Australian sayings
She'll be right meaning (plus no worries and how ya going)
She'll be right meaning: it will be fine. It's what an Australian says about a wobbly ladder, a late bus, a tyre that's a bit low, and now and then a cyclone forming off the coast. Calm, not a promise. The person saying it is telling you not to stress. They are not guaranteeing the outcome.
It's one of the three lines you'll hear most in your first week here, and the other two are its mates: no worries and how ya going. This page does all three, with a clip of a local saying each one, because the words are easy and the tone is the whole point.
She'll be right: who she is and what to do
She is nobody. Australians call cars, boats, the weather and whole situations "she". She'll be right just means it'll be fine.
The tone is a shrug and half a smile. It's reassurance, not a plan. If the thing in question is a barbecue or a bit of rain, take it and relax. If the thing in question is your visa, your flight or the brakes on the hire car, it's fine to ask one more question. Nobody will be offended. They'll probably say no worries.
You'll also hear the full version, "she'll be right, mate", and an older cousin, "she'll be apples", which means exactly the same thing and mostly comes from people over sixty.
Hear it
She'll be right: she'll be right
A local says she'll be right on its own, then as a reply.
Say it: "Tyre's looking a bit low. She'll be right till Monday."
The reply, if you need one, is "yeah, no worries". Which is the next one. More on this saying: She'll be right.
No worries mate meaning
It's fine. Don't worry about it. You're welcome. No worries does three jobs, and you'll use all three before lunch.
- Someone says thank you. You say no worries. That's you're welcome.
- Someone says sorry. You say no worries. That's don't worry about it.
- Someone asks you to do something. You say no worries. That's yes, consider it done.
Mate on the end warms it up. Without mate it's still fine, just a little quicker.
It's not the same as she'll be right. No worries is about you and me, right now, this small thing between us. She'll be right is about the thing over there and what's going to happen to it later. One is manners. The other is a forecast.
Cousins you'll hear doing the same job: no dramas, too easy, all good, and no wuckas, which is the same thing with the corners knocked off.
Hear it
No worries mate: no worries mate
A local says no worries mate, relaxed, as a reply.
Say it: "Sorry, I think I've taken your seat. No worries, mate."
More on this saying: No worries, mate.
How ya going meaning
How are you. That's it.
It's a greeting shaped like a question, so two things trip people up. First, it has nothing to do with where you're going. Second, nobody wants the full answer. The person asking is saying hello, and the shop line is getting longer behind you.
The reply is "good, you?" or "not bad" or "yeah, good". Then they say "good" and you either move on or the real conversation starts. Some people answer "how ya going" with "how ya going", which sounds absurd and is completely normal.
Other shapes of the same greeting: how's it going, how are ya, how ya goin', and g'day, how ya going, all in one breath.
If you do answer with a real problem, people will listen. Australians are decent about that. Just pick your moment, and the servo counter at 8am is not it.
Hear it
How ya going: how ya going
A local says how ya going at normal speed, then the usual reply.
Say it: "How ya going? Good, you? Yeah, good."
All three in one minute at the counter
This is a real exchange you'll have within a day of landing.
"How ya going?"
"Good, you?"
"Yeah, good. Just the coffee?"
"Sorry, I've only got a fifty."
"No worries."
"The card machine's not liking my card either."
"She'll be right, give it a sec."
Greeting, manners, forecast. If you can hear all three and answer the first two, you're operating.
The rest of the sayings
She'll be right is one line from a long list. Flat out like a lizard drinking, bring a plate, taking the piss, fair dinkum, yeah nah: the sayings are the sentences that make no sense until a local explains them, and the index is at Australian sayings.
The single words, arvo, servo, thongs, maccas, the twenty you'll hear in week one, are at Australian slang words you will actually hear.
Everything on Aussie Talk is built the same way as this page: the line a visitor actually hears, what it means, and a local saying it so the tone lands before you need it.
The Aussie Talk app has the sayings and the slang dictionary with locals saying them, so how ya going is already in your ear before it's said to you at speed. Get it on the App Store.