Learn British English with 007 First Light: Spy Phrases, Idioms and Grammar

What happens when you mix a brand-new James Bond game with an English lesson? You get one of my favourite live streams so far. In Learn British English with 007 First Light, I played the opening missions of the game live on my PS5 and stopped every time Bond, M, Q or Moneypenny said something worth learning. And believe me, MI6 talks a lot.

In this post I’ve collected the most useful spy phrases, idioms and grammar from that episode, with meanings and examples you can use in real life. Watch the gameplay below, then use this page as your study notes.

Why learn English with a video game?

Video games are brilliant for learners because the dialogue is real: characters interrupt each other, use slang, make jokes and speak at natural speed. 007 First Light is full of British voices, so you hear the accent and the expressions in context, which makes them much easier to remember than a list in a textbook. During the stream I also ran ten quick quizzes, so viewers had to think about the language, not just watch the action.

Mission briefing: phrases for paying attention and taking action

Keep your eyes peeled

To keep your eyes peeled means to watch very carefully for something. It’s exactly what you’d tell an agent on a mission. Example: Keep your eyes peeled for a blue van — it should be here any minute.

I’m on it

A short, confident way of saying I’m dealing with it right now. Perfect when your boss (or M) gives you a task. Example: “Can someone check the security cameras?” “I’m on it.“

Lay it on me

This is American slang that means tell me; give me the information, often when you’re ready for news. Example: Okay, I’m ready. Lay it on me — what went wrong?

Tucked away

If something is tucked away, it’s hidden or kept in a quiet place where people won’t easily find it. Example: The safe house was tucked away behind an old bakery.

A man of hidden talents

We say someone is a man (or woman) of hidden talents when they surprise us with a skill we didn’t know they had.

Talking about risks and chances

Spy stories are all about odds, so this group of expressions came up again and again.

• Here goes nothing — what you say just before you try something that probably won’t work. Here goes nothing… I’m jumping!
• That might be pushing it — that’s probably too much, too risky or too ambitious. Finishing the mission in five minutes might be pushing it.
• I don’t fancy his chances — I don’t think he’ll succeed. In British English, fancy can mean think or believe, not only like.
• I’ll take those odds — I’m happy to accept that risk.
• Go big or go home — an American idiom: do something with maximum effort and boldness, or don’t do it at all.
• Let’s not get carried away — let’s calm down. If you get carried away, you’re so excited that you lose control of what you say or do.

Office English at MI6

Behind the action there’s a lot of very useful workplace English. These are phrases you’ll hear in any office in the UK.

Run you through / put you through

• Run someone through something = explain the details step by step. Let me run you through the plan.
• Put someone through = connect someone on the phone. Hold on, I’ll put you through to Q.

Same verb, different particle, completely different meaning. That’s phrasal verbs for you!

Get someone up to speed

To get someone up to speed is to give them all the latest information so they know as much as everyone else. Its partner is you’ve got some catching up to do: you’re behind and need to learn a lot quickly.

Spare me the velvet gloves

This one is lovely. It comes from the idea of an iron fist in a velvet glove: someone who is tough but looks gentle. Spare me the velvet gloves means don’t be gentle with me, just tell me the truth.

More expressions from the stream

• As high as it gets — the top level; you can’t go any higher.
• A knack for stating the obvious — a funny way to say someone always says things everybody already knows. A knack is a natural skill.
• Up this a notch — increase the level or intensity a little.
• Not too shabby — informal for pretty good.
• Wing it — do something without preparing, improvising as you go.
• I’m starving — I’m very, very hungry (not literally dying!).

Bonus British slang from the game

A few expressions popped up that weren’t the focus of the lesson but are well worth knowing:

• Break a leg! — good luck (originally from the theatre).
• Spinning porkies — telling lies. Porkies comes from Cockney rhyming slang: pork pies = lies.
• Splendid — a classic, slightly posh British way of saying excellent.
• On a need-to-know basis — you only get information if you really need it. Very MI6.

Grammar spotlight: negative fronting

At one point a character says: “Never before have we had a success rate like now.”

Did you notice the word order? Normally we’d say We have never had a success rate like this. But when we move a negative adverb like never, rarely or not only to the front of the sentence, we have to invert the subject and the auxiliary, just like in a question:

• We have never seen anything like it. → Never have we seen anything like it.
• I had rarely felt so nervous. → Rarely had I felt so nervous.

This is called negative fronting or negative inversion. It sounds formal and dramatic, which is why it suits a spy story so well, and it’s a great structure to show off in a C1 writing or speaking exam.

Practice: are you ready for your first mission?

Complete each sentence with one expression from this post.

1. We need someone to check the files right now. — “Don’t worry, I’m ___.”
2. The new agent missed the first briefing, so she’s got some ___ to do.
3. He’s never driven a car before and he wants to win the race? I don’t ___ his chances.
4. I didn’t prepare a speech, so I’ll just have to ___ it.
5. Rewrite with negative fronting: I have never been so cold in my life.

Watch the full mission

Reading the phrases is a great start, but hearing them in the game is what makes them stick. In the full episode you’ll see each expression in context, hear how the characters pronounce them and try the quizzes yourself.

If you enjoy learning English through video games, subscribe so you don’t miss part two of 007 First Light, and let me know in the YouTube comments which phrase you’re going to use first.