you can say: "Dig in". "To dig" is to do this with a shovel, so you're digging in usually with a fork or a spoon on this... In this part of the world. So: "Dig in. Start eating. You can eat."

Next: "Watch your step", like me. "Be careful where you are walking." So, if you're walking with a friend and you're talking on the street and your friend sees some, let's say dog poo... Okay? Your friend sees some dog poo on the... On the sidewalk, says: -"Whoa, whoa. Watch your step." -"Oh, I should watch where I'm walking." Or maybe there's a little hole in the ground, so: "Watch your step." Okay?

Next: "Quit your moaning." This means: "Stop complaining." Moaning is basically this kind of sound, like: "Mmm. Mmm. Emm." And you're always complaining, you're not happy with your life or your situation, and your friend might tell you: "Quit your moaning. Stop complaining." So, informally: "Stop complaining." Sorry, standard language or formal... Not really formal, it's just standard: "Stop complaining." Informal: "Quit your moaning." Okay?

Next: "Hang in there." Okay? This means: "Don't give up. I know life is difficult, I know that you didn't get that job after the job interview, but hang in there. Don't give up." So: "hang", when you grab onto something and you hold on, you're hanging onto it, so: "Hang in there. Don't give up. Good things will happen."

Next: "Whoa, whoa. Hold your horses." Err, hold them back. So, if you're telling someone to hold their horses... Hold your horses: "Wait. Stop. Slow down. Don't get too excited. Hold your horses." […]