English Idiomatic Expression: "You Don't Want To..."

By Robby

If you are new here please read this first.

Hello my friends foreign English speakers! 😉

Here’s another English idiomatic expression for you to learn and use in your daily English conversations and also spoken English practice sessions:

YOU DON’T WANT TO

This particular English phrase simply means “YOU SHOULDN’T…” and it’s used by native English speakers in situations when telling someone that they shouldn’t do something would sound a bit too harsh and patronizing.

Imagine yourself in a situation when you’re introduced to a new work colleague and you’re given the task of showing him the ropes (explaining how the job is done.)

You’d be telling your new colleague a lot of things that they shouldn’t do over the course of the day, so every time you’re saying YOU SHOULDN’T DO IT and DON’T DO IT, it may start sounding as if you’re annoyed with them.

Not that it’s a big deal – and if your voice and body language clearly shows your good intentions, you shouldn’t have any problems with telling someone that they shouldn’t do something.

It’s just that it may sound a bit friendlier if you use the phrase YOU DON’T WANT TO DO IT!

And here’s the exact phrases where you’d be using this idiomatic expression:

You don’t want to do that!
You don’t want to be doing it!
You don’t want to see it!
You don’t want to be there!

Anyway, you’d better watch the video or listen to the podcast above where I’m explaining everything in the very detail, and I’m also providing more examples on when you’d be using this particular English idiomatic expression.

If you’ve any questions – please publish them in the comments section below!

Cheers,

Robby 😉

P.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out the English Harmony System HERE!