The English We Speak: In over my head
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you almost feel like you're drowning in your tasks? Maybe you're in over your head. Learn when and how to use this expression with Becca and Feifei.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Want to learn English from a real conversation? |
| 0:10.2 | In real easy English, we have a conversation in easy English every week to help you learn. |
| 0:17.1 | Search Learning Easy English in your podcast app to listen or watch the latest episodes on our website, BBClearningEnglish.com. |
| 0:28.0 | 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. And I'm Becker. |
| 0:40.3 | Oh, you don't sound like your usual happy self? Well, I just have so much work to do. I feel like I'm in over my head. |
| 0:49.5 | Oh no, I'm sorry you feel that way. Is there anything I can do to help? |
| 0:54.4 | I don't think so. I've just got to focus and get this stuff done. |
| 0:58.7 | All right. But before you do that, would you mind explaining the phrase in over your head? |
| 1:05.3 | Sure. Imagine you have many things to do and it almost feels like you're drowning in your tasks. |
| 1:11.5 | The phrase in over your head comes from the literal dangerous situation of being in water that is deeper than your height. |
| 1:18.3 | I see. So it's a pretty negative feeling. Yes, when you're involved in a situation that's too difficult or maybe overwhelming to manage or you don't know where to start, you're in |
| 1:28.7 | over your head. Let's hear some more examples of this phrase, in over your head. |
| 1:38.1 | I'm trying to learn Chinese at the moment and I thought it'd be easier but it's really not. I think I'm in over my head. |
| 1:47.4 | We're planning a surprise birthday party for Georgie, and we've got so much to do. We're completely |
| 1:52.9 | in over our heads. My dad's cleaning out the attic, but I don't think he realised just how much |
| 1:58.5 | was up there. I think he's feeling a bit in over his head. |
| 2:06.0 | As we've heard from the examples, you can change the possessive pronoun depending on who you're |
| 2:11.4 | speaking about. She is in over her head and he is in over his head.cker, what else do we need to know about this phrase? |
| 2:19.2 | Well, don't forget the preposition in at the beginning, in over your head, because if I say |
| 2:24.9 | over my head without the preposition in, it means I didn't understand something. For example, |
| 2:31.3 | if I don't understand someone's joke, the joke goes over my head. |
... |
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