i tell you what

Meaning

1. Oxford60% of films

   used to introduce a suggestion

2. Editorial30% of films

   Used after a statement, or as a burst, to stress that you mean it or feel it strongly.

In the movies · 118

• Oh, they don't? Well, I'll tell you what we gonna do.Smokey and the Bandit1977
• I'll tell you what we're gonna do.West Side Story1961
• I'll tell you what, you buy yourself an airplane and get somebody to borrow it, and then I'll come and arrest them.The Chase1966
• I tell you what.The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus2009
• But I tell you what.The Longest Yard2005
• I tell you what.Nocturnal Animals2016
• Look, I tell you what.The Mist2007
• I tell you what.About Time2013

Learn it in full scenes

• The Mist2007
  • The Mist Reaches the Store
  • David Argues With His Neighbor
  • David Argues the Mist Is Real

From the same entry

• all told
• don't tell me
• I tell you
• I told you
• live, to tell the tale
• tell a different story
• tell its own tale
• tell me
• tell me about it
• tell me another
• tell tales
• tell the time

More idioms

• know your way around
• too good to be true
• be in shoes
• early on
• take part
• by any chance
• for good
• that depends
• out of the way
• be rid of
• get on nerves
• take for granted