Phrasebook · United Kingdom
British English for your trip
35 words and phrases that get you through a day in United Kingdom.
You already speak the language, but British English has its own words, a lot of politeness and a great deal of understatement. These are the ones visitors trip over.
Compare with other languages →
How it sounds
The syllable in capitals is the one to stress.
- r after a vowel
- usually silent in England: car is "cah", water is "WAW-tuh"
- -shire in a county
- a short "sher": Wiltshire is "WILT-sher"
- -ham and -wich in town names
- "um" and "itch": Birmingham is "BUR-ming-um", Norwich is "NOR-itch"
- letters in the middle
- often skipped: Leicester is "LES-ter", Salisbury is "SAWLZ-bree"
- t between vowels
- often a catch in the throat in London: butter is "BUH-uh"
Essentials
35 phrasesBasics
Food and drink
Getting around
Money
Help
Only in United Kingdom
Help
Emergency numbers
Eating out
23 phrasesWhat you'll hear back
Diet cards
Getting around
30 phrasesTaxis and tickets
Signs you'll see
- WAY owtExit
- WAY inEntrance
- OH-punOpen
- klohzdClosed
- TOY-lutsToilets
- jentsMen
- LAY-deezWomen
- pooshPush
- poolPull
- noh EN-treeNo entry
- MYND thuh GAPWatch the space between train and platform
- GIV WAYYield, on road signs
Time and opening hours
Shopping
14 phrasesNumbers and prices
Prices are in pounds and pence: £3.50 is three pounds fifty, or just three fifty. A pound is a quid, a £5 note a fiver, £10 a tenner.
Outdoors
8 phrasesOn the trail
Culture
9 phrasesNo word for it in English
Festival words
Welsh · Wales, where road signs come in Welsh first
Where other languages are spoken
- Welsh
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Queue, and wait your turn: pushing in is the one thing everyone will notice.
- Stand on the right on escalators in London, and walk on the left.
- In a pub, order and pay at the bar; there is no table service and no tip expected.
- Say please, thank you and sorry far more than feels necessary.
Don't
- Don't call the whole country England: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are their own nations.
Gestures
- Two fingersIndex and middle finger raised with the back of the hand facing out Rude, like the middle finger. Palm facing out is peace or victory.
On the map
Heard at our spots
The words you'll use at the places we filmed. Pick a place to see it on the map.
Take it with youJust the words, in two columns. Print it, or save it as a PDF for when there's no signal.
Where the words come fromPhrases and pronunciation adapted from Wikivoyage's English language varieties, Welsh phrasebook, Wiktionary, NHS 111 and Calling 999, under CC BY-SA 4.0.