How to Express Nervousness and Frustration

Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha.

In this lesson, I'm going to talk about expressions you can use to express nervousness and frustration.

Let's get started!

You'll notice, with each of the expressions I'm going to talk about here, I've added an N or an F next to the expression. So, the N means that expression is commonly used to express nervous feelings, so feelings of nervousness or feelings of anxiety. The F means that it's commonly used for frustration, to express when you feel that angry, frustrated feeling. So, we'll look at quite a few of these.

Let's begin with this one, a very basic expression for nervousness.

"I'm really nervous about (topic)."

"I'm really nervous about (something)."

I have "really" in parentheses here because you can remove it to decrease the emphasis of this expression. So, "I'm nervous about (something)" or "I'm really nervous about (something)." You could say, "I'm very nervous about" or "I'm so nervous about" as well. All of those are okay.

For example:

"I'm really nervous about my job interview."

At native speed, this would sound like, "I'm really nervous about my job interview." So we follow "I'm really nervous about" with, usually, the noun phrase, the noun phrase here. "I'm really nervous about my job interview."

So, this is a basic nervousness phrase that you can use.

Let's move on to the next one.

We can use this one for nervousness and for frustration.

The expression is:

"I'm losing sleep over (something)."

So this "over" means "about," but we don't always use, "I'm losing sleep about ~."

We usually say "I'm losing sleep over (something)." "I'm losing sleep over (noun phrase)." So, "to lose sleep" means to be unable to sleep. So imagine, I should have 8 hours of sleep, but I'm so nervous or I'm so frustrated, I lost 2 hours of that sleep. I only slept 6 hours because I was so nervous or because I was so frustrated thinking about this thing.

We use it in the progressive tense to mean this is happening in my life right now.

"I'm losing sleep over (something)."

For example:

"I'm losing sleep over the mistake I made last week."

So in this case, "a mistake made the previous week" is causing the speaker to lose sleep. At native speed, this sounds like, "I'm losing sleep over the mistake I made last week."

So we can use this for something that is causing us so much nervousness or so much frustration that we have difficulty sleeping.

Okay. Let's go to the next expression.

This is one is commonly used to express frustration.

It's something, something, usually a noun phrase here.

(Something, something) is/or (depending on if this is a singular or a plural noun) driving me crazy, driving me crazy.

So this, "driving me crazy" can be used in positive situations, like if there's a person you're really attracted to and you can't stop thinking about that person, you could say, wow, he or she is driving me crazy. That's kind of a more positive use. Here though, this is used in a negative way. Also, keep in mind, this is in present tense, this "is/are," but you can use "was/were" to talk about something in the past that caused you frustration.

For example:

"My coworker is driving me crazy!"

So, if your coworker does something very annoying or if your coworker always makes the same mistakes, you could say, "My coworker is driving me crazy!" So that kind of voice, that sort of tone communicates your frustration. So not, "My coworker is driving me crazy," but "My coworker is driving me crazy!" That sounds very frustrated.

Another example with a plural form and past tense:

"Those rude customers were driving me crazy!"

So this is in maybe a retail situation or a shopping situation. Some customers that were in the store a moment ago, maybe, they're gone now were bothering the speaker.

"Those rude customers were driving me crazy!"

So that's the kind of intonation you'll hear with this expression, when we want to use it to express frustration.

Okay. Let's move along to this next one.

"I can't stop thinking about (something)."

So this is something we can use for nervousness and for frustration, and again, if you want to, you can use this to talk about positive things as well, like, "I can't stop thinking about my new apartment. I'm so excited!"

So, with this expression, your tone really matters. The sound of your voice, your body language, your facial expression, it all really is important here.

"I can't stop thinking about (something)!"

So, for example:

"I can't stop thinking about the company layoffs."

The company layoffs. So, a "company layoff" is a company situation wherein many people lose their jobs. So, a "layoff" is a situation, usually like budget or policy-related where the company must remove some people from the company. So, "I can't stop thinking about The company layoffs!" That's how we would say it at native speed.

So again, "I can't stop thinking about (noun phrase)." There's usually a simple noun phrase after this.

Okay. Let's go to the next one

This is a frustration pattern, a very common frustration pattern. I included this because we commonly use this pattern for machine-related problems.

The pattern is, "My [machine] won't [verb]!"

"My [machine] won't [verb]!"

I've included "my." Of course, you could change that to "his" or "her" or whatever, but the machine we use here is like an everyday machine we expect to function correctly.

So, for example:

"My computer won't turn on!"

Here, "computer" is my machine, my object, and "turn on," so the power isn't coming on. We use "won't," so this is the reduced form of "will not," will not. We use this pattern to express something that's not functioning correctly. We use "won't" to do that.

"My [machine] won't turn on."

"My computer won't turn on."

Or "My phone won't play sound."

So, this is a very quick common pattern we use to talk about frustration relating to machines.

Okay, onto the next couple.

These two are very similar and they're used to express nervousness, a nervous feeling. So, maybe some of you, maybe many people feel sick like your stomach feel sick when you get very, very nervous. To express that, you can say:

"I feel sick" or "My stomach hurts."

So, using these in times of nervousness can help the other person understand your level of nervousness, like "Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous, I feel sick."

So, you can combine this with something like this:

"I'm really nervous about my performance. Oh, I feel sick."

That's very natural.

So, "I feel sick" or "My stomach hurts" can help express nervous feelings.

The next expression is:

"I'm so nervous, I'm shaking."

So, maybe for some people, you feel very, very nervous and your body starts to tremble. So this motion is called shaking, I'm shaking. We use it in the progressive form because it's happening now. I'm so nervous, I'm shaking. Maybe, before a speech or before a performance.

"I'm so nervous, I'm shaking."

Be careful, don't forget this "so."

Not, "I'm nervous, I'm shaking," but "I'm so nervous, I'm shaking."

This "so" is showing us that it's like this degree. My nervousness level is so high, I am shaking. So, this will help, again, communicate the level of your nervousness.

Okay, let's go to the other side of the board. The next three expressions are all very commonly used to express nervousness.

First: "I don't have a good feeling about this."

I don't have a good feeling about this.

You can use this when you are making plans or when you're in a group of people making a decision and you don't feel comfortable. This is similar, this next one.

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

At native speed…

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

So this expresses, maybe, some uncertainty, I don't have a good feeling (singular), a good feeling about this situation. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

As I said, the next one is quite similar.

"This makes me (really) uncomfortable."

Or "This makes me uncomfortable."

So, this "makes me" means this situation causes me to feel uncomfortable.

"This makes me really uncomfortable."

"This decision, I don't like it. It makes me feel really uncomfortable."

So, these two express, kind of that level of uncertainty and a bit of nervousness.

This next one is:

"I don't think that's a good idea."

So, this is more sharing your opinion, but it also communicates a little bit of nervousness too.

"I don't think that's a good idea," like you want to leave the house now? It's 2:00 in the morning. It's dangerous. I don't think that's a good idea. So this communicates your nervous feelings a bit.

The next one is used for frustration and for nervousness and this is very casual. The next expressions are very casual. It is, "I am so not into this."

I am so not into this.

So maybe you know the expression, "I am into (something)" like I'm into my hobby, like I'm into photography or I'm into surfing.

"I am so not into this."

"I'm so not into this" shows you are not interested in this situation. You are not interested in what is happening now. So this is a very casual expression. "So" is often extended like I just said, I'm so not into this. So maybe again, you're in a group situation and you disagree with the decision made by the group, like the group says, "We're gonna steal something from a store." You could say, "I'm so not into this" like I'm leaving.

So, this is very casual and we would use this in situations where we, we want to express nervousness, primarily, first, but nervousness, I'm sorry, frustration as well, like if you are again, having computer trouble, for example, and you want to express in a kind of casual and light way your frustration, you're like frustrated with your computer, my computer won't turn on, uh, I'm so not into this, you might hear that used as well. So, it expresses frustration in kind of a casual light way.

So, this next one actually is kind of similar.

"I am so over this."

This is more commonly used for frustration.

So, "I'm so not into this" means I don't like this, I'm not interested in this.

"I'm so over this." "Over" means I have moved passed this. I am ready to be finished with this situation. I don't want to think about it anymore. So, if you imagine like a game over, for example, the expression "game over." When the game is over, it's finished, right? So here, "I am so over this," that means I'm ready to be finished with this situation. I'm done, I'm walking away, I'm going to the next thing.

So, my computer won't turn on or there's some other problem, I could say, I'm so over this and walk away. You might also hear this at the end of an argument as well, so when someone is frustrated and speaking to someone in an argument, you might say, I'm so over this, like I'm done, I'm finished with this conversation.

Okay. The next expression is very, very casual. You can use it for frustration or for nervousness. It is, "Oh, man…" or "Oh, man…" you might also hear.

So, this can be used to express both feelings. So, when you're very frustrated, again with the machine, you could say, "Oh, man! My computer won't turn on!" That helps to show that it's kind of a more casual frustration, not so serious. If you're feeling very nervous like before a performance, you might look out like from behind the curtain and say like, "Oh, man, there are a lot of people here." So you might hear this expression too. We don't use "woman" here. It's just "Oh, man…," kind of a set phrase, "Oh, man…"

The final example I have here for frustration and for nervousness, I have a bunch of symbols here. This is how we commonly represent curse words or swear words. So, if we don't want to write the actual word, we'll use a series of symbols. The order does not matter here. I've just chosen symbols at random.

So, I'm not going to introduce them on this channel, but curse words and swear words are very commonly used to express frustration and sometimes, nervousness. So, it will take a little bit of personal research to find some curse words and swear words that you maybe can use, but please be careful, they are very casual, very rough, and we should not use them in formal, polite, business situations. In general, we don't use curse words much in public, either.

So we can use them very naturally for frustration, again, especially in like, machine or technical-related problems, we might use a curse word quickly at our home to express our frustration. And for nervousness, we might as well use it, but in less of a strong voice. We might use, kind of a scared voice or a nervous voice.

So, please keep in mind with all of these, your intonation does matter.

Okay. So, this is a list of expressions that you can use to communicate your nervous and frustrated feelings. I hope that this is helpful for you. Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye!

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