Using Small Talk Phrases in English

hi everybody my name is alicia welcome back to top words in this lesson we're going to look at the top 20 useful phrases for small talk before we get started a quick note you can find for free from the link below this video in the youtube description a bunch of pdf conversation and phrase cheat sheets so if you want to work on building your vocabulary or building your everyday phrase knowledge you should check these out i think this survival phrases one is a pretty good one for today's lesson you can use these expressions around your town throughout the day and of course there are many other topics to look at too so don't forget to check these out you can find this from the link below the video on youtube okay let's get on with the video you look great you look great so you look great is a good way to greet another person you should use this when someone has had a new haircut or maybe they have a new shirt or something cool that they're wearing you want to express that someone looks really nice you can say you look great next is how are things how are things so how are things is like a more casual way of saying how are you how are things means like how are things in your life things here means everything your job your work whatever your school your relationships your family how are things in general okay let's go to the next phrase what a coincidence what a coincidence what a coincidence is used to express surprise so this word is spelled kind of strangely it's pronounced coincidence coincidence it means that two things two or more things that you might not expect to happen at the same time or in the same way did happen so for example if you meet a co-worker unexpectedly when you're shopping or you go to a coffee shop and you see someone you know there you might say wow what a coincidence so you didn't expect this thing to happen but here you are so you can express your surprise with this expression like what a coincidence i ran into you at the coffee shop who'd have thought okay let's get on to the next expression that's great that's great okay so that's great is good to know it's a super basic expression but you can use it to respond to someone else's good news someone share something positive happy good whatever it is just say that's great you can change grade out for awesome or super or whatever it is you feel like but that's great is a good basic phrase you can use just about any time okay let's get to the next expression next is good for you good for you okay so good for you is used to express like happiness for another person's good news so this is different from that's great because good for you is like kind of noting that someone made an improvement in their life someone did something that was good for them specifically so maybe someone started a new exercise habit and it's really positive or maybe they ended a bad relationship or they started a new job at a good place in those cases where someone has made some personal improvement you can say good for you good for you okay on to the next expression how are you how are you so how are you is a super basic greeting you can use it with anybody in your life really how are you is generally not replied too seriously we usually just say i'm good i'm fine i'm okay how are you so you don't really need to take this expression too seriously but just say how are you to show you're thinking of the other person okay on to the next expression next is is everything going fine is everything going fine so this expression and one that i personally would use i would probably say is everything going okay is used if maybe you think the other person might be struggling with something or they might have some kind of challenge or maybe some kind of problem it's kind of used to say like do you want to talk about something or do you want to discuss something you could use it if you're concerned you can also just use it as like an everyday greeting like hey how are you is everything going okay so just to show that you're thinking of the other person's life but yeah if you use a more concerned tone with this like is everything going okay you can show that you've maybe noticed something about the other person too and you might want to show it's okay to talk about it so depending on your intonation you can communicate some different ideas with this expression all right on to the next one you won't believe this you won't believe this okay you won't believe this is used before you share ex like some kind of surprising information or exciting information you might also hear you're not gonna believe this which is a reduced form of you are not going to believe this you won't believe this but is very common so it's like saying i have something so surprising that you probably will not believe the information but here it is so you can share something surprising or exciting with this phrase okay onward next is i haven't seen you for ages i haven't seen you for ages okay so use this expression instead of long time no c or you can use them together like a long time no see i haven't seen you for ages so an age is a very long time the word age so ages is there for a very very long time multiple ages so when you say i haven't seen you for ages it means i haven't seen you in a very long time you use this as a greeting as i said hey long time no see i haven't seen you in ages how have you been for example okay next expression the next expression is that's terrible that's terrible okay so when someone shares bad news something bad that happened to them you should respond with something that shows you understand their point of view say that's terrible or that's awful or that's too bad so terrible means very bad so if you want to sound like you know really caring about something bad that happened to another person use this expression you lost your job that's terrible i'm so sorry to hear that okay on to the next expression i'd better let you go i'd better let you go okay i'd better let you go this is the reduced form of i had better let you go we use this when we're talking to someone on the phone or maybe when we're having an in-person conversation in the office to let someone go means like to release them from something in this case to release them from a conversation so when you say i better let you go it's showing i think you're busy it's showing the other person you understand they're busy and they have something to do so if you're talking to a busy person and you realize oh my gosh we talked for so long we've been talking for a long time you can say uh sorry i'd better let you go meaning i recognize you're a busy person and you need to do other things so use this to end a conversation quickly of course you can also use this to escape a conversation you are ready to be finished with okay let's go to the next expression next is did you catch the news today did you catch the news today so use this as a greeting or as a way to start a conversation if you want to talk about current events so did you catch the news today or did you see the news this morning is also okay it just shows you want to talk about recent events with someone so use this maybe with someone that you're okay to talk about these kinds of topics with okay on to the next phrase nice day outside isn't it nice day outside isn't it nice day outside just refers to the weather so you can use any kind of weather and follow it with isn't it you can use rainy today isn't it or oh windy today isn't it so that isn't it shows you're looking for confirmation from the other person nice day outside isn't it and of course you can drop outside if you really want to of course the weather is outside but this is just an expression that we use our nice day today would also be okay so you're just starting a conversation by talking about the weather and finding a small point you can both agree upon okay on to the next expression next is have you been waiting long have you been waiting long use have you been waiting long when you are supposed to meet another person and maybe they arrive before you and you're worried that they waited a long time for you so if you for example were supposed to meet at one o'clock and you arrive at 1 15 you might say to the other person have you been waiting long so you don't know how long that person has been waiting maybe they got there 15 minutes early you're showing that you have concern for their time with this expression have you been waiting long sorry okay next is it's good to have you here it's good to have you here use this expression when you're hosting a party hosting an event or maybe you have a guest in your office someone who's not usually around is in your circle for the day you can say it's good to have you here or it's nice to have you here that shows that you recognize that they are a new person but you want them to feel welcome it's good to have you here you could use this at a house party a dinner event and so on okay next expression is what brings you here what brings you here okay so this question is a much softer way of saying why are you here so if you say why are you here it might sound a little too direct instead say what brings you here you could say maybe why did you decide to come to this event if you want or you could ask what brings you here today specifically so these are all ways to say why did you come here but they sound much softer and less aggressive okay on to the next expression do you mind me asking do you mind me asking okay do you mind me asking is used before a topic or before a question that might be a little bit sensitive so if you want to ask about a person's age maybe or if you want to ask about maybe where a person works or maybe where they're from it could be any kind of information that you feel is a little bit sensitive you can use do you mind me asking before you ask that for example you might say do you mind me asking how old are you or do you mind me asking where are you from so it shows that you are concerned it might be a slightly sensitive question and it gives the other person the option to refuse so do you mind me asking so you can use this in more sensitive topics i think okay next expression are you from around here are you from around here are you from around here is a first time greeting question so you've just met someone you've exchanged names you can say are you from around here that means is your hometown or the place where you grew up near where we are now are you from around this area specifically so this is maybe a more casual way of saying where are you from it's suggesting that the other person might be from the local region are you from around here i just moved okay next expression is i need your help with this matter i need your help with this matter okay this is a rather formal expression you would not use this with your friends or your family members it sounds too formal use this at work or maybe in a study a professional more professional kind of polite study situation i need your help with this matter or just i need your help with this i probably would not say matter in this sentence but you might see it or hear it from time to time so use this when you need someone's assistance with something and you need to be polite about it like i need your help with this paper i'm writing could you please take a look at it so i need your help with this so use that expression when you want to politely ask someone for help okay let's get to the last expression have fun have fun so use have fun when someone else is going to do something that seems fun so you say goodbye to your family members before they leave for an exciting trip you could say have fun or you see your co-workers at the end of the day they decide to go for drinks but you're feeling tired but you want to wish them well you can say have fun and say goodbye in that way so have fun is a very positive happy expression some people will use it to sound a little bit sarcastic if they want to attend something but they're not attending but generally we use this in a very positive way to say goodbye i hope you have a good time alright that brings us to the end of the top 20 useful phrases for small talk what did you think you can let us know in the comments and don't forget to click the link in the description to get your free pdf cheat sheets to learn even more useful english words and phrases you can download them to any device or print them out they're yours to keep so click the link and get them for free thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video bye great work here's a reward speed up your language learning with our pdf lessons get all of our best pdf cheat sheets and ebooks for free just click the link in the description

Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

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Keywords: English Language (Interest), learn english, Language (Quotation Subject), Teacher (Profession), american culture, english culture, EnglishClass101, ask alisha, how to, speak, write, read, english, native speakers, english grammar, grammar lessons, basic english grammar

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Length: 14min 11sec (851 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021