Other ways to say "I don't know" (2024)

Using different ways to say “I don’t know” will make your conversation far more interesting and natural.But don’t overuse this phrase, try first to figure out or find out the answer to the question, rather than give up and shrug your shoulders:)

Formal ways :

I’m sorry, I don’t know
I’ll double check that and let you know
I’ll find out and let you know
I’m probably not the best person to ask for that information
That’s a really good question. I’ll check
Let me look that up for you
That’s not my area of expertise. I’ll ask…

Informal ways (when talking to friends, colleagues, people we know):

I’m not sure
I have no idea/I haven’t a clue/ I haven’t got the faintest idea/ I haven’t got the foggiest idea (These expressions are the most common, and are used when you have no information and you cannot guess the answer to a question)
How should I know?/Don’t ask me/Search me (These expressions are used when you do not know something and you feel annoyed that someone is asking you about it, for instance: “Who left this mess on the table?’ ‘How should I know? I’ve only just come home.”
Who knows? ( It is used for saying that you don’t know something because it is impossible for anyone to know it:” Will they ever find the missing shipwrecks in the Bermuda Triangle? “Who knows”?
Your guess is as good as mine ( It is used for saying that you know as little about something as the person who asked you about it)
Not as far as I know ( We use this expression to say that something may be true, but you do not have enough information to know whether it is or not)
Beats me (This is used when you do not know or understand something- same meaning as “I have no idea”, “I haven’t a clue”)