English proverbs you should know

hi i'm lisa will teach you some common english proverbs that all native speakers are familiar with and use on regular basis and will teach you some vocabulary from those proverbs proverbs offer wisdom and advice for life they're universal truths that we share with people to tell them about the right thing to do and to warn them about what not to do proverbs exist in all languages so please let me know in the comments below if there's similar proverb in your language or maybe there's exactly the same proverb okay let's get started here are some proverbs that native speakers of english use on regular basis the first proverb is don't make mountain out of mole hill what is molehill this is mole it's little animal that lives in the ground and when these animals make holes in the ground they create little hills of dirt and those hills are called mole hills let's stress the first word because it's compound noun molehill and let's make sure you're pronouncing mountain correctly most native speakers of english pronounce it like this mountain they hold the mountain and we reduce the a.i so we don't say mountain we say mountain it's deserts across mountain ranges get on my mountain bike at the base of mountain some native speakers of american english might pronounce the like this mountain mountain to address that mountain in our sights the further away that mountain is but most of the time it's like this mountain mountain let's pronounce the proverb correctly don't make mountain out of molehill mountain is very large and molehill is very small so that means don't exaggerate your problem don't make minor problem into major one don't make something unimportant seem serious we can say stop worrying you're making mountain out of molehill or you don't need to go to the hospital it's just little stomachache don't make mountain out of molehill let's listen to how some other people used it you know they're saying making mountain out of mole hill it means to make big deal about something minor think you're making mountain out of mole hill okay the next proverb is look before you leap to leap means to jump to jump high in the air or to jump long in the distance and leap is an irregular verb so we say leap left left and this proverb is warning to people to think carefully before they make decision don't make decision too fast consider all the consequences and the dangers first before you make your decision you can say know you really want to get married to him but look before you leap or you can say don't accept that job offer before finding out more about that company look before you leap let's listen to how some other people used look before you leap and sometimes it's better to look before you leap if someone's blindly optimistic about situation but you're not 100 don't be afraid to do your own research look before you leap analyze before you act do you know the meaning of this proverb let sleeping dogs lie the verb to lie has two meanings one meaning is to not tell the truth for example don't lie to me but the other meaning is to place yourself in flat position for example you lie on the bed you can say he is lying on the bed the dog is lying on the floor so when we say let sleeping dogs lie we mean if dog is sleeping let him continue to sleep don't wake him up because maybe he will become angry and he will bite you so the proverb let sleeping dogs lie means don't disturb the situation because you might create bigger problem leave things as they are in order to avoid conflict don't unnecessarily create problem you can say for example should tell my boss that didn't attend the meeting last week no think it's best to let sleeping dogs lie if she hasn't said anything don't bring up the topic let sleeping dogs lie wanted to tell her my opinion but decided to let sleeping dogs lie let's look at this proverb all that glitters isn't gold to glitter means to shine with the sparkling light to produce lot of small bright flashes of reflected light for example diamond's glitter and gold glitters but just because something glitters it doesn't mean it's real gold it doesn't mean it's valuable so the proverb means if something looks good on the outside it doesn't mean it's valuable something isn't as beneficial or as valuable as it appears all that glitters is not gold we can say know you're in love with that handsome man but don't forget that all that glitters isn't gold the watch looks beautiful but it may stop working in few months all the glitters isn't gold do you know this proverb don't bite off more than you can chew that means don't put too much food in your mouth if you can't chew all the food don't try to do too much don't try to do something that might be too difficult for you don't take on too much work or more responsibility than you can handle for example we can say have two jobs and i'm preparing for an exam think bid off more than can chew in this case we used it in the past tense bit off you're not prepared for that job don't bite off more than you can chew look at this proverb you can lead horse to water but you can't make him drink and to lead horse is to take him to place where there is water but you can't force the horse to drink the water he has to make that decision for himself so the proverb means you can't force someone to do something you can't force someone to accept your help you can give someone an opportunity but you can't force them to take it if you try to help someone but they don't take your advice you should give up you can lead horse to water but you can't make him drink you can say offered to help him find job but he's not motivated to work you can lead horse to water but you can't make him drink or you can say told him that would help him study for the test but he didn't accept my offer you can lead horse to water but you can't make him drink let's listen to how some other people use this proverb guess the old cliches you can lead horse to water but you can't make them drink right yeah that's kind of the analogy that we use with with addiction at the end of the day you can lead horse to water but you can't make them drink in this situation you can either let it continue to affect your relationship or you can make peace with it let's look at this proverb don't cry over spilled milk or some people say it's no use crying over spilled milk if you spill something you cause the liquid to come out of the container by accident for example you can say spilled the water on the floor or spilled the tea on my desk so if you spilled the milk don't cry about it because you can't change it let's look at the past tense of the verb to spill in american english we add an e.d spilled but in british english it's spelled with an lt at the end so it's spilt american english is spilled british english is spilt so the proverb it's no use crying over spilled milk means don't waste time complaining about something bad that has happened that can't be changed there's no point in being upset about it know you didn't mean to break my glasses so there's no use in crying over spilled milk why are you wasting time crying over spilled milk instead of thinking about your future let's listen to how some other people use this proverb no amount of crying will bring that ten dollars back like it's like there's no point in crying over spilled milk you can't put the milk back in the cup it's gone like this proverb we'll cross that bridge when we come to it or you can say we'll cross that bridge when we get there or let's cross that bridge when we come to it to cross bridge is to go over it to go from one side of the bridge to the other and the proverb means don't worry about problem too much in advance things may change in the future or we will deal with the problem only when it happens and we don't need to worry about it until that time for example you can say we don't need to make decision now we'll cross that bridge when we come to it or the job interview is two weeks away so i'm not worried about it yet i'll cross that bridge when come to it let's listen to how some other people use that proverb we will cross that bridge when we come to it i'll figure it out i'll cross that bridge when come to it i've made some other videos in the past about other english proverbs so if you would like to learn more proverbs make sure you watch those videos i've included the links in the description below i've always really enjoyed learning about proverbs from different countries when used to teach english to international students in los angeles had students from many different countries had really big classroom and used to ask my students to tell me the proverbs in their own countries you can learn lot about culture based on the culture's proverbs so make sure that you share the proverbs of your countries in the comments thanks for watching and keep practicing your english to get the two courses the american accent course and the 400 advanced words you must know 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