25 Notting Hill English Lessons to Speak Confidently

Follow the story of an unlikely romance as you learn English lessons for your daily conversations.

Have you seen the Notting Hill movie? It remains an iconic and evergreen film title in the history of British movies. And in this post, you’ll learn 25 English lessons to help you speak English confidently every day.

Remember that you can listen to the episode of this film on my English podcast, Mother isn’t Murder. Click here to listen on YouTube.

A bit about the film: Anna Scott, a world-celebrated American film star meets William Thacker, a travel bookstore owner in Notting Hill, London, and they develop an unlikely yet most admirable love and connection.

Now, let’s dig in!

Here’s a List of the 25 English Lessons from Notting Hill:

1. Genuine

2. Neither

3. A cup of tea

4. Apricots

5. Raisins

6. Mayonnaise

7. Goggles

8. Species

9. Rooting round

10. Running late

11. Fire away

12. Rush through

13. Scraping by

14. Get away with something

15. Spick and span

16. Ring any bells

17. Kill two birds with one stone

18. Down the drain

19. Take pride in

20. Flog your guts out

21. Have you got a minute?

22. Loo

23. Nobody fancies you

24. Classic!

25. Keen to talk about

8 Notting Hill Vocabulary & Noun Phrase and their Correct Pronunciation

Now, we’ll take these English lessons one by one and discuss their meaning as used in Notting Hill.

1. GENUINE refers to something original or authentic.

William uses this word while describing some of the paintings in the market at the start of the film.

The word has three syllables that sound like this:

2. NEITHER is one word that you can pronounce in two ways.

It means that something is not A and is also not B.

William says this word with his assistant at the travel bookstore just after Anna leaves his store. See below for how to pronounce it correctly.

3. A CUP OF TEA includes four words that the British often pronounce as THREE, thanks to connected speech otherwise known as fast speech.

So, instead of sounding out each word, you combine them to sound like this: A CUPPA TEA.

William sounds the phrase like this when he asks Anna, “Would you like a cup of tea?”

In American English, you sound out all four words while observing the presence of the schwa sound (uh) for the ‘A’ and ‘OF’.

4. Next up is APRICOTS, a word I didn’t know had two pronunciations. How do you pronounce this word?

See what the Cambridge Dictionary says:

William and Anna use this word when Anna goes to his flat to clean up and change her outfit after the spill on the street.

William uses the AY- which is the British pronunciation while Anna uses the A-, the American pronunciation of the word.

5. RAISINS is one word I pronounced incorrectly until about a year ago.

While it has an S in the middle, the word sounds like this in reality:

Spike, William’s flatmate, says this word when he walks into the flat without noticing Anna’s presence. He was such a hilarious character in the film Notting Hill.

6. The next English lesson is MAYONNAISE. Are you also guilty of sounding the word as MAH-YO-NIS?

Learn the correct pronunciation with me. See below:

The first syllable is a MAY- while the last syllable is a NEIZ. Do you get it?

William says Mayonnaise when he corrects Spike about the white content in a small cup.

7. GOGGLES is one word that people sometimes confuse with GOOGLES.

While they’re sitting on the roof of the building where they live, Spike tells William, “There’s something wrong with these goggles, though.”

He uses the UK pronunciation with the short ‘o’ in the first syllable whereas Google has the long /u:/.

See the correct pronunciation of goggles below:

8. The final vocabulary from Notting Hill with a pronunciation focus is SPECIES. Did you know you could pronounce this word in two ways?

William goes to see Anna at The Ritz, the hotel where she’s having a junket, and he asks the most hilarious questions, after claiming that he’s a journalist from Horse and Hound.

In his defense, he adds, “Our readers are intrigued by both species.”

While he says SPEE-seez, note that you can also sound this word as SPEE-sheez (which I’ve always done since we did Biology in high school).

6 Phrasal Verbs from Notting Hill and their Meanings

Let’s move on to some noteworthy phrasal verbs in the Notting Hill movie.

1. ROOTING ROUND means to search for something in a not-so-organized way. And Spike uses this phrasal verb when William asks why he’s dressed in a diver’s suit.
2. RUNNING LATE means to be behind schedule or to start something later than planned. Karen, one of the women who work with Anna, uses this phrasal verb when she welcomes William to the junket at The Ritz for Anna.
3. FIRE AWAY is a common English phrasal verb that means to start talking, asking your questions, or giving instructions without further delay. William says this phrase just before he starts his interview with Anna.
4. RUSH THROUGH is a phrasal verb you use when you want to do something quickly without too much care or calculation. Karen believes William is truly a journalist from Horse and Hound, so she has him interviewing different people within a very short time.
5. SCRAPING BY means to barely survive or have just enough but no more. Bernie uses this phrasal verb when he meets Anna for the first time at Max’s place while they’re celebrating Honey’s birthday.
6. GET AWAY WITH SOMETHING means to do something wrong but not get caught or punished. And Bernie uses this phrasal verb when he suddenly realizes Anna is THE famous American actress yet he converses with her without knowing.

6 Notting Hill Idioms and When to Use Them

Up next, idioms! And these are some out of the many common English idioms in the film Notting Hill.

1. SPICK AND SPAN means clean and neat. William uses this idiom to apologize to Anna for spilling his drink on her shirt and assure her that she can be clean again if she agrees to go to his place (which is close by).
2. RING ANY BELLS is a well-known idiom which means that something sounds familiar. When calling the hotel where Anna lodges, William asks if “Flintstone rings any bells.” He means “Do you remember anyone by the name Flintstone?” (a name Anna uses as a disguise).
3. KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE is an idiom that means achieve two results with one action. This English idiom is not about killing birds but about doing one thing that allows you to realize two outcomes. At The Ritz, William uses this idiom while admitting to another guy that he has flowers because he plans to visit his sick grandmother after meeting Anna.
4. DOWN THE DRAIN refers to losing or wasting something, and in the context of this film, it means losing money. Bernie tells Max “Millions down the drain” as he walks in for William’s sister’s birthday.
5. When you use the idiom TAKE PRIDE IN, you mean to be happy and satisfied with who or what you are or what you do. At the table with Bella, Anna, Honey, Bernie, and William, Max describes his friends as “a desperate lot of underachievers” – a sharp contrast to Anna Scott, the famous film star.
6. FLOG YOUR GUTS OUT is an idiom I’ve never heard before. It means to work so hard until you’re exhausted. In this scene, Max describes Honey’s work life in comparison to Bernie who earns quite well but dislikes his job.

3 British English Usages that Stand out in Notting Hill

Let’s learn these THREE (3) words and expressions common in British English versus their American English variants.

1. HAVE YOU GOT A MINUTE? is how the British say “Are you available right now?” The Americans would say “Do you have a minute?” Karen uses this when she speaks with William on the hallway just after his several interviews.
2. LOO is the British informal word for Bathroom or Toilet. Americans would say restroom. Honey uses this British term after showing Anna the bathroom/restroom.
3. NOBODY FANCIES YOU: When the British say “fancy you,” they mean “like you in a romantic way.” Americans, on the other hand, would say “crushing on you.” Bernie admits that nobody fancies him at the table with his friends and Anna.

2 English Expressions from Notting Hill to Make Your Conversations More Natural

These expressions are:

1. CLASSIC is one expression William says repeatedly throughout this film especially when he’s pleased with something like in the scene where he schedules a meeting with Anna over the phone. Use Classic to show delight or satisfaction with something or someone.
2. KEEN TO TALK ABOUT means happy to discuss or interested in sharing something. And one of the men on Anna’s team says this when he addresses William who is struggling to ask actual interview questions related to her film.

Conclusion

So, that’s everything about the 25 English lessons from the 1999 film ‘Notting Hill’ starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

Which of these lessons was new to you?

Please share them in the comments below.

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See you in Episode 7.