English Help Online's Blog

The idiom for this week is to get or have something “down pat”. It is used when we want to talk about repeating something until we know it perfectly or practicing something until we have a very high skill level at it. For example:

I have to memorize this speech until I have it down pat.

I heard that if you want to get an A in Mr. Tanaka’s Japanese class, you have to get the grammar down pat.

I practiced this song on the piano all last week, so I think I have it down pat now.

My daughter’s dance teacher said she couldn’t perform in the dance show unless she gets the dance routine down pat.

I hope you find this expression interesting. If you want to improve your English, my advice (as always) is to memorize sentences until you have them down pat. Then you can change the small details in order to create new sentences. Good luck!  🙂