Hello, how are you,

where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers

so that you can use them too.

I'm Fay Faye and I'm here with Phil.

Hello, how are you, Faye?

I'm actually feeling incredibly relaxed.

I've just started doing a painting course.

I haven't done it before and I wasn't sure if I'd like it so I'm just dipping my

toe into it at the moment but you know what is actually quite relaxing.

Aha well the expression that we're learning in this program is dip your

toe into or dip a toe into. We'll look at what it means and how to use it. Depending

on who we're talking about it can be dipping my

toe into dipping your toe into or dipping his her or their toe. Fay Faye

you said you're dipping your toe into painting at the moment but what does that mean here?

Well dipping your toe into something here it means to start something slowly and gradually think Think about going to the beach, especially in England when it's not that warm. If you want to go for a swim, but you're worried about the temperature. You might start by dipping your toe into the sea

to see how cold it is. So this expression means starting something gradually to see if we like it or not.

And actually we often use this with things like hobbies, like painting, so you can say

that you're dipping a toe into painting to see if you like it or not?

Yes that's right.

There are two things that are important to remember about this expression.

One, it means to start gradually, and two, you're starting gradually because you're on

sure if you'd like it or be successful at it.

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