Small talk phrases in English | How to master SMALL TALK in English

[Music] hi there this is teacher harry here and welcome back to my lessons and the lesson today is all about english phrases for small talk english phrases for small talk so what does that mean well as you probably know small talk is a very important part of the english language it's the beginning of many conversations it's the ending of many conversations when people are in elevators or lifts before and at the end of business meetings small talk is really important and many many of the the students who come to me want to understand a small talk how to begin a conversation how to end the conversation because they usually know and i'm sure you're the same you usually know the technical language you want to use if you're having a conference call but you might feel a little bit insecure or a little bit embarrassed or shy about entering the conversation at the beginning at the end when they're using small talk so this lesson is going to help you hopefully with that so i'm going to give you small talk on different topics so as we said this is english phrases for small talk and as always i really appreciate it if you could subscribe to my channel and you can also listen to me on my podcast and at the end of the lesson i'm going to give you my contact details should you wish to contact me okay so let's get started so the first small talk is about the opening conversation so when you're meeting somebody in the elevator as i said or the beginning of a presentation and nowadays at the beginning of zoom perhaps while they're waiting for the boss or whoever whoever has organized the meeting while you're waiting for them to join there may be a little bit of small talk so what sort of opening conversations can you have let me give you a few hi i'm harry what brings you here so if you're meeting in a a bar or you're meeting in a conference room you know hi i'm harry what brings you here so it's a very informal way of asking the person why are they coming to this particular conference or why are they attending this particular meeting hi i'm harry is this your first time here it's another way of getting the conversation started because then you're asking the person is this the first time they've been to this college event is this the first time they've been to these lectures is this the first time they've been to this sports hall or gym or yoga session whatever it might be this is a way for you to start the conversation so hi i'm harry is this your first time here it's my first time is this your first time here okay or you can even ask the person hi i'm harry what are you here for meaning so what's your reason for being here okay so you can ask them that in the same way or if we're meeting somebody that we haven't seen for a period of time then the best way to to start the small talk with them is oh hi pete or hi michael wow long time no see yeah long time no c meaning it's been a long long time since we met now it could be weeks it could be months it even could be years there's no definition of what that time should be but you know oh hi pete long time no see or hi pete it's great to see you again yeah hi pete it's great to see you again and that will get you started yeah oh i haven't seen you for ages or i haven't seen you in ages you can use either those prepositions i haven't seen you for ages i haven't seen you in ages yeah how are things yeah meaning how is your life how are things being how's your business how's your family just generally how are things so really really informed okay so they're the opening conversations now as always particularly if you're talking to people in western europe particularly the uk and here in in ireland the weather is a really important part of small talk so you need to have conversational expressions that you can use if the weather comes up so here's a few oh a beautiful day isn't it yeah so if you're just talking about the weather you're looking at the window oh beautiful day isn't it or if it's not such a beautiful day you might say oh miserable day isn't it wow it's really so wet i haven't seen rain like this in a long time or off miserable day typical typical of island typical of the uk typical of london so good day oh beautiful day isn't it so you might raise the intonation in your voice beautiful day isn't it yeah so you you give that intonation oh oh miserable day isn't it so you speak down a little bit because you might be a little bit sad as everybody else would be because the weather is so bad so beautiful or miserable change the intonation and then you use isn't it yeah such a sort of rhetorical question it looks like it's going to snow it looks like it's going to rain so again you're putting forward a suggestion or what you think based on your experience oh yeah it looks like it's going to snow or it wouldn't surprise me if it snows it wouldn't surprise me if it rains well it'd be great if it rains we haven't had a drop of rain in weeks yeah we have another drop of rain in weeks we haven't had a drop of rain four weeks so again talking about the weather a hot summer if you're lucky enough to have a hot dry summer oh be great to have some rain we haven't had rain in weeks we haven't had rain four weeks okay so very typical sentences expressions that you can use that will get you into those conversations particularly when they're talking about the weather okay so when we're talking small talk a lot of the conversation is about catching up with people so what sort of expressions or phrases can you use when you're literally catching up with them trying to find out what has happened in their life since the last time that you met so something like well the last time i saw you you were changing your job or the last time i saw you you were expecting a baby or the last time i saw you you were going to write a book you know so whatever it might be it leads it into the conversation so the last time i saw you you were and then you're leaving the opening for them yeah okay did you end up getting that promotion you know so it could be to do with the job did you end up getting that promotion did you end up getting that new job that you applied for did you end up doing that traveling that you had promised yourself i remember you were planning to go on a world cruise or you were planning to start a new business or you were planning to take up jogging or tennis or whatever the sport might be so again leading you into certain questions about the activities they may or may have been about to do the last time that you met them did you hear about the business did you hear about the guys we went to college with did you hear about mrs murphy who used to live around the corner from us okay so just again introducing the topic that will get your colleague or the person you're talking to to continue the conversation but you won't believe it when i tell you what has happened to me you won't believe it when you you hear the story about our ex-boss do you remember that guy yeah well yeah and then you go on to tell the story wait till i tell you wait till i tell you the last time you know we met there on a friday well the very next day my car got stolen or something happened okay so these are good ways to catch up introduce you to them as to what's happened to you and then you asking them what has happened to them okay so just let me give them to you one more time the last time i saw you you were whatever yeah did you end up getting that promotion did you end up doing whatever you're going to do i'm i remember you were planning to okay did you hear about you won't believe it when i tell you wait till i tell you okay so good ways to get into conversations about catching up with somebody okay so the next few little sentences about where you want to ask somebody specifically about their business or about their work or about their studies what what they've been focusing on okay are you still working for the company in the high street are you still working for that i.t company are you still working in the local hospital so how are your studies going are you nearly finished you must be almost finished your studies by now what year are you in or just generally so how's work going now what's worked like these days how do you like working remotely so if you want to bring it right up to modern times and that's a very popular topic and will be a popular topic for some time now about the difference between working in the offices or working remotely so now what do you think about working remotely how is it going for you do you like it do you not like it okay okay so if you meet somebody and you want to ask them about other people in their lives okay so it could be their family it could be business colleagues it could be people they you used to hang around with together if you were in university together or in the same football club whatever it might be so there are ways in which you can make an inquiry about other people connected to them so how are the kids getting big i'm sure yeah how's adam doing yeah how's mary did she actually get married oh please say hi to your your wife for me when when you when you get home or please say hi to the the guys in the football team i haven't seen them for ages since i stopped playing or please give my regards to all the gang please give my regards to your wife please give my regards to your sister i remember that holiday we had it was really great fun okay so you're inquiring or asking about other people and you want to pass on your regards you want to just find out what they're doing and how they're getting on with life of course when we're meeting people what we really like to do is talk about other people because usually they're not there and it's a great way of having some small talk have you seen mary recently did you see what david was doing yeah so those type of conversations so so here are some expressions and phrases you might like to use oh have you seen michael recently he's got a really interesting hairstyle yeah i'm not sure it's suitable to the office yeah or we heard from david i believe he's stopped working and he's traveling around the world so just a way of finding out or introducing certain topics about people what they're doing or what they might have changed in their lives or did you see he got married again or oh he finally got married so you again you're introducing conversational pieces about other people and if you want to be very nice to people or speak nicely about people then you might make comments about their new look how they look and if that happens to be the person you're talking to then you might be very complimentary of course about how they've changed so oh i like your new hairstyle wow yeah oh you've really lost weight that workout in gym has really worked wonders yeah so you introduce nice topics that make that person feel good they smile and therefore the conversation will continue in a happy mood i really love those shoes where did you get them wow i'd love a pair like that myself they really suit that dress or they really suit those trousers oh wow they really look smart wow you look great so just a simple you look great you don't have to make any comment about anything else about the weight or the hair or whatever it might be wow you look great it's it's great to see you again oh you've got glasses they really suit you yeah they're really stylish wow yeah where did you get them so again comments on their appearance comments on the look what they are wearing what they've done to themselves all compliment you of course so nothing that's the negative and the conversation will will continue because the danger with small talk is you say something that somebody wasn't expecting it might be a little bit of a shock and the conversation will stop dead and people will be looking each other a little bit embarrassed so you want to be complimentary and open to allow the conversation to continue okay so then when all of the business is done for the day the meetings are over whatever's happened the conference has ended then we've got small talk to do with closing conversations and you know people some people get up and they just disappear or some people are hanging around having a coffee or whatever it might be so this is the ideal opportunity for conversation to strike up again and again you don't want to be left in the in the dark you don't to be left on the the end of the conversation just looking at people you want to be able to join in and contribute so here are some conversational pieces for closing conversations oh look sorry i've really got to go but give me a number let's catch up or give me your email and i'll drop you a line okay oh look i'd better let you go i've taken up so much of your time i'm sure you want to get your boss i'm sure you want to get home to the the wife and kids okay well it was really great talking to you that we've got we we must catch up again soon yeah it's really been wonderful it's been amazing i've i've haven't seen you for such a long time so it's great to get all of the news look let's catch up again soon let's do it again soon it's let's not wait until the next meeting so give me a shout we'll get together for coffee or we'll get the family together look i'm really sorry but i i have to leave now is that okay i'll talk to you later or i'll drop your line or i'll send you on that document that i promised look it's time for me to to head out i i'm going to to catch a train can i give you a lift or do you want to share a taxi or if you're walking my way perhaps we could walk there together okay so again nice soft easy comfortable ways of ending conversations so that you can leave or you can just say your goodbyes or you can just make sure that the contact or the communication is going to continue either by email or by whatsapp whatever it might be when you when you contact these people so the next time you meet them there's no embarrassing gaps okay so we've looked at the beginning of the conversation how to open the conversation we've looked at different topics that might come up and particularly the weather and also things like sport will always come up how people look is another topic that will always come up because people if they haven't met you for a long time will would like to let you know that it's good to see you and that you're looking well and then finally how to close those conversations how to get out of an awkward situation perhaps that's oh look i really have to go now or oh is that the time so you find a way to just say look back out i need to go i need to get my train or i need to get that bus or indeed if the conversation is a little bit boring and you're a little bit bored it's an ideal way for you to just to back out and not sound a little bit too rude okay well hopefully those small talk and those phrases about small talk will help you if there's anything else that you want any small talk conversations that come your way and you'd like to have some help or drop me a line and i'll give you some a heads up on that and we'll be able to work through them as i said at the beginning please subscribe to the channel and you can listen to me quite easily on the podcast and if you want to contact me well then you can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype.com very happy to hear from you very happy to see what you are doing and what you want me to do for you and until the next time thanks for listening cheers

Channel: Learn English with Harry

Views: 2,387

Keywords: small talk phrases in English, how to master small talk in English, English with Harry, speak better English with Harry, speak English with Harry, what to say in small talk in English, speaking English like a native, advanced English learning, learn English, small talk in english, basics of small talk in English, English phrases for small talk, starting small talk, small talk phrases, better small talk, how to make small talk in english, small talk

Id: GzMx4S7KbZw

Length: 16min 28sec (988 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021