#31- 20 Words for Feeling Happy & Sad
[00:00:00] On today's episode of the RealLife English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 20 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms for feeling happy and sad. You'll be learning words like bummed out, to be in a funk, stoked, ecstatic, pumped, and more.
Let's get to it.
Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.
Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.
Hello, hello. Greetings from New York City. Welcome to episode number 31. 20 [00:01:00] words for feeling happy and sad. In this episode, I'm going to be teaching you 20 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms for expressing happy feelings and sad feelings.
Before we get into the episode, I just want to say thank you to all of my listeners, to all of you out there. Thank you. Because the podcast just hit one year. That's right. It is the one year anniversary of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. And the past year has been amazing.
If you've listened to other episodes, you'll know that the podcast is something that I had been wanting to do for over a year, specifically because I wanted students to have Listening practice. I wanted to provide students with different forms of content. And I love doing [00:02:00] video, but you know , I'm a busy professional. I'm a busy mom and wife. And I love podcasts. I listen to one to five podcast episodes every day, while I'm cooking, while I'm cleaning, while I am commuting. And I love podcasts. and I hope you do as well. this podcast, I would say, by episode two or three, really started to pick up and become popular. And so, I want to thank you for the absolute best ride.
It has been so exciting the past year. And one thing I've noticed is that My podcast listeners, my podcast crew, my podcast audience, are some of the most dedicated. And so, I just want to say thank you again, to all of you, because the podcast has had hundreds [00:03:00] of thousands of downloads its first year, and that is extremely exciting.
And because of the one year anniversary, I decided to put out a bonus episode. I have a special Thanksgiving episode coming up that's a lot of fun. , and I did not just isolate it to Thanksgiving. . I put in some words that you'll be able to use everywhere, all the time, , in many different situations.
All right. So let's get back to today's episode.
Students often ask me how they can take their English skills to the next level. And one of the things that I always tell them is to add some variety to their English. So in today's episode, I'm going to teach you how to talk about Feelings of happiness and sadness with more variety. When you're saying that you're happy, you can say I'm happy or I'm very happy. But these are pretty [00:04:00] basic. When you first learn English, this is what they're going to teach you. I'm happy. I'm very happy. I'm sad. I'm really sad. But today I'm going to be teaching you ways to say this that add more flavor to your English. And also, Ways that are more similar to how native English speakers say happy and sad.
when I'm happy, I don't really say I'm really happy, I say I'm ecstatic, I'm stoked. And I don't say she started crying, I say she burst into tears. remember that when you speak to Americans and when you watch American media, We like to add a lot of drama to what we're saying.
So, when you're watching a TV show and someone gets Taylor Swift tickets, they're not going to say, she was really excited. They're going to say, she was jumping for joy. [00:05:00] And so, in this episode, you're really going to take your English to the next level and learn how to speak about happiness, sadness, and excitement, just like native speakers.
Before we get into the story for today. I just wanted to remind you that you have a study guide waiting for you for free. With every episode, I create a study guide that includes all the words, definitions, example sentences, transcript, and some practice activities so that you can reinforce and practice what you heard in the episode.
To get that study guide, go to the episode description and click on the link. Then you'll get a link that will bring you to a folder that you can access anytime. You can save the link, and anytime there's a new episode, just click on the folder, and the new study guide will be in the folder.
All [00:06:00] right, let me now read you the list of phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms that you'll be learning in this episode.
Down in the dumps, to cheer up, a heavy heart, bummed out, tear up, break down, to cry your eyes out, to be in a funk, to be stoked or ecstatic, to be pumped or hyped, to light up, burst into tears, jump for joy. To be on cloud nine, grinning from ear to ear, over the moon, gutted, on top of the world, walking on air, and to be all smiles.
In order for you to really understand these words, I'm going to read you a story [00:07:00] with all of the words being used in real life context.
So let's get to the story. As I read, listen and try to focus on the words that I just told you and try to pay attention to the context. Here we go.
Amara had been down in the dumps all week. Her birthday was coming up. But she couldn't afford to fly back home to visit her family. It's just going to be another quiet day. She sighed. Her best friend and roommate, Lila. Would be out until late and so she wasn't around to cheer her up Amara was lying in bed with a heavy heart Feeling completely bummed out She scrolled through old pictures with her family Celebrating her birthday in the past, and she started to tear up.
Why do I feel so lonely this year? She whispered to [00:08:00] herself. Feeling incredibly sad, she suddenly broke down and started crying her eyes out. After about 15 minutes, she finally stopped crying and went to sleep.
She woke up early on her birthday, right around 8 a. m. She dragged herself out of bed, still in a funk. Thinking that she was going to have a bad day, when suddenly, her phone buzzed with a message from Lila.
Hey, I went out. Meet me at the cafe at 10 o'clock. Wear something cute. Well, at least she remembered my birthday, Amara said to herself, when she arrived at the cafe. Lila was waiting for her with a huge grin.
Ready for a surprise? Lila asked, looking stoked. What surprise? Amara asked. Follow me. Lila grabbed her [00:09:00] hand. And brought her outside excitedly.
Even though Amara was curious about the surprise, she wasn't really feeling hyped at all. Then, they turned the corner, and Amara stopped suddenly. In shock. Standing in front of her, was her mom, dad, and younger brother. Holding balloons and shouting, Happy birthday, Amara. Amara's eyes. Immediately lit up and she burst into tears as she was jumping for joy.
How is this even possible? She sobbed as she hugged them tightly. We couldn't miss your special day, her mom said. This took months to plan. But seeing you this happy is totally worth it. Amara was on cloud nine. For the rest of the day, she was grinning from ear to ear. They went to her favorite restaurant, and the waiter even brought out a [00:10:00] surprise cake.
Amara's family was able to stay for two more days, for the full weekend. But as the last day came to an end, she started to feel a heavy heart again. I'm so sad that you guys are leaving. Her mom nodded. We wish we could stay longer. But we all have to go to work. We'll see you again during the holidays.
That night, after they left, Amara sat in her room feeling both gutted and grateful. She was crying a little, but they were mostly happy tears. She thought about her family and her amazing best friend. And for the first time in a long time, She felt like she was on top of the world. This was the best birthday weekend ever, she whispered to herself, walking on air. She was all smiles as she drifted off to sleep.
The end.
Alright, let's talk about [00:11:00] all the definitions for the new vocabulary that you just heard in the story. First up, we have the idiom to be down in the dumps. The dump in English is where they throw all the garbage. It's just a terrible place to be. Nobody likes to be there. It smells bad. It looks bad. To feel down always means to feel sad. So, to feel down in the dumps, means to feel sad or depressed. Typically, to be down in the dumps lasts for a while. It's not momentary. He's been down in the dumps ever since he failed his final exam.
Next up, we have the idiom, cheer up. The word cheer means happy in English. Just like a cheerleader is someone whose job it is to be happy and make others happy. [00:12:00] So to cheer someone up or to cheer up means to become happy or make someone else feel happy So if I say hey Cheer up.
That means I'm telling you be happy, get happy. But if I say to cheer someone up, that means to make someone else happy. Her husband brought her flowers in order to cheer her up after a rough day.
Next up, we have the expression a heavy heart. A heavy heart is when you feel deep sadness or sorrow. Your heart is heavy because it is full of sadness. Sorrow is a deep feeling of sadness. Sorrow is a little bit different than sadness. So, you can feel sad momentarily. But sorrow is a feeling of deep sadness or [00:13:00] distress, and usually it's from loss or disappointment or some kind of misfortune or bad luck.
So when you have a heavy heart, it's usually about something deep. When she heard the news about her teacher's death, she had a heavy heart.
Next we have the phrasal verb. Bummed out. Remember that phrasal verbs are very informal, and this is one of them. The word bummed alone, , Oh, she's pretty bummed, is considered slang.
And bummed out is considered a phrasal verb. Bummed out and bummed both mean to feel disappointed. , sad, but mostly disappointed because something didn't happen. I was really bummed out when my favorite restaurant closed.
Next we have another phrasal verb, to tear up. Now be [00:14:00] careful with this word because This word also has another pronunciation and meaning.
We have tear up and we have tear up. Tear up and tear up are both spelled T E A R. , but they mean something completely different. These are homographs, or homographs. They're words that are spelled the same, but with different meanings and different pronunciations. So, tear up, the word in the story, is to get emotional and start to cry. If you remember, a tear is a little drop of water that comes from your eyes when you're sad. One of the main ways that we express sadness.
So, Tearing up is when you start to get tears in your eyes, maybe you're watching a sad movie or maybe you heard some sad news and you tear up. The other pronunciation is tear [00:15:00] up, and this comes from the word tear, which is to rip. So to tear something up is to rip something into smaller pieces, like he tore up the letter after reading it. and an example of tear up is I teared up at the end of the movie.
Next up, we have another phrasal verb, break down. Now, break down has multiple meanings, as do Many phrasal verbs, but in this context to break down means to lose control of your emotions and start Crying. She broke down after hearing the news about her grandmother's death
Next up we have the expression to cry your eyes out. Now. This is what I meant earlier in the episode when I said that Americans love to add drama to words So, in some [00:16:00] languages, they have one word for stuff, like,
sad, very sad. But in English, we love to add drama, and I know a lot of your languages are like this too. Where you have many different expressions, to add more feeling to something. And this is a perfect example of that. I could say, She cried a lot. She cried for a long time. But instead, I'm going to say she cried her eyes out. And to cry your eyes out is just a very dramatic way to say that someone cried a lot for a long time. She cried her eyes out when the dog died at the end of the movie. So again, you could say she cried a lot or she cried for a while. Or you could say she cried her eyes out. Eyes out with more drama, more feeling.
Next up, we have the slang expression to be in a funk, [00:17:00] F U N K, funk. This is to be feeling down or unmotivated. After losing his playoff match, he was in a funk for days. To be in a funk. is when you are consistently feeling down or sad , for a few days, maybe months. This can happen if you lose your job. This can happen if you had a bad breakup with your romantic partner. This can happen for many reasons, but it's a state to be in, And usually it takes a while for you to get out of it.
Next, we have four adjectives that are similar, and I'm going to pair them together two at a time. first of all, we have stoked and ecstatic. Stoked is a slang word, and ecstatic is a high level academic word. They both mean to be extremely happy or thrilled.
Now thrilled is another adjective that means [00:18:00] extremely happy, but We like to say stoked or ecstatic. She was stoked to finally meet her favorite actor.
Next up, we have pumped and hyped. Now, these kind of mean extremely happy, but even more than this, these two words mean excited, full of energy.
I'm so pumped for the concert tonight. I'm so hyped for the concert tonight. I've got energy. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited.
Next up, we have the expression to light up. Now, light up could mean that you turn on the lights and you add light to a whole area. But I want you to think of this metaphorically or symbolically.
The phrasal verb light up means to become visibly happy or excited. So we typically say, He lit up, or her face lit up, her [00:19:00] eyes lit up. looking at a person, you can see their excitement or happiness. Her face lit up when she saw her best friend for the first time in a decade. If you don't know, a decade is ten years.
Next up we have the expression to burst into tears. This means to start crying suddenly and intensely. This is another one similar to crying your eyes out. Burst into tears, though, is to focus on the fact that someone started crying He burstt into tears when he saw the surprise reunion.
Now something to just leave a note about here. When we're talking about crying, there are no specific expressions for crying with happiness or crying with sadness. For example, we have an expression called [00:20:00] tears of joy. This is when someone's crying out of happiness. But for everything else like crying your eyes out, burst into tears, these can be for happiness or for sadness.
So you just have to pay attention to the context. I also want to add another bonus word here, and that is bawling or to bawl. b A W L. It means to burst into tears, cry your eyes out, just cry a lot. , it's an official word, so it's not slang. But we say, oh my gosh, I was bawling. I bawled my eyes out. So, I know in English, there's the word B A L L. There's the word B A L D. That sound similar. But this is ball, B A W L. When she got her dream job, she was bawling for hours.
Next up we have the idiom, to jump for joy. To jump for joy means to be extremely happy and excited. He jumped for [00:21:00] joy when he got the job offer.
Next up we have to be on cloud nine. This is feeling extremely happy, almost in a euphoric way. So you feel euphoria, happiness. It's like you're in a dream. Typically in English, when someone gets engaged. , to be married, we say, oh my gosh, are you on cloud nine?
You're totally on cloud nine. It's like you're in a fantasy land. After their wedding, they were both on cloud nine.
Next up, we have the expression grinning from ear to ear. , firstly, let's talk about this word grin. The word grin means to smile. It's the physical form of smiling. So, we say, oh, she has a grin on her face. So, it is both a noun. And a verb. She's grinning, means she's happy, she's [00:22:00] smiling. Grinning from ear to ear means that your smile is so wide that it hits both your ears. This is symbolic, of course. And it means just someone who is showing a lot of happiness. She was grinning from ear to ear after winning her award.
Next up we have the expression, over the moon. This is to be extremely pleased or happy.
He was over the moon when his team won the championship.
Next we have , the word, to be gutted. This is extremely disappointed or devastated. She's gutted. I was gutted when I lost my job. They were gutted. gutted to hear that their manager had been fired.
Next up, we have on top of the world or to be on top of the world or feel on top of the world. [00:23:00] This is when you feel extremely happy. However, this is a little bit different than the other expressions. , to be on top of the world is usually to feel very happy about. Some kind of success. So you feel happy and successful. I felt on top of the world after completing my first marathon. You had some kind of success. You hit a goal, achievement, recognition, and now. You're on top of the world.
Next up, we have the idiom walking on air. This is when you feel lighthearted and happy and just in a good mood. It can also be euphoric, dream like, fantasy like, , but not as much as to be on cloud nine. She's been walking on air. ever since she got a promotion at work.
And lastly, we have the [00:24:00] expression all smiles or to be all smiles. This is to be very happy,
and cheerful. She was all smiles when she received her birthday gift.,
there you have it. You just learned 20 awesome words and expressions for feeling happy and sad. Here's a little bit of homework for you. Go out and use at least 5 to 10 of these new words this week.
Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.
Thanks so much for tuning [00:25:00] in.
