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One phrase, real English. This is episode one. You are going to master today's phrase and start using it like a native speaker. Are you ready? Well, then let's jump right in. Our phrase for today's lesson is my bad. Repeat after me again. My bad. Excellent. Very simple. Right now, here's what this phrase actually means. It's a casual way to admit you did something wrong. It's short for ah that was my mistake or ah that was my fault and it functions as a quick low pressure apology. It's a combination of two words that do the job of a full sentence. So in English we say my bad. But we have to go deeper in order for you to use this phrase properly. You see, this phrase has many different emotional meanings.
Now, it is an apology, but it's a light one. It's not a deep apology. It really communicates, uh, I messed up. I'm owning it, but let's move on. It's not rude, but it's saying, hey, I did mess up. I acknowledge it. I would like to move on. My bad. It carries a tone of casualness. So, we'll talk more about this because you want to be careful when you use it. It doesn't really show deep remorse. Remember, it's a light apology. It signals that you're not making a big deal out of the mistake. Like, oh, my bad. I'm I'm sorry. I didn't realize it. My bad. And native speakers, native English speakers reach for this phrase, my bad, when we want to take responsibility without dramatizing
the moment. Like, oh my goodness, no. We want to keep it light. Hey, my bad. I didn't mean that. And also, it keeps the energy in the conversation easy and unbothered. Actually, someone this morning sent me a message. He had made a mistake and he said, "Oh, Tiff, my bad." And immediately there was this lightness, this release, this ease when he said, "Ah, my bad." Now, there are different feelings. So, let's let's dive deeper into the different feelings attached to this phrase. Now, the same two words can land in very different ways depending on the moment. This is why we're diving deeper into the phrase. So, let's say, for example, you want a casual or quick acknowledgement of
something that actually happened. This is how you'd say it. You bump into someone in a hallway. You can say, "Oh, my bad. You bumped into them. It's not a big deal, but you want to acknowledge and say sorry." You say, "H, my bad." This feels light, almost reflexive. No real weight to it, right? You're not saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." No. Ah, my bad. very casual and quick acknowledgement. Our second example for again the feeling of this phrase when you're genuinely apologetic but you still want to be casual. You can say for example in a situation where you forget to text a friend back for two days. They texted
you and it's been two days. You can say my bad. I completely forgot to get back to you. You see, this is sincere, but it still keeps the conversation very relaxed. What about this example? Let's say you want to be playful and you kind of want to joke with your friends. This is how you would say it. You've eaten the last slice of pizza that your roommate actually wanted. You can say, "Oops, my bad." You have a little smirk on your face. You're not really sorry. You're just acknowledging it with humor. You're being playful. You're joking around. And what about this example? When you're being slightly dismissive, you can say, let's say someone gets
annoyed at you for a small thing, you can say, "Okay, my bad. Relax." Again, it carries an edge like, "Fine, I admit it, but you need to calm down." You see, again, there's different feeling. And there's a different feeling attached to this phrase depending on the situation in which it is used. Now, I want you to pay attention in our first dialogue to how this is actually used. Let's say you are at a coffee shop. Here's the dialogue that happens. Jasmine, hey, I thought you were grabbing me a latte, too. Marcus, wait. Oh, my bad. I completely forgot. You want me to go back? Jasmine. Nah, it's fine. I'll get one later. MARCUS, NO. NO, I GOT YOU. I'll be right back. You see how my bad
was used in this situation? Oh, I'm so sorry. My bad. I'll go back and get you one. Now, I want to break this down even more. You see, my bad, why does this sound so natural in this situation? My bad comes out the second the mistake is realized. It's an instant reflex. and paired with, "I completely forgot," which softens it further. You see, a native speaker wouldn't say, "I sincerely apologize for forgetting your beverage." That would feel theatrical and weird between friends. The phrase keeps the moment light and moves the conversation forward. My bad. A very useful phrase. You're seeing now why this is so powerful. Now, we're going to go to our next dialogue. But if you enjoy this type of lesson and you want
to every day of the week from Sunday to Friday get a new phrase in your inbox via email totally for free and learn a new English phrase, all you have to do is go to www.dailyenglishvocabulary.com. Again, www.denglishvocabulary.com dailyenglishvocabulary.com and I'll send you from Sunday to Friday every day a new phrase to help you expand your English. Now, let's look at dialogue number two. This is about playing basketball with friends. Now, here's the dialogue. Andre, DUDE, I WAS WIDE OPEN. TYLER, my bad, my bad. I didn't see you. Andre, next time look up, Tyler. Got it. My fault. You see how it's used in this real situation, a natural situation? H. My bad. Now, why?
Let's break this down. Why this sounds so natural? You see, in sports and group activities, my bad is the standard quick apology. Saying it twice, "My bad, my bad," adds emphasis and shows you really mean it without slowing the game down. Notice how it flows into my fault. Both phrases live in the same emotional space. A full apology would kill the flow of the game. If someone all of a sudden, oh, I'm so sorry I didn't pass you the ball. My sincere apologies. Dude, just say my bad and let's keep it moving. What about this dialogue? Again, this is at work. We're looking at a casual office setting. Rachel, did you send that email to the client yet, David? Oh, shoot. My bad. I'll send it
right now. Rachel, okay, just CC me when you do, David. Will do. You see how quick that was? He acknowledged that he didn't send it. He apologized by saying, "Oh, my bad. I'll do it right now." I want us to go a bit deeper, though. Why does this sound so natural? You see, my bad works here because the office tone is casual and the mistake is small. It owns the slip without making it a bigger deal than it actually is. Pairing it with immediate action like, "I'll send it right now," shows accountability through behavior, not over apologizing. And this is how real co-workers actually talk, not how email templates sound. This is why this phrase my bad is so powerful and so useful. Now, there
are a few cultural notes that I want to bring to your attention again as we're looking at our phrase for today. My bad. Here's the first thing. Where did this actually come from? You see, my bad actually rose to popularity through American basketball culture in the 1980s and the 1990s. Then it spread into mainstream casual English. It's so interesting because I play basketball in the 80s and the '9s with my friends and we say, "Oh, my bad, my bad." And now it's become a term that is used widely, even outside of basketball games. Here's the second cultural note I want you to understand. Why natives, native English speakers, why we love it so much. You see, English speakers, especially
American English speakers, often avoid sounding overly formal or dramatic in everyday situations. My bad gives you a way to apologize without the heaviness of I'm so sorry. It's a casual way of expressing your apology. The third cultural note, the cultural value underneath this phrase, my bad. You see, American casual culture rewards lightness, quick recovery, and not making moments awkward. My bad fits that perfectly. It's a part of our culture.
Number four, generational note. You see, it's used across generations. Now, back in the day, in the ' 80s and the '90s, when I played basketball, a lot of the younger people would say, "My bad." But now, it's crossed generations. However, it still carries a casual, almost youthful energy. So, I may not hear my parents or a grandparents saying it as much as someone in uh maybe their 30s, 40s, or even 20s saying it, but it is used across generations. And number five, what it signals about you. You see, when you use my bad naturally, it signals that you're comfortable in casual English. It's an insider phrase. And if you're watching the video, ignore me doing the air quotes. I'm doing that
because I see it on the screen. But using this, it shows that you have an insider track. It's interesting. Earlier, I think I may have mentioned it. My a friend of mine who also works with me, he was texting me and he had made a mistake or forgot to send me something and he said, "My bad." Now, English is his third language. The moment he said my bad, I said, "Woo, you used that phrase so well, it felt so natural." He felt like a native English speaker in that moment. It's an insider phrase. Now, when should you use this phrase? So, here's the first situation in which you can use. I'm going to give you three situations. Situation number one, with friends in casual situations, forgetting something small or bumping
into someone or making a minor mistake. In these situations, you can say, "Ah, my bad." The second situation when you can use this is when you're in a casual workplace environment or you're with co-workers you're close with, right? Not to your boss, but your co-workers you're close with. when you have a small slip or you missed an email or a minor oversight where the tone is relaxed like, "Oh, my bad girl. Oh, my bad." Again, with co-workers you are comfortable with, co-workers you're close to. And finally, you can use it during sports, during games, or group activities. You see, when you mess up a play or miss a pass or make a quick mistake and need to keep the energy moving. For example, true story. This
past Sunday, I played in a flag football game. I played with a co-ed team. We won, by the way. We won. It was 26 to6. We did well. Um, and someone like there was a catch, right? A ball was thrown. The football was thrown. Someone missed it. What did they say to the quarterback? My bad, man. It slipped out my hands. Don't hit me. Hit me again. My bad. It slipped out my hands again during a game. A very simple apology. I should have caught that. Great throw. Great throw to the quarterback, but ah the person missed it. My bad. So these are the three situations you can start using my bad in. But what about when you should not use this phrase? So I want to
give you different situations which you should not use this phrase in. Three situations. First, in serious situations where someone is genuinely hurt or upset. You see, if you've truly let someone down, my bad sounds dismissive and like you don't care. If you really did something to hurt someone and your response is my bad, you don't sound sincere. It doesn't sound like you're really acknowledging how much you hurt them, how much you disappointed them. So, you don't want to use this in serious situations where someone is genuinely hurt or upset. The second situation is in formal professional settings. You don't want to use this, let's say, in job interviews or client meetings with executives or formal
presentations or written professional emails. It's too casual and it signals you don't read the room. So, you don't want to use this in professional settings. Now, earlier, remember I said if you're with your co-workers and you're close with them and it's a situation where you guys are kind of closed off, not an email, it's okay. But you don't want to use this in formal professional settings. And the final situation in which you don't want to use this is when apologizing for something significant. You see, missing an important deadline that affected the team or forgetting a major commitment or hurting someone's feelings. The lightness of my bad clashes with the weight of the situation. So when there's something very serious, there's
something very significant where an apology, a sincere apology is merited, you don't want to use my bad. Now you see this is a very powerful phrase, a phrase that native speakers use on a regular basis. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and I hope you start using my bad today.
