Have you heard the phrase ‘small talk’ before? ‘Small talk’ is the phrase we use
to describe a polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters.
You might ‘make small talk’ with one of your friends’ parents, or with someone you
went to school with that you haven’t seen in a while. It’s polite and it prevents a situation
which feels awkward or uncomfortable. Small talk is very much embedded into British culture.
Hello Everyone, Anna here from englishlikeanative.com the site which helps you
to speak English with confidence. And for those of you who would love to have an English accent,
you can download my free guide to sounding British by clicking on the link below.
Today, I’m going to talk you through
50 phrases you can use to make small talk with someone you’ve met before.
1. “Fancy seeing you here!” This is a phrase we use when we see someone
unexpectedly. If you run into an old friend at a supermarket far away from either of your homes,
you might say ‘fancy seeing you here’. It’s commonly used sarcastically too,
as a joke when you are fully expecting to see someone and it’s not shocking at all.
For example, if you run into a friend at the same supermarket at the same time each week.
2. “It’s so good to see you!” This is a polite way to say that you are happy to see somebody.
3. “It’s great to see you again!” You can use this phrase when talking to someone you don’t
know very well and might not see very often, again to express that you are happy to see them.
Make sure you only use this phrase when speaking to someone you have
met before, because of the word ‘again’. 4. “How are you?” When making small talk,
it is polite to ask how somebody is. In British culture, we tend to not share too much about
our emotions in response to this question with people we don’t know very well. Many people see
it more as a polite question than a genuine one. 5. “How are you doing?” This
is very similar to ‘how are you’ but with more of a focus on how you spend your time. Really,
you can answer this question in many different ways and steer the conversation towards
what you would like to talk about. 6. “How are things?” This is another vague
question, so it’s one that you can interpret in lots of different ways. The word ‘things’
in this question could refer to your family, your workplace, your studies, and almost anything else.
Use context cues to help you work out what that person might be referring to and if you’re still
not sure, just pick a topic and go with it. 7. “What’s new?” This question can be used
to ask what’s the latest thing going on in that person’s life.
8. “How long has it been?” This question refers to how long it has been since you last saw that
person. You could reply with an event you last saw them at, an estimate of how long it has been
or even the phrase “too long” if you don’t know the answer but you know it’s been a long time.
9. Similarly, “it’s been too long!” You can
use this phrase when you haven’t seen someone for a while to express
that you’d like to see them more often. 10. “Let’s not leave it so long next time.” This
is another similar phrase which you might say when saying goodbye to someone.
It means that you would like to see them again sooner than when you saw them last.
11. “The last time I saw you, you were about to move house. How did that
go?” You can change ‘about to move house’ for anything you remember about that person’s
life from the last time you saw them. It shows that you paid attention and that you remember
the conversation, and gives that person an opportunity to tell you more about their life.
12. “Did you end up moving house?” You can use this phrase if there was something that
person was considering the last time you spoke but you’re not sure if they followed through with it.
This again gives them the opportunity to talk about the decision they made, what their reasons
were and what has happened since, so it’s a good way to start a longer conversation.
13. “I remember you were planning to move house. How did that
go?” This is another similar phrase but with slightly different wording.
It shows that person that you remember the last conversation you had with them and are
interested to know more about their life. 14. “I heard you were moving house.” You
can use this phrase when the person did not tell you that information
themselves but you found out through a mutual friend or someone you both know.
Again, this encourages them to tell you more about their life.
15. “I saw you were moving house.” This is one that we are hearing more and more often because
of the use of social media. You might have seen on someone’s Facebook page or Instagram that they
were moving house, or about any other life event, and use that as a way to make conversation.
16. “Did you hear about Eleanor?” You can swap the name ‘Eleanor’ for any name or phrase
which summarises some recent news that you might share an interest in.
For example, if you both know Eleanor and she has just announced that she is pregnant, you could say
‘Did you hear about Eleanor?’. 17. “You’ll never believe this!” You
can use this phrase before saying something particularly shocking
or unexpected. Typically, while gossiping. 18. “Are you still working for Google?” Swap
the company name out for whichever company they were working for the last time you saw them.
This gives them the opportunity to tell you about their work.
19. "Are you still with Google?” This is another way of asking if they still work for a company.
20. “How’s it going at Surrey University?” You could use the name of a school, college or
university, or of a company they work for. 21. “How’s business?” This is a more vague
question, which is appropriate in many different scenarios but it’s a fairly safe bet
if you want to ask someone who is self-employed or freelance about their work life.
22. “How’s work going?” Again, this question is very vague but allows the answerer
to steer the conversation towards any particular part or aspect of their
work that they feel comfortable discussing. 23. “How are your studies going?” You can use
this question to ask about school, college, university or any other form of education.
24. “That’s great!” This is a polite way to respond to good news to show that you are happy
for them. Here are some other options: 25. “That’s wonderful!”
26. “That’s amazing!” 27. “I’m so happy for you.”
28. “It’s so good to see your hard work paying off.” This one can be used if they are have been
working on or towards something for a long time and it is working out well for them.
29. “Congratulations!” Use this when someone tells you about a personal achievement or
milestone. ‘Congratulations’ is always plural in English. On the other hand, let’s look at a
few phrases you can use when somebody tells you about some bad or disappointing news for them.
30. “I’m sorry to hear that.” This is a phrase you can use to offer your sympathies in most
situations. You can use a modifier to increase the intensity to suit the situation. For example:
“I’m so sorry to hear that” or “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
31. “That’s terrible!” 32. “That’s awful!” Use
these phrases when someone tells you their bad news to show that you sympathise with them.
33. “No way!” This is a colloquial phrase we use in English to express
shock or surprise. 34. “I just can’t believe
it.” Use this phrase if somebody tells you some really shocking, bad or disappointing news.
35. “Well I hope everything will be alright.” Be careful when using this phrase because if used at
the wrong time, it could be seen as dismissive. Reserve it for the end of a conversation.
36. “Please give my regards to Stephen.” This is a formal phrase. To give or send ‘regards’
means to send well wishes. You could use this to refer to a person who is not present at the time.
37. “Say hi to Stephen for me.” This is the more casual version of that phrase. Again,
use this to send a message to someone who is not present but who the person you are speaking to
lives with or is in regular contact with. 38. “How are the kids?” This
one is fairly self-explanatory. You can ask this to ask after someone’s children.
39. “How’s Stephen doing?” Use this phrase to ask more information about someone you know
or know of who is not present. 40. “What are the kids up to?” You can
change the phrase ‘the kids’ for anyone’s name or another group of people like ‘your parents’.
This question is used to ask what they are doing or what they have been doing
recently. It’s a great way to open up a longer conversation by responding to whatever the
answer is with more questions. 41. “Those glasses really suit you!” Use
this phrase if you want to give someone a compliment about something specific that they
are wearing. Change ‘those glasses’ to anything else you would like to compliment. For example:
“That colour really suits you”, or “that dress really suits you”. If the object is singular,
we use the verb form ‘suits’, but if the object is plural, we use the base form of the verb: ‘suit’.
42. “You look great!” This is a more general compliment.
43. “I’d better let you go.” Use this phrase to end a conversation in a polite way. This is
a polite phrase to show that you respect their time and to bring a conversation to an end.
44. “I’d better be off." This is a more polite way to say ‘I need to leave’.
45. “It’s been lovely catching up.” Say this to show how much you’ve enjoyed your conversation,
but to imply that it is now time for the conversation to end.
46. “We should do this again soon.” You can say this to express that you’d like
to see that person again soon and continue your conversation. You could follow it up by
making a plan to see them again. 47. “What about next weekend?” Use
this to suggest a day for you to see them again. ‘Next weekend’ can
be swapped for another day or time. 48. “Good luck with the new job." Bring
the conversation back to something they have been talking about and show that you really
paid attention to the conversation by wishing them luck with something
which might be difficult or nerve-wracking. 49. “Have a lovely holiday.” Use ‘have a lovely’
when talking about a specific event, like a holiday, or Christmas, or their birthday,
or even just their weekend. 50. “Have fun in Italy!” Use
‘have fun in’ before a place or ‘have fun with’ before a person or event.
So there we have 50 common phrases you can use in small talk.
Do you have any more tips for making conversation in English? Share your ideas in the comments.