What to Say When You Feel Stuck in English – 3 Simple Strategies
Years ago, when I first moved to France, my BIGGEST fear in French was that I would look or sound stupid. It was to lose the words I needed; to feel stuck in French. You might be in a similar situation. Your biggest fear might be to feel stuck in English.
In my experience, there are two common situations:
- Someone asks you a question in English and you have NO IDEA what to say. You feel stuck in English. You’re frozen. You’ve lost your words.
- You’re talking to someone in English. You’re sharing your ideas and then – BOOM. The next word you want to say is gone. You forgot it. You can’t find the right word. You’re not sure about the expression.
So you’re searching. You’re trying to find the right word. And the other person is waiting for you to continue.
You feel stuck.
The bad news is, these situations happen. And honestly, they suck. (Note: Suck is an impolite slang word that means: it’s repellant or unpleasant; it’s unfortunate and awful. What it really means is it’s a total bummer.)
The good news is, this happens to native speakers too. And that means we have some common strategies and some common expressions to use to help us in these situations.
When you know the right thing to do and say in those moments when you feel stuck in English, it can take the frustration away. It can overcome the fear. It can help you feel less nervous and stressed.
And most importantly, it can help you continue the conversation.
That is what I want to help you do today. I’m going to share with you exactly what to do and what to say when you feel stuck in English.
My top strategies for what to do when you feel stuck in English.
Lesson by Annemarie
What to Say When You Feel Stuck in English
In the video lesson, I shared with you:
Three strategies to use when you lose a word, get stuck while speaking or don’t know what to say.
One of the most common challenges is to lose a word or to forget an expression while speaking. This happens SO often to native speakers that we have many different ways to deal with it.
Here are a few that I shared with you in the video lesson:
- Oh my gosh, I totally lost what I wanted to say. Sorry.
- I lost my train of thought. (A train of thought = a series of thoughts or ideas; your connected ideas or thoughts.)
- Oh! I forgot the word. It’s on the tip of my tongue. (On the tip of the tongue is an idiom that means something we almost remember but not quite.)
- I forgot what I wanted to say! Hopefully, it will come back to me in a moment.
❤️Love this lesson?
Check out my full YouTube playlist on How to Get Unstuck and Overcome Fears in English.
P.S. For those moments when you don’t understand a question, be sure to use my lesson on What to Say When You Don’t Understand.
And now I want to hear from you.
When you feel stuck in English or when you’re searching for a word in English, what do you usually do?
Do you have a strategy that helps you? If you do, please share it in the comments. Your strategy might help someone else in our community.
As always, you can share your thoughts with me in the comments below the video on YouTube or in the comments section of the online lesson.
If you found this helpful to you, please let me know. The best way to do that is to share this lesson with others.
Thank you for joining me!
~ Annemarie
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Dear Annemarie, what I found interesting is, you performed the dance in your office that you like too much.You didn’t feel any guilty doing that, same thing you want to say us that when we love English too much we should practice to speak without feeling any kind of fear or shame.That’s how getting something difficult becomes easy.I am also doing hard work but still feel stuck when start to speak English.I know speaking and writing both are different skills.I can write good than speak. your three tips you suggested when we get stuck while speaking are really fantastic. I… Read more »
“It is better to have many than one”
>>This means that one should know at least 2 to 3 synonym for a single word
which provide the option while speaking.
I am an introvert but i am still in the learning stage, i wish that this strategy would help
me in a long run.
This is my prior strategy which somehow prevent me from being stuck.
hi，Annamarie,Thank you for your sharing ,so lucky to know you in my English studying path
Annemarie,
Thank you so much for this video. It’s always happened to me. I lose the words, I feel stuck and nervous.
I will stry to use the strategies when i don’t know what to say.
I which you a happy holidays.
Sonia,
Hi Annamarie. Again, thank you for sharing this video. I usually feel stuck when I am talking to a foreigner especially when I am feeling nervous. With the lesson I have learned from you today, I feel like I gained more confidence to converse in English.
Hello Annemarie , You are such a professional teacher, I often watch your lesson. I hope I could Join with you and develop confidence and fluency in English.
When I get stuck inEnglish,It happens to me in many situations. I feel so nervous and frustrated and then I would lose my confidence to continue the conversation.This lesson was very helpful. I hope that I could apply these strategies during my conversation in my daily life.
Thanks alot.
Janet KIm
I love this topic, this always happens to me in my conversations with our staff. I would be glad to hear more.
Thank you for this lesson. It was very difficult for me to speak english, in fact,i understand the conversation but there impossible for me to make a sentence!!! The full stuck terrible !!!
this strategies will surely help me in my work ,so thankful
Hi Anne Marie !
This lesson is very amazing ! Thak you very much ! It’s very useful for me !
You’re so welcome, Sophie!
Thanks so much for your lessons, everything that you said is important and useful for me, I going to try to do your recommendation when happened me something like that.
Hi Benjamin. Thank you very much for your comment. We’re excited to know the lesson was helpful to you!
Hi, Annemari, Thank you so much ,they are useful strategies.
I quite often get stuck even in my mother tongue. The differnce is that I can manage to find another way around to convey my idea, but in English I find it more diffecult. It may be due to the limited words that are kept in my mind or the daily practice isn’t enough. Anyway, I get lot benfits from your videos.
Thank you again.
My best wishes
I’m glad it was helpful!
Hello Ms. Anne, you are so awesome I like the way the you teaching us, but I have a big problem for me and that one is I don’t know how I can organizing sentences. Please letting me know how I can improve with that.
Hi Annemarie ! I actually do feel stuck in English. This lesson help me a lot. My job is do nail for people, so I have to talk with my clients, some time when we have deep conversation , I have stuck other time, I lost my word, I forget it , I don’t have the word I need to say …. I’m was frozen.. After that, I try to remember we conversation, and then I google it and find the word . That’s the way I usually do to find and learn the new word . Anyway thank a… Read more »
You’re so welcome, Lien! I hope you’ve been able to use these strategies in your conversations at work.
When I am talking with someone and suddenly I get stuck and I don´t remember the right word I want to say I pause and say “sorry I can not find the right word, just give a momento” usually the the other person try to help me, this happen to me even in my native languaje and I use the same strategy. that works to me. Now I have 3 more estrategies and the next time I will practicen them. Thank you for the video and all the advices you give to us, They have been helpful to me. again… Read more »
I’m so glad this was helpful, Angel! And it sounds like you had a great strategy to use previously as well.
Its great. I really appreciate.
Great lesson well noted
Thank you for your amazing explanation….
You’re so welcome, Anna. I’m glad it was helpful.
I’m great to learn from your lessons. You show details and how to face with stuck. You give three situations to solve that useful for me. Next time i will trying to apply and hope that makes me more confident.
Good evening Ann Marie,
Today’s lesson was very useful and very informative. your three simple strategies about the situation when we stuck or freeze in conversation are out standing and so easy to handle the situation. especially the idiom you use [oh its just on the tip of my tongue]. I love it . I really love it. I feel more confident and comfortable by using these helpful tips and strategies you share today with us.
Farzana, it is really wonderful to hear! We are so thrilled you found this lesson helpful and you feel more confident now. These strategies definitely work and they can help you get the time you need to think and find the right words you want to use.
That’s awesome, Farzana. I’m thrilled it was helpful to you and you’ve got some new strategies to use!
I am from Armenia,i think your lessons so helpful,I’m a shy person in my character,but when i saw this videos i feel very comfortable to speak English,i hope that i can speak English fluentl,only with your helps😊🙂
Tatevik, we are so happy to hear that! Feeling comfortable speaking English can make so many things possible. We hope your confidence keeps growing with every video! Keep up the great work!
Hello dear! As every time, this video also has an efficient influence on my weaknesses. Thank you very much! after sometimes, I will again great you to inform how your strategies will have been working for me….
Malika, it sounds like you are making lots of regular effort to improve. You are absolutely doing the right thing! Keep applying those strategies and you will keep moving forward and keep getting better all the time!
Hi Annemarie,
Thank You so much for given this chance!
Most of the time when I spoke with someone, I couldn’t use the exact word, so I became very nervous and uncomfortable. But, I learned a lot from this English lesson.
Thank You,
Fiseha
That is really wonderful to hear! We are so glad you found it helpful! As your confidence grows you will feel less nervous and will think and speak more easily in English!
I Will never got stuck again. Any time it happens, I Will buy some time to my self. Annemarry 💝
Excellent! Glad to hear it, Kalid.
Thank you for all you do
Thanks Annemary, I find these strategies very useful and I hope to put it in practice every time I get stuck.
Hi Carmen, I’m so glad to hear it was a helpful lesson and I do hope you’ll be able to use them next time. 🤞😀
Thank you dear Annemarie , it was really helpful for me . I got stuck in this situation several times . Now i’m so happy to find the solution . Thanks a lot .
I’m glad to know it was helpful, Afsaneh!
I liked this lesson. I liked the part about saying let me think about it when you can’t think what to say. I may use it at work
Hi Cathy, that is great you found something to help you at work. I am always saying ‘let me think about it’. It is also a great phrase to blend together to sound really fluent, so you can say ‘lemme think abowdit’ and you will sound so natural!
Thanks for the great lesson. It happened quite often when I was trying to tell others
something. I knew the word but I can’t remember at the moment. It makes me nervous. Yeah, today’s lesson would definitely relieve my stress. Very helpful.
Hi Hannah, you are definitely not alone, it happens to us all, even to native speakers, even to teachers like me! I am so glad you feel less nervous now you have some strategies to help you.
Really thank you so much for your kindness!
You’re welcome. 🙂
This happens to me a lot of time especially when i’m trying to share my ideas on a topic with my classmates in school or my coworkers at work. I really loved the video and i will use the strategies that you shared with us. Thank you Teacher
Hi Iris, I’m so glad this lesson was helpful to you! 🙂
Hi, my teacher Annemarie
I’m very glad to learn from you, this is an important lesson which was needed to give us, because we met like this condition.
Thank you
Thank you very much for this video,
It’s very helpful for me! I always get stuck because I forgot the word to use at that moment! I was just frozen and lost confident! From now I know what to keep going! Thank you!
Hi Hannah, I’m so happy to hear this lesson gave you some new options when you have those moments! 🙂
hi annemarie
as always a great and helpful lesson from you.
i can’t recall a particular situation but this often happens with me. ‘coz english is my second language i find it very difficult to cntnue the conversation when i get stuck. i don’t even know how to change the topic. so that i just keep stammering, this makes me feel very weird and turns the whole situation into a awkward one. now that your lesson is here, i am happy that i found some stragies to get over this situation.
tq annemarie.
it is great lesson that kind of tips only for you want to share with us so that’s why heartily thank you so much
I’m glad it was helpful to you!
Great tips Annemarie! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad it was helpful to you, Ana!
Hi Ann Marie, I’m really grateful for your help to everyone that need to be more confident in English. I appreciate the tips, are for the real life. I’m going to take a time to practice, I really need it
Hello Mercedes,
Thank you so much for sharing. I’m glad to know my lessons have been useful to you! And I wish you much success as you continue with your English practice. 🙂
Hi Annemarie
Thank you for the very interstng topic, for me English is second language,
(Arabic) so lam always in these situations (stuck) but after this lesson I am so happy and more confident, lam glad to be with you,
Many thanks
Fatima
Hello Fatima,
Thank you so much for your comment. I’m happy to know this lesson was helpful to you!
I’ve seen this video today after receiving the April e-mail. In fact, I’m really happy to be in the know because videos like this are very helpful for me. I don’t know if it could work for anyone else but to feel more confident I try to forget the person who I’m talking to. I feel more confident when I don’t have an audience, and I can’t be judged by others.
Great strategy for reducing nervousness while speaking, Vincenza. Thank you for sharing!
Fantastic, Vincenza! I’m so glad this was helpful. 🙂 And thanks for the great tip on how to feel more confident when talking to others.
Hi Annemarie,
Thanks for this information its realy helping us .
You’re very welcome, Nasser.
Thanks Annemarie for nice strategy.
I also subscribe your youtube channel for get update.
Thanks again!
Hi Hera,
Wonderful! I’m glad to know you’ve subscribed and I hope you enjoy my future lessons.
Thank you. It was very useful for everyday speaking. I hope I can be more confident now.
Hi Dzmitry,
Thank you for your comment. I’m glad to know this lesson was useful to you.
Hi Annemarie
I ‘m from Puerto Rico, speak Spanish. In my language I’m not shy and speak so fast. But in English is totally different you describe me when I’m stuck.
Thank you for your advisor.
Hello Doritza,
Thank you for your comment. I absolutely understand that it is more challenging to be comfortable in your second language. I’m glad you found this lesson and it was helpful to you.
Hi Annemarrie,
Thanks a lot for this useful lesson. Day by day at the work I confront this kind of situation when I speak with someone at phone and in a second I lose the words. I will memorize your suggestions and I will put into practice 🙂
Hi Ana,
I’m so glad to know this was helpful to you! Thank you for sharing. I hope this will help you feel more confident the next time you need to speak to someone the phone at work.
Hi Annemarie,
Thank you so much for the awesome lessons, you’re amazing!
I recently wrote an article (What to Say when You don’t Know What to Say: http://www.mybusinessenglishcoach.com/business-english-speaking-express-yourself/ ) & included some of your awesome phrases and tips for my students, so thank you!
Best,
Ashleigh
My Business English Coach
Hi Ashleigh,
Awesome. I’m glad my lesson was helpful to you and thanks for the great shout-outs in your article. I appreciate it. 👍
Hi Annemarrie
I really appreciate the lesson
I have tools to handle the stuck
Problems, I am practicing it ,it’s
Working so far.
Best regards
Yousef
Hi Yousef,
Thank you for the comment. I’m happy to know this lesson was helpful to you!
Thank you so much for sharing such an interesting and useful information with us. I am very glad that I have joined this confident English community. I was so confused and stressed that how could I correctly convey my message to others. I was so afraid of speaking wrong words. But now I am regularly listening your lessons and once again thanks a lot.
Hello Hajira,
Thank you so much for your comment and I’m thrilled to have you in my Confident English Community! I totally understand feeling confused and stressed when you want to convey your message. I hope my lessons will continue to help you be more confident in your English.
Thank you a lot Annmarie, this video for me has been really useful. I feel exactly as you said in this videos especially when I speak with my in English teacher. My mind freeze very often when we talk about topic whom I don’t have any particular things to say. From my mouth doesn’t come out any word and sometimes I say nonsense phrases like I was a drunk man. Sure, I’ll follow your advice and I’ll try to use it when I’m feel totally stuck. Another escape to buy ourself some time could be “Oh! Sorry I’ve forgotten my… Read more »
🙂 I loved your alternative response, Stefano!! Very clever! I do understand those situations when no words come out of your mouth. It’s so frustrating. But I’m glad you’ve found some useful responses you could try using in English.
Thank you very much for your comment.
Annemarie,
You are so fantastic!!!!
Mauro, São Paulo, Brasil.
What a kind thing to say, Mauro. Thank you. And I hope this means the lesson was helpful to you. 🙂
Thanks a lot Annemarie for today lesson, Actually it was my main problem to speak a confident English, I always feel stuck and cannot find appropriate words at the right time, and today it was so helpful to find many ways to give myself some time and let the words come back to my mind. Again thank you so much.
Hi Mirna, I’m so glad this lesson was helpful to you. These strategies definitely work and they can help you get the time you need to think and find the words you want to use. 🙂