Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

I'm Faye Faye and I'm joined by Georgie. Hi Georgie, how are you?

I'm okay Faye Faye, I'm just really struggling to open this jar.

Come on Georgie, give it some wellie.

There we go.

Now, Fifei, you used a great expression there.

Give it some wellie.

And that's what we're learning in this programme.

It's a British English expression used to encourage people to put more effort or force into an activity.

Usually something physical like me opening this jar.

Yes, it's an imperative, but it's quite friendly and fun.

So don't worry, you won't sound rude if you say it.

It can be used in lots of contexts, like cycling up a hill,

give it some wellie, or hammering a nail into a very

hard wall. Give it some wellie. Let's hear some more examples from our BBC Learning English colleagues.

I was at karaoke the other day and I was a bit shy at first but everyone just said, come on, give it some wellie.

So I sang really loudly.

You're going to have to hit the ball harder than that. Come on, give it some wellie.

My dad was trying to move the sofa at home and it wouldn't move at all but I said give it some wellie and he gave it one last push and it

moved into place. Now its most common use is as an imperative to encourage people to put some

effort in although you might also hear it used to describe someone putting in some effort. For example, did you hear Beth singing

karaoke the other night? Yes, she really gave it some wellie, didn't she? I watched my son the

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