Welcome to the English we speak. I'm Beth and I'm Faye Faye. We have an expression that describes a very tiny chance of something happening. The phrase is a million to one. A million to one.

Beth, can you tell us a bit more?

Well, I've entered a baking competition.

I really hope I get into the finals but I'm not feeling confident especially because I'm not very good.

The chance is a million to one.

A million people haven't actually entered the competition. But you say a million to one because you feel

your chance isn't very high. Yes, it's an exaggeration. I think the chance is extremely unlikely.

Well I hope you hear back soon.

Maybe you could bring a cake in for us to try.

I can, but you'll have to get in quickly.

It's a million to one that Neil and Phil will not have eaten it all before you even get near it.

You know how much they love cake?

True, it's almost certain that they'll eat it before I even see it.

Greedy.

Let's listen to some more examples. Charlotte being on time is a million to one. You know she's always late.

They say that the chances of this software failing are a million to one, almost impossible. It's a million to one, almost impossible.

It's a million to one that I'll win the lottery,

but it doesn't stop me entering each week.

You're listening to the English we speak from BBC Learning English and we're learning

the expression a million to one which is a way of saying something is extremely unlikely or that is almost certain someone will or won't do something.

Now this phrase looks similar to another phrase, one in a million million they can have the exact same meaning

can they they can but you can also say a person is one in a million which means

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