Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about expressions you can use to decline or reject invitations. So, these are expressions, you can use to politely say, "No," to something. Let's get started.
Okay. On this side of the board, I want to talk about some casual expressions. These are expressions you can use with friends, with family members, with close coworkers. These are everyday expressions you can use to say "no," when someone invites you to something. Let's start with the first one.
"Thanks for the invitation, but…" So, at native speed, this sounds like, "Thanks for the invitation, but…" You can use this in speech, and you can use this in writing. A couple of points: "Thanks for…" We use, "Thanks for," and we use "the invitation." "The invitation." So, this "the," means your invitation this time. "Thanks for the invitation, but…" And after "but," we include some reason. So, I'm going to say no, here's my reason. "Thanks for the invitation, but I have to work that day." "Thanks for the invitation, but I have to work that day." So, I've used "that day" in my example, but you can change "that day" to "I have to work tonight," or "I have to work tomorrow," or "I have to work that weekend." Whatever the time, whatever the day of the invitation, you can change this part of the pattern. "Sorry, I have to work that day." At native speed, this sounds like, "Thanks for the invitation, but I have to work," or "Thanks for the invitation, but I have to work that day."
Okay. The next one, "I already have plans." I already have plans. Please notice here, "plans" is in the plural form. So, not, "I already have a plan," but "I already have plans." We use this "plans" to talk about something we already decided to do. "I already have plans." This one is one I personally don't use a lot because it's not specific. If someone says, "Sorry, I already have plans, I feel like it's a lie. Like, they don't want to join me, and they don't have a good reason not to. So, they say this. I feel like this is one you can use if you really don't want to join someone, and you don't have a good reason to do that, or you don't have a good reason not to join. So, I don't like to use this one, generally. I'll try to be specific. Like, "Sorry, I have to work." Like, there's usually a reason I can't do something. But, you may hear this, which means someone already has a plan. Of course, you can use this as well if you have -- if you really do have a plan, and you don't want to tell the other person. It's a private plan, or there's some reason you want to keep it a secret. You can use, "I already have plans."
Okay. The next one is, "I'm not feeling well." "I'm not feeling well." So, don't forget this "M," I'm -- not "I not," but "I'm not." "I'm not feeling well." This means, "I'm sick." So, "I'm a little bit sick," that's the feeling here. "I'm not feeling well," in the progressive form here, shows that this is my condition now. So, at native speed, "Thanks for the invitation, but I'm not feeling well." So, this means, "I'm sick. Sorry. I can't join you." And, you can use "good" here, too. You will hear native speakers say, "I'm not feeling good." "I'm not feeling so good." "I'm not feeling great." You can change it a little bit. But, this is another common way to reject an invitation.
Okay. Another very useful one. This one I use a lot, honestly, is "I'm really busy with work." "I'm really busy with work." Of course, you can change "work" to "studies." "I'm really busy with my studies," or "I'm really busy studying for a test." Again, "I'm," don't forget this "M" sound. "I'm really busy." And you can change this. You can remove "really," and say, "Sorry, I'm busy with work," "I can't. I'm busy with work." That's fine as well. "Really," is just an emphasis word. "Sorry, I'm really busy with work." Also, we use this preposition here, "I'm really busy with work." Or, if you are at the office when you reply to this, in most cases, you can say, "I'm really busy at the office today," or "I'm really busy at work today. Sorry, I can't come." You may also hear that's used for places, "I'm really busy at the office." "Sorry, I'm really busy at school today." You can use it for places, too. Or you can use "with," plus work or studies. At native speed, it sounds like, "Thanks for the invitation, but I'm really busy with work."
Okay. Last one is, "I'm spending time with my family." "I'm spending time with my family." So again, "I'm," I am, plus the progressive "spending." "I'm spending time." So, "spending time," means I'm taking time or I'm using my time now to be with my family. "I'm spending time with my family." So, this means, "I have a plan," or right now, I am actually in the act of spending time with my family. So, you can use this to mean "now," at the moment. Or, you can also use this expression to mean "on that day." So, on the date of the invitation, you can use the same expression, too. So, "Sorry, I'm spending time with my family on that day." So, in native speed, sounds like, "Thanks for the invitation, but I'm spending time with my family."
Okay. So, these are a few good examples, I think, of reasons you can give when you need to reject an invitation. Some other things you might hear at the beginning of this statement are, "Sorry, I can't." "Sorry, I can't." So, this is common in like text messages because it's so short. This is especially common when you're talking with very close friends. Like, you don't need to say, "Thanks for the invitation," every time. But, this is very quick and easy. "Sorry, I can't. I have to work that day." So, follow, "Sorry, I can't," with one of these expressions or something similar.
Another good one is, "I would love to, but…" "I would love to, but…" So, this "to" is like a response to the invitation, a verb in the invitation. For example, "Do you want to see a new movie this weekend?" So, "I would love to see a new movie," but we drop the rest of that expression. "I would love to," verb from the invitation, "but I have to work that day. I already have plans. So, "I would love to," so this means this is an unreal situation. Like, "That sounds good," "That sounds awesome. I want to do that, but I can't." So, we use "would" here, instead of "will" Because this is unreal. A future thing that is unreal. So, "I would love to, but I can't." So, these are casual expressions you can use with your friends.
Okay. Let's go to some formal expressions on this side of the board. Of course, these expressions you can use at work as well. They don't sound rude. I would suggest using this one for work invitations to sound a little bit more polite. But, sometimes, you have invitations that are more formal. So, perhaps a business event or an academic event. Here's one example of a way to reject an invitation.
"I appreciate the invitation, but I am unable to attend." "I appreciate the invitation, but I am unable to attend." So, here I appreciate the invitation," this is a leveled-up form of "Thanks for the invitation." So, "I appreciate the invitation, but…" So, we have the same pattern here, just the level of formality is different. "I appreciate the invitation, but I am unable." "Unable" means not able. "I cannot do something." "I am unable to attend." So, "to come," in other words. So, this is for some kind of work event, some kind of maybe academic conference, for example. "I appreciate the invitation, but I'm unable to attend." You may hear a reason after this, "I'm unable to attend due to," something, something. "I'm unable to attend due to a prior engagement," or something like this. So, engagement -- "a prior engagement" means a plan I made before. So, a prior -- "prior" means before, "engagement" means some kind of activity, some kind of appointment. So, this is a fancy way of saying, "Thanks for the invitation. I can't come because I have other plans." That's what this means in a formal setting. So, this is quite common for again, more polite situations.
I want to introduce one more here. This one is one that we use in writing. Please note we use this in writing. This is a very common way to begin a rejection letter. So, this is something you may see from universities, in particular. If you apply for a school, you apply to enter a university, or you maybe apply for a job or something similar, and you receive a rejection letter or rejection email, you may see this near the beginning of the message. So, the message is, "We regret to inform you that…" or "We regret to inform you," you may see it without "that." This means, "We are sorry to tell you." So, "regret" means we have sad feelings about something. Like, we don't want to tell you this, but we have to. We regret to inform, "to inform" means to give information, to tell someone something, to share someone, or to share information with someone. So, "We regret to inform you," it means, "We're very sorry to tell you that your application has not been accepted," "your application has not been accepted." So, this could be a school application, it could be a job application, or something else. "Has not been accepted." You may also see simple past tense, "your application was not accepted." It just means no. "Sorry. Your application was not accepted, or "Sorry. We can't accept you at this time." So, this is a very common way to begin the rejection message. Again, this is something that we use in writing. We don't really use this in speech, but it's quite well known.
Okay. Let's look at one more way to reject an invitation. "Unfortunately, I am not able to participate this time." "Unfortunately, I'm not able to participate this time." Or, perhaps you might hear, "Unfortunately, I'm not able to attend this time." So, a couple points. "Unfortunately," shows like "Aw, it's too bad." That's kind of what it means. "Sorry, it's too bad. But, "I am not able…" So again, we see this, "I am not able," which is just like "I am unable." Both are correct. You can choose whichever you prefer. "I am not able to participate," to participate. So, this means it could be an event, it could be some kind of activity, whatever. "To participate," you might use this sometimes instead of "attend," maybe if someone invites you to speak at an event or something like that. You might use "participate" instead of just "attend the event." And, this part is nice to include: "this time." "This time." So, that means "For this event," in particular, "I'm not able to participate. Sorry. But…" It's like, in the future, maybe I can. So, "this time," shows that you know you can maybe not come now, but perhaps in the future, if there's an opportunity, you might be able to join. So, I like to include "this time," when I have to reject an invitation in a formal way.
So, finally, I want to end this by talking about like positive endings. So, how to conclude a message or how to conclude some kind of rejection message. We tend to end them with a positive feeling. So, "next time." This is a good one for your friends and for your family members. "Sorry, I can't see a movie with you tonight. Next time." So, this means "Next time, we have this chance," or "I'll spend time with you next opportunity." So, "next time" is a really quick and easy way to say like, "Please invite me again," or "Let's find another day to get together." This is a good one for events. "I hope I can come next time." "I hope I can come next time," means "I hope I'm able to attend," "I hope I'm able to join your event," or join your party, whatever, the next time it happens or the next time you do something.
This one, "We wish you all the best." This is another one that you will see usually in writing. This might come at the end of a rejection letter. "We wish you all the best." "We wish you all the best," means like all the best in your life. We wish you lots and lots of good things in your life. So, like we don't want you to feel upset. Though this was maybe a sad letter, but we have good wishes for you. We wish you all the best.
Okay. This is another good one for events. For like maybe parties or conferences that you cannot attend. "I hope it's a great event." I hope it's a great event. "I hope it is a great event," or "I hope it's a good event." Or you can change "event" to party, or to conference, or to seminar, whatever the activity is.
And finally, "Best of luck with…" "Best of luck with the event." Or, "Best of luck with your studies." So, again, this is like saying, "Good luck." You can change good luck to "Best of luck." And, when we use "Best of luck," or "Good luck," we use the preposition "with." "Best of luck with the event," or "Good luck with the event." Or, "Best of luck with your studies." So, this introduces again like some kind of well-wishing expression. "Best of luck with," something, or "Good luck with," something.
So, these are some ways that you can reject or decline offers. So, I hope that this was helpful for you. Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye!

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