This mini episode teaches you the useful phrase “I guess so.” What does it mean, and how do we use it?
Episode 207 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you how to use the phrase “I guess so.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi! This is Farah Namira from Indonesia, and you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 207 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let's get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The expression I’m going to teach you today is very short, very common, and very useful. And that expression is, “I guess so.” I guess so. That’s I, guess : g-u-e-s-s, so: s-o. I guess so.
What does I guess so mean? I guess so means “I assume that is true,” or “I agree that it’s true, but I’m not very excited about it,” or “I agree that it’s probably true, but I’m not sure.” You will usually hear people say, “I guess so” when they agree with something, but they are not very enthusiastic. Or when they are not very certain.
Let me give you an example of a situation where you might hear someone say, “I guess so.” Let’s say that somebody is going to be moving out of his apartment, into a new apartment. And he has a lot of things to move. He has a lot of heavy furniture. He has a lot of heavy boxes. He has a lot of dishes and glasses. And moving all of these things—loading them up in his car or bringing them down the stairs—will probably take a long time. Now, this person asks his friend, “Will you help me move this weekend? Will you help me move all of my things out of my old apartment and into my new apartment?” And this is what the friend says: the friend says, “I guess so.”
Well, what does his friend mean by I guess so? Why did his friend say that? In that kind of situation, somebody might say, “I guess so” to mean, “Okay. I agree” (or I will), “but I’m not very excited about this. I don’t think it’s a great idea” or “I don’t really want to do it. I’m not very enthusiastic. I’m not sure that I actually want to do it, but I don’t want to be rude. I don’t want to be unfriendly, so I will agree to do it, but I’m going to let you know that I don’t really want to do it. And I’m going to do that by saying, ‘I guess so.’” That is a way of saying yes while also communicating a lack of certainty or a lack of enthusiasm.
Here’s another situation where you might hear someone say, "I guess so": Imagine that somebody is studying for a test in school, and her father says to her, “Are you going to get a good grade on your test?” And the kid says, “I guess so.”
What does that mean? Why did she say, “I guess so” instead of “Yes” or instead of “I hope so. I hope I get a good grade”? I guess so communicates uncertainty. The child is saying, “Well, I assume I will get a good grade” or “I might get a good grade, but I’m not certain.” “I’m not sure that I will get a good grade.” “I hope so, but I’m not sure. I will try.”
And that is I guess so, a very common and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
We have reached the end of episode 207 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Farah recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I'll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye. I'll see you soon.