The English We Speak: A little something
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 3 minutes
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Summary
Learn a phrase about small gifts with Feifei and Phil.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Faye Faye. |
| 0:17.2 | And I'm Phil. Merry Christmas, Faye. I got you a little something. Oh, thanks. Wow. It is little. Never mind. |
| 0:26.2 | It's just a gift card, but I thought I'd get you something as we've spent another year explaining phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers. |
| 0:34.1 | We use a little something to talk about small presents. Yes, it doesn't have to be a |
| 0:39.3 | Christmas present. For example, we sometimes get people a little something for their birthday |
| 0:44.5 | or when they leave a job and we can bring people a little something back from a trip abroad. |
| 0:50.7 | Sometimes a little something really is just a small present. However, in English, especially British |
| 0:57.0 | English, we often like to make things sound less significant than they really are. And so sometimes |
| 1:03.7 | what we call a little something isn't that little. No. So sometimes people can feel embarrassed |
| 1:10.7 | about giving or receiving a large present. |
| 1:13.9 | So we might call it a little something to make it feel less awkward. |
| 1:18.2 | Let's hear some examples of people talking about a little something. |
| 1:25.4 | So my friend has just had a baby and she said to not bring any presents, but I took her a little something just because I thought, I'm not going to go and not take a present for the baby. |
| 1:37.4 | Hi, thanks for coming to my party. I've just got a little something over here in case you get a bit hungry. |
| 1:43.4 | My best friend said that he would give me a little something for my birthday |
| 1:47.6 | and I'm very excited about it. |
| 1:53.7 | We've been learning the expression, A Little Something, to talk about small gifts. |
| 1:58.9 | As we said before, sometimes a little something doesn't actually mean something that little. |
| 2:05.1 | We just want to make things less awkward. |
| 2:07.8 | Link to this is the fact that we often use the adverb just with it. |
| 2:13.3 | We just got you a little something. |
| 2:15.6 | Or it's just a little something, but we hope you like it. |
... |
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