#85- 15 Words for Negotiating, Persuading and Convincing

Welcome to episode #85 of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast. In today's episode, I'm teaching you all about negotiating, persuading and convincing.

In real life, you don't always get what you want, and neither does the person you're talking to. Whether you're negotiating a price, discussing responsibilities at work, trying to convince a friend, or simply standing up for your opinion, knowing how to communicate confidently is a huge part of speaking natural English. In Part 1 of this two-part series on negotiating, persuading, and convincing, you'll learn 15 useful phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang expressions that Americans use in real conversations. You'll hear vocabulary like: 

•  lowball someone
• hold out for
• stand your ground 
• and I'm not buying it

You'll hear this vocabulary naturally in a story about a corporate team preparing for a negotiation with a tough opponent.

And don't just listen and forget! 

Download the FREE Study Guide to practice everything you learn in the episode. You'll get the vocabulary, definitions, example sentences, the full story, the transcript, three practice activities, and a new speaking challenge designed to get you actually using the English out loud. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Have you ever been in a situation where you had to convince someone of something, or make a decision together, or come to some sort of agreement? It wasn't easy, was it? On this episode of the RealLife English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you fifteen phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms for negotiating, persuading, and convincing.

You'll be learning vocabulary like lowball, hold out for, wear someone down, hammer out a deal, and more. Let's get to it.

Hey there. Welcome to the RealLife 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 [00:01:00] in.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to episode number 85. How are you doing in your part of the world? Here in New York City, I think things are going pretty well. The summer is winding down. I don't wanna say things are calm in New York City, because you know what that means. If I say things are calm, then they won't be anymore. But here, the summer is winding down. Do you know what winding down means? Have you ever heard that phrasal verb? This is a really common phrasal verb that means things are slowly coming to an end. So instead of abruptly or quickly ending, it's like a slow transition from one thing to the next.

That's kind of how summer feels here, because June and July were super crazy. I talked about it a little bit in my last episode, but, you know, here in New York City, we just had so much going on, especially with the World Cup. It was, like, four to six [00:02:00] weeks of just tourists everywhere. It was intense. And I actually spent the summer teaching Italian students here in New York City at the university where I teach.

I taught students from a really cool program called Giacomondo, and basically, it's an Italian company that sends high school and university students on trips all over the world. Generally, the trips are for two weeks, and they go to different cities. It's a really cool program. My students ranged from 13 to 20. Oh my gosh, guys, I had 13-year-olds, babies. They were so cute. So normally, I would say most of my students are from 20 to 40, depending on where I teach. So when I teach at the university here in New York City, a lot of my students are in their 20s and early 30s. And when I was teaching full-time at my first job, Kaplan NYC, I was [00:03:00] mostly teaching 20 to 40.

So, you know, I have had a lot of 16, 17, 18, but 13, woo. But you know what? They were adorable. And I had about 50 students throughout the summer, 48 Italians and two Spaniards. Actually, it's an Italian program, but they also get students from other European countries. So I had 48 Italians and two Spaniards.

It was a really fun adventure. It was intense. It was my first time back in the classroom since having my daughter last year in 2025. I took some time off, and yeah, it was really fun. My daughter Madison, she just turned one a few days ago. For those of you who are newer listeners to the podcast, I have three children, two boys and one girl.

My sons are eight years old and five years old, and my daughter [00:04:00] is one. My production has slowed down a bit this past year, as you probably realized, because I had another baby, and three kids are, well, chaotic. And you probably remember my daughter had some health issues. She had a little accident, so things have been a bit crazy.

But now that my daughter's one, things have gotten a lot easier, and so I'm really excited that I'll be getting more consistent again. Moving forward, episodes should be posting every Wednesday. I kind of go back and forth between Wednesdays and Fridays. I like posting on both days, but I, I like Wednesday a little bit better.

If you have a preference, please let me know.

Back to today's episode. This episode, episode number eighty-five, is all about negotiating, persuading, and convincing, part [00:05:00] one. This topic is a really good topic, and there are so many good vocabulary words and expressions that I had to split it into two parts. I tried to cut it down, but honestly, I just, I felt that it was better to do two separate episodes.

Honestly, one episode that has like thirty expressions is not as good because it's harder to retain that much vocabulary. So I figured I would do two smaller episodes. So episodes number eighty-five and eighty-six will have the same topic.

Now, why did I pick this topic? Well, as you heard in the intro, have you ever been in a situation where you had to convince someone of something? Maybe you had to make a decision together, you had to come to an agreement. Those things are never easy. Maybe [00:06:00] you had to make a decision about money. Maybe something simple like making plans with friends. But no matter what the situation is, these moments can feel really stressful, really uncomfortable, frustrating, and even more in a second language.

These things are so stressful in your native language, and then speaking English on top of that is even more stressful. And negotiating with people, persuading people, they're such big parts of real life, and because of that, it should be a huge part of your English.

So with this episode, I really wanna help you guys feel confident when you have to negotiate in English. Because if you haven't learned this already, let me just tell you, negotiation is a key part of American culture. In the United States, people negotiate [00:07:00] all the time. It happens in business, every day at work, salary discussions, negotiating responsibilities and tasks, but it also shows up in everyday life.

Splitting responsibilities with your roommates or your partner, making plans with friends, solving problems, deciding where to eat, hiring people to do a job for you, and negotiating on the price. People here in the United States often expect you to share your opinion, explain your reasoning, and push back a little.

[00:08:00] So American culture, I wouldn't call us aggressive, even though some Americans are aggressive, especially our politicians. But Americans are expected to be clear, confident, and willing to work toward agreement. Those things are very valued here. And on top of that, instead of staying quiet when you don't agree, our culture here encourages healthy discussions and negotiations because we want everybody happy or satisfied.

So I know in many cultures, you are expected to stay quiet, especially if someone is authority, but that is not the case here. And in fact, the opposite is true. If you don't give your opinion, you're seen as being weak. It is respectable here to negotiate and persuade others. In fact, we have books, we have podcasts, we have TV series that all teach you how to become a persuasive person.

We call it the power of persuasion. And so this is a really important topic for those of you who work with Americans, have a future working with Americans, living in the United States, or even if you just want to become someone who is bolder and who feels [00:09:00] more comfortable giving their opinion in an English setting.

And so if you don't have the right language to do that, it's so easy to feel stuck and to say something that you don't mean. So in this episode, we're gonna focus on how to handle these situations naturally and confidently. You're gonna learn expressions that native speakers use all the time in real-life scenarios, real conversations, and then you'll see them in action in the story.

Today's story I wrote with a business theme because it's very common to use in that setting, and then you'll see something different in the next episode with our next set of words.

All right. So let's get into it. Now let's talk about the vocabulary that you'll be learning in this episode. We have drive a hard bargain, give in, to lowball someone, stand your ground, hold out for, meet in the middle, [00:10:00] take it or leave it, talk someone into something, talk someone out of something, wear someone down, play along with, to not buy something like "I'm not buying it," has nothing to do with purchasing. Sneak peek, name your price, hammer out a deal, bring someone around. We've got some good stuff today.

Before we get any further, I just wanna remind you that we have a study guide that will help you practice and learn everything you heard in this episode. In the study guide, you have all of the words and definitions and example sentences. You've got the story that you can reread. You have the transcript that you can follow along with, but more importantly than that, you've got three practice activities.

These activities will really challenge you to remember what you learned in the episode, and I've started to add a new speaking challenge [00:11:00] to the study guides so that you can be challenged to speak out loud what you learn, even if it's just recording yourself or speaking to a friend.

If you're getting the study guide for the first time, all you have to do is click the link in the episode description, and it'll give you all the instructions you need. And if you are a regular listener and you've gotten the study guide before, you'll get an email with the information. But also, you can just go into the folder and see the newest episode study guide uploaded there.

All right, now let's get to the story. Listen as I read the story and try to listen for the vocabulary. This story contains all of the vocabulary in real-life contexts, so see if you can use context clues and critical thinking to guess the meanings.

After I read the story, we'll discuss together. Here we go.

The conference room was quiet as Michael looked at his team. "Team, [00:12:00] tomorrow we start negotiations against Carter Blake, and we need to prepare," he said. Everyone looked at each other. Carter was known to drive a hard bargain and never give in.

"Well, let's review his main strategies," Jake said. "We know for sure that he's going to try to lowball us right away."

"Let him try," Michael said. "We're going to stand our ground."

Lena said, "So are we going to hold out for the full asking price?"

"No. We start high," Michael replied. "If needed, we can meet in the middle, but only if it still works for us."

Lena looked a little bit nervous. "What if he says, 'Take it or leave it?'"

"That's just his strategy to pressure us," Michael said. "Don't let him talk you into a bad deal or [00:13:00] talk you out of what we deserve."

Jake said, "You know, he's also going to try to wear us down."

"Exactly," Michael said. "We might have to play along with him at times, but we have to stay in control."

Then the assistant named Tom said, "He's smarter than that, though. I don't think he'll buy it."

Then Lena asked, "What about this? We can have him name his price first and then try to hammer out a deal from there."

Everyone got quiet.

"Remember," Michael said, "we're not just making a deal. We're trying to bring him around to our side."

"What if we can't?" Tom asked.

Maya said, "Then we walk away. Tomorrow, everything depends on one thing: Who can stay strong the longest?"

"That's exactly [00:14:00] right," Michael said. "Bring your A game tomorrow, everyone. It's gonna be a challenge."

The end.

All right. Now let's talk about the definitions, and let's hear some examples for everything that you just heard.

All right, now let's get into the definitions and hear some example sentences for all of the vocabulary you just heard. Firstly, you heard to drive a hard bargain. It said that Carter Blake, the person that they were negotiating with, was known to drive a hard bargain and never give in.

So let's talk about these two. To drive a hard bargain is an idiom, and it means to negotiate strongly and get the best possible deal. So when someone drives a hard bargain, it means that they never quit. They will continue to push forward, and they won't quit. It's very difficult [00:15:00] to negotiate with someone who drives a hard bargain because you're gonna be working.

For example, she drives a hard bargain and never accepts the first offer.

Next up, we have give in from that same sentence. Give in is a phrasal verb, and it means to finally agree to something after initially resisting or fighting against it.

. So someone's trying to persuade you of something, and you continue to say no. But then finally, at the end, you agree. So it's kind of like surrender. To give in can also mean to surrender, because a lot of the time when someone gives in, it's because they're just tired of fighting. They're tired of negotiating.

For example, he didn't wanna lower the price, but he eventually gave in.

Next up, we have to lowball someone. They said that Blake was going to [00:16:00] lowball them right away.

This is a really good word to know. This is very valuable business financial English. To lowball someone is to offer them a price that is much lower than expected. So let's say you are a lawyer, and you charge someone three hundred dollars an hour, right? They say, "Well, sorry, we can hire you, but only for a hundred or a hundred and fifty dollars an hour." They're lowballing you. They're giving you a much lower price than expected or than you deserve.

A lot of times, this is a negotiation tactic because they want you to lower your initial price, and they know they're not gonna get you for a hundred or a hundred and fifty. But if you start low, then the final price will probably be low. And so this is a big strategy here.

For example, [00:17:00] "They tried to lowball us, but we refused their offer."

Next up, we have to stand your ground. In the story, Michael says, "Let him try. We're just going to stand our ground." And then Lena says, "So we're going to hold out for the full asking price?" So stand your ground means to refuse to change your opinion or position.

Imagine that you're standing. Someone's trying to push you, but you stand your ground. You do not move. Someone's trying to get you to change your position, but you are refusing.

For example, "She stood her ground even when her clients pushed back."

Now, you also heard the phrasal verb hold out for. This is a three-word phrasal verb. This means to wait for something better. So people might be offering you, offering you, offering [00:18:00] you different deals, but you're waiting because you know something better is coming.

For example, they decided to hold out for a higher salary, and they finally got it.

Next up, we have the idiom to meet in the middle. In the story, they said, "We're gonna stand our ground. We're gonna hold out for something better, and if worse comes to worst, we will meet in the middle." Meet in the middle means to compromise. Each person gives up or sacrifices a little bit in order to compromise.

For example, we couldn't agree at first, but after three hours of negotiations, we finally met in the middle.

Next up, we have take it or leave it. What if he says, "Take it or leave it"? That's just his strategy. Don't let him talk you into a bad deal or talk you out of what we deserve.

So let's take a look at these three. Take it or leave it is a popular idiom. This is a final [00:19:00] offer that will not change. So you can either take what I'm offering you or you can leave.

This is very common. We say this for everything. Even with my friends, I'll say, "Hey, this is what I got. Take it or leave it." Nothing's gonna change the options.

For example, he said it was take it or leave it, so we had to decide quickly.

Next up, we have to talk into and talk out of. These are both very, very popular phrasal verbs. I'm sure you've heard these very often.

Talk someone into something means to persuade someone to do something. Talk someone out of something is the opposite. You're persuading someone not to do something.

So one of the examples I always give my students is you're trying to decide with your friends what to have for dinner. You really want Chinese food. They really want Mexican food. And so you have to talk them into getting Chinese food with you. You have to persuade them [00:20:00] to say yes to what you want.

So successfully, you persuade them to have Chinese food. You talked them out of getting Mexican food. You persuaded them not to do what they wanted.

Two examples: She talked me into joining the project. He talked her out of quitting her job.

By the way, figuring out what kind of food to get for dinner is one of the most common problems here in the United States.

Maybe where you live, you don't have as many options, but literally in the United States, we have every single kind of food you can think of. So here in New York City, it's very expensive. So we only order out once a week here because ordering out for my family is like fifty or sixty bucks. It's expensive. So we just cook food most nights. But we have all types of food, especially in New York City. I think we're the city [00:21:00] with the most Michelin-star restaurants. So talking people into or out of one cuisine or the other is very popular. So I might say, "All right, why don't we get Chinese tonight? We'll get Mexican tomorrow. We'll get Thai food the next day, Italian food the next day." It's very common here because we have so many amazing international chefs.

All right. Next up, we have to wear someone down. Wear someone down is to slowly make someone agree by continuing to pressure them. It's a strategy that we typically use. We just wanna persistently argue with someone because you know that eventually they'll get tired of you, and they won't wanna argue anymore.

And think of it from a military perspective, from a battle. If someone has a wall protecting their city, you continue to fire at this wall, wear it down day after day. [00:22:00] Eventually, if you have the right tools, you will get in because it's very difficult to continuously defend something against someone who is persistently trying to get to you.

For example, after hours of discussion, they wore him down because it was almost midnight.

Next up, we have to play along with. This is a three-word phrasal verb. This means to pretend to agree or cooperate. So when you play along with someone, it's like you're saying, "Yeah, we'll do it," but you're faking it. So in the story it says, "We might have to play along with him, but we're gonna be in control."

And then they say, "He's not gonna buy that." So play along with someone again is when you pretend that you're going to agree or cooperate. You just wanna keep the peace. You want someone to think that you are agreeing with them, but you're not really.

For example, I didn't agree, but I just played along with the plan.

And then we have, "I'm not buying it."

So they say, [00:23:00] "Oh, do we think he's gonna buy it?" Now, this is very interesting because obviously buy something means to purchase something. But this is not the meaning here. This is an idiom. I'm not buying it means I don't believe it. I'm not convinced.

For example, he said it was a mistake, but I'm not buying it.

This is extremely common. This is technically slang. So, yeah, right, I'm not buying his story. Like, I'm not believing what he's saying. He has not persuaded me. This is very popular slang. We love to use this.

Next up, we have name your price. To name your price means to tell someone how much you want for something. So in the story it says, you know, well, what if we just ask him what he wants? Why don't we just ask him to name his price? That means tell me what you want and I'll see if I can match that.

For example, if you really want it, name your price and we'll see what we can do.

Next up, [00:24:00] we have to hammer out a deal.

We use this as an idiom, to hammer out a deal, but hammer out is a phrasal verb. So to hammer out a deal means to reach an agreement after a lot of discussion. We're finally making a deal. We're finally agreeing.

Next up, we have to bring someone around. This means to change someone's opinion.

It took time, but we finally brought him around. We finally convinced him. And in the story it says we don't want a deal, we wanna actually bring him around. We wanna actually change his mind about our company.

One more thing. At the end of the story it says, "Bring your A game tomorrow." To bring your A game means to bring your best, bring your ideas. This is plan A. And so we often say this the night before a sports [00:25:00] tournament, the night before a negotiation, the night before an exam. We say, "All right, guys, bring your A game." So that's just a little bonus expression.

Well, guess what? You just learned fifteen awesome vocabulary words and expressions that will help you negotiate, persuade, and convince people in English.

The next step is to really try and remember what you learned. That requires practice and lots of exposure. So for homework, I want you to go download the study guide. I want you to do some of the practice activities, and I want you to commit to using five of the vocabulary words that you heard in the episode and use them this week.

Maybe you can teach a friend if you have a friend who's also learning English. Maybe you can write it in a journal or write it in an email or text to someone. However you decide to practice, just make sure that you do it, because that is the best way [00:26:00] to really learn how to speak with confidence.

Don't forget to come back next week for part two. Thanks so much for tuning in.

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 in.