# 1031 - Good At vs. Good In - What’s the Difference?

An episode of [Happy English Podcast (Natural American English)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/884643408), 13 Apr 2026, 8:37.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/71270597/1031_good_at_vs_good_in_what_s_the_difference.mp3

Good at. Good in. These two phrases seem simple, right? But a lot of people get confused about when to use each one. Should you say, “I’m good in English,” or “I’m good at English”? And what’s the real difference between these two? If you’ve ever wondered about that, don’t worry. Because that’s what we’re going to look at today. Let’s start with a simple idea that will help you remember everything. We usually use good at to talk about ability or skill. And we use good in to talk about performance in school or social settings or specific situations. The Happy English Podcast Helping people speak English better since 2014 Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads 📘 Get free weekly English lessons plus instant access to my FREE Vocabulary Workshop.: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/free-english-lessons 🎥 Watch video versions of the Happy English Podcast on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@HappyEnglishNY/podcasts 🌐 Learn more about my English lessons and courses https://www.myhappyenglish.com

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Good in good at. These two phrases seem simple, right,
[0:07] Speaker 1: but a lot of people get confused about when to
[0:10] Speaker 1: use each one, Like should you say I'm good in
[0:15] Speaker 1: English or I'm good at English? And what's the real
[0:21] Speaker 1: difference between these two? If you've ever wondered about that,
[0:26] Speaker 1: just don't worry, because that's what we're going to look
[0:29] Speaker 1: at today.
[0:34] Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
[0:38] Speaker 2: New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
[0:43] Speaker 1: Alright, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here
[0:48] Speaker 1: from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
[0:53] Speaker 1: This is Happy English Podcast, Episode one thousand and thirty one.
[0:59] Speaker 1: Good at versus good in? What's the difference. Let's start
[1:06] Speaker 1: with a simple idea that will help you remember everything.
[1:10] Speaker 1: We usually use good at to talk about ability or skill,
[1:16] Speaker 1: and we use good in to talk about performance in
[1:21] Speaker 1: school or social or specific situations. For example, Anna is
[1:28] Speaker 1: good at English. That means she can communicate well, she
[1:34] Speaker 1: can speak, listen, and understand English in real situations. Yalchin
[1:41] Speaker 1: is good at computers. He can use a lot of
[1:44] Speaker 1: different applications well and learns new things easily. Yeah, he's
[1:51] Speaker 1: good at computers. Atsco is good at baking. She can
[1:57] Speaker 1: make anything bagels, midu fins, cakes, even pizza. So when
[2:04] Speaker 1: you say someone is good at something, you're saying they
[2:09] Speaker 1: have ability and skills. Now, let's talk about using good in.
[2:16] Speaker 1: When we use good in, we're talking about performance in
[2:21] Speaker 1: a school subject. Like when I was a kid, I
[2:24] Speaker 1: was good in English. This means I did well in
[2:30] Speaker 1: my English classes. My friend George was good in math.
[2:35] Speaker 1: He always got high grades. By the way, in British
[2:40] Speaker 1: English they say maths with an S at the end,
[2:45] Speaker 1: like Oliver is good in maths, But in American English
[2:50] Speaker 1: we say math without an S at the end George
[2:55] Speaker 1: was good in math. We also use good in when
[3:00] Speaker 1: we talk about social settings. For example, Laurie is really
[3:06] Speaker 1: good in social situations like parties or big events. It's
[3:11] Speaker 1: easy for her to make small talk, even if she
[3:15] Speaker 1: doesn't know the other person. She's good in those situations.
[3:20] Speaker 1: On the other hand, I'm not really good in those situations.
[3:25] Speaker 1: I get shy when I'm around a group of strangers.
[3:28] Speaker 1: By the way, you can also use good in when
[3:32] Speaker 1: you talk about roles. Jenny is good in team meetings.
[3:38] Speaker 1: She has lots of ideas and keeps the group organized,
[3:42] Speaker 1: and for movies, we usually say things like Jack Nicholson
[3:47] Speaker 1: was really good in that movie or he was great
[3:51] Speaker 1: in that role. So again, here's a simple way to remember.
[3:56] Speaker 1: Use good at for skills and ability, use good in
[4:02] Speaker 1: for performance in situations, classes, or specific contexts. Now, let's
[4:11] Speaker 1: move into the negative side, because this works the same way.
[4:15] Speaker 1: We use bad at to talk about a lack of
[4:19] Speaker 1: ability or skill, and we use bad in to talk
[4:24] Speaker 1: about poor performance in school or in certain situations. For example,
[4:31] Speaker 1: I'm bad at remembering names. That means I don't have
[4:36] Speaker 1: that skill. I often forget people's names. Or I'm bad
[4:41] Speaker 1: at math. Math is difficult for me. I don't understand
[4:45] Speaker 1: it easily. And my buddy can is bad at cooking.
[4:51] Speaker 1: Whenever he tries to cook, something goes wrong. So when
[4:56] Speaker 1: you say someone is bad at something, you're saying they
[5:00] Speaker 1: don't have the skill or ability in that area. Now
[5:05] Speaker 1: let's look at bad in. We use bad in when
[5:10] Speaker 1: we're talking about performance in a class or in a situation.
[5:14] Speaker 1: For example, when I was a student, I was bad
[5:18] Speaker 1: in history class. That means I didn't do well. Maybe
[5:23] Speaker 1: my grades were low, or I just didn't understand the
[5:26] Speaker 1: lessons My friend Lisa was bad in science. She had
[5:31] Speaker 1: trouble remembering the vocabulary, so her test scores weren't very good.
[5:36] Speaker 1: We also use bad in for social or real life situations.
[5:42] Speaker 1: I'm bad in meetings. I don't speak much and I
[5:46] Speaker 1: sometimes don't know what to say. Or Lenny is bad
[5:50] Speaker 1: in social situations. He feels uncomfortable at parties and doesn't
[5:55] Speaker 1: like talking to new people. And we can combine these
[5:58] Speaker 1: ideas when it comes to my second language, Japanese. I'm
[6:02] Speaker 1: good at speaking and listening, but I'm bad at reading
[6:06] Speaker 1: and writing. Sorry sense that means I can communicate well,
[6:12] Speaker 1: but the characters are still difficult for me. Now let's
[6:17] Speaker 1: take this one step further and talk about comparisons, because
[6:22] Speaker 1: this is where this pattern becomes really useful in everyday conversation.
[6:27] Speaker 1: We often use better at and best at when we
[6:31] Speaker 1: compare skills. For example, I'm better at speaking than writing,
[6:38] Speaker 1: or she's the best at explaining things on our team,
[6:43] Speaker 1: or he's better at cooking than I am. We can
[6:48] Speaker 1: also use better in when we talk about performance in
[6:52] Speaker 1: different situations. For example, I'm better in small meetings than
[6:58] Speaker 1: big presentations. That means I perform better in that kind
[7:03] Speaker 1: of environment. So let's recap use good at for ability
[7:09] Speaker 1: and skill. Use good in mainly for performance in school
[7:14] Speaker 1: subjects or social situations. Think of it this way. Good
[7:19] Speaker 1: at relates to skills, good in relates to performance. So
[7:25] Speaker 1: here's your challenge. Think about your own life and try
[7:28] Speaker 1: to make some sentences. What are you good at, what
[7:32] Speaker 1: are you bad at? And what situations are you better in.
[7:37] Speaker 1: That's how you start making this kind of English your own.
[7:41] Speaker 1: And remember the best way to remember English like this
[7:45] Speaker 1: and any other word or phrase in English, is to
[7:48] Speaker 1: take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence
[7:52] Speaker 1: that's true for you or true in your world, and
[7:56] Speaker 1: then memorize your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember,
[8:01] Speaker 1: learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
[8:05] Speaker 1: and I'm here to help you on your journey.
[8:11] Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
[8:14] Speaker 2: visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
[8:19] Speaker 2: English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
[8:23] Speaker 2: Happy English

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