- Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to English with Lucy. Today I'm going to bring you
25 sentences for daily conversational use. When we have conversations, we often use the same
sentences again and again and again, so I've got some alternatives for you, some new smart
sentences that you may not have heard before, but they're definitely ones that we use a lot,
especially in the UK and around the rest of the world as well. Now, as always, there is a free
PDF that goes with this lesson. We have all 25 phrases, some extra information, pronunciation,
definitions, all that good stuff, and a quiz that you can use to test your understanding. If you
would like to download that free PDF, all you've got to do is click on the link in the description
box. You enter your name and your email address. The PDF will arrive directly in your inbox,
and then after that you've joined the PDF club, and you will automatically receive all of my free
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unsubscribe at any time. Right, let's get started with the lesson. First, let's discuss phrases we
can use when we meet someone that we either do or do not know. These are different situations. The
first phrase is, "Nice to bump into you. It's nice to bump into you." Now, you would use this phrase
if you are, at the very least, familiar with them, so maybe you know of them. To know of someone is
to have heard about them, to know their name. If you have seen someone recently, you can say,
"Nice to bump into you again." Now, the literal meaning of to bump into someone is to collide with
someone. For example, "I bumped into someone at the supermarket and dropped my milk," for example.
However, in this context, the context of meeting someone, to bump into someone means to meet
someone unexpectedly. For example, I might say, "I bumped into your mum at the swimming pool,"
meaning, "I unexpectedly met your mum." Now, the next one, number two, is a phrase that we use if
we don't know someone, we haven't met them before, but we have maybe heard of them before, or we have
communicated with them digitally. Maybe we've been talking over email or something like that. It is,
"It's great to finally meet you in person. It's great to finally meet you in person." I say this
so much after the pandemic. I met so many people online, over Zoom, and now I can finally meet them
in real life, so I say, "Ah, it's so nice to finally meet you in person." Number three is
"Speak of the devil." "Speak of the devil." And this has a very specific usage. This is said when
a person appears just after being mentioned. For example, if I'm talking to a colleague
about someone's excellent presentation, and then that person appears, I could say, "Speak of the
devil. We were just talking about your excellent presentation." This can be a great way to make
someone new feel included, especially if you have been complimenting them behind their back. Number
four, another one to use if you haven't met someone before, but you want to pay them a nice
compliment, you can say, "I've heard so much about you. I've heard so much about you." Obviously only
say this if you actually have heard good things said about this person. A really good response
to this is, "All good things, I hope," or, "All positive, I hope." And the last one, number five,
this is a nice way of saying, "I don't know who you are, so please introduce yourself to me."
Avoids an awkward situation. It is, "I don't think we've crossed paths before. I don't think we've
crossed paths before." To cross paths with someone is to meet someone by chance. And if we haven't
crossed paths before, well, we've never met, but I think it's a bit nicer than saying, "Who are you?
I don't know who you are." "I don't think we've crossed paths before." Okay, next section. Let's
say for now that you've met someone that you do know, you're going to want to catch up with them,
and to catch up with someone is to talk about everything that's happened since you last saw
each other. So we have number six, which is, "How is everything going? How is everything going?" And
if you can't specifically remember what they've been doing, how is everything going is a great way
to let them lead the conversation. It gives them room to open up. This might refer to their family,
their work, their personal life, romantic life. Who knows? But you can let them lead the
conversation, because they decide what everything is. We also have number seven, which is,
"What have you been up to? What have you been up to?" And this is a really friendly phrase. I've
used this before. I taught it in my "Stop saying 'How are you'" video? If you are up to something,
it means that you are doing something mischievous. You're doing something troublesome. But this
phrase is very warm and friendly. It's saying, you know, "What trouble have you been causing?
What have you been doing?" It's something that we use a lot with children or animals. I often say to
my dog, "What have you been up to, Diego?" Because I know he's been doing something mischievous. We
use it with friends as well. It's very casual, so it's not appropriate for professional situations,
but it is appropriate if you know the person quite well. A good response to, "What have you been up
to," is, "Ah, not much," or, "I've not been up to much." We also have number eight, which is,
"What have I missed? What have I missed? Fill me in." So if you haven't caught up with someone for
a while, this is a good way to ask them, "What has happened since you last spoke?" To fill someone in
is to give someone missing information or to inform someone more fully of a situation. So
if I'm saying, "Fill me in," I'm saying, "tell me all this missing information." Another good good
one is, "We've got so much to catch up on." This means we've got so much to talk about, so much has
happened since we last saw each other. Now, number 10 is one that you can use if you've seen or met
someone that you know you need to spend along talking to, but it's not the right time, it is,
"There's so much to say, but I can't go into it now. I can't go into it now." To go into something
is to discuss or explain something in a careful and detailed way. And this implies that there
are lots and lots of details. Too many for now. Maybe it would be impolite to talk a lot. Maybe
there are some people around that shouldn't hear what you're talking about. It's a good one to use,
or a good one to have up your sleeve. And that means to have something ready for later. Right,
so we've discussed talking to people that we have met before. Now, what should we do with
people that we haven't met before? We should get to know them, shouldn't we? We should ask some
good open-ended questions to get them talking. Often we want to ask people, "How did you get
your job? How did you end up working here?" But that's not so polite. So a really good
alternative is number 11, which is, "How did you get into X? How did you get into marketing? How
did you get into finance?" To get into something in this context is to become involved with. "How
did you become involved with marketing?" Then they can tell you their life story.
Another nice way of getting to know someone is to ask them what they do for fun. And in American
English, especially, "What do you do for fun" is a very common question. I would say that it's not
so common in the UK, but we do see it in movies and TV shows a lot. I just noticed this question
asked to me a lot when I visited the US, and I thought it was really nice. It was a really good
way of making conversation that isn't about work. "So what do you do for fun?" In British English,
we might say something more like, "What do you do outside of work?" Or, "what do you do when you're
not working?" It's maybe a bit nicer than asking someone what they do for fun, because I know when
someone asks me what I do for fun, I think, "Oh my word, I'm not that fun a person. I like running.
Is running fun enough to answer this question? Do they think that running's fun enough?" Yeah,
so there's other alternatives, "What do you do when you're not working? What do you do outside
of work?" They're pretty safe. Another good thing to talk about is motivation, and we want to know
what motivates people. But instead of just simply saying, "What motivates you?" You could say, "What
makes you tick? what really makes you tick?" And this is sort of asking, "What are you passionate
about? What keeps you going?" For example, helping my students gain confidence really
makes me tick. Another similar one is, "What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you get up
for?" Or a really fun and cheeky one is, "What floats your boat?" That means, "what brings you
joy?" That comes from the phrase "Whatever floats your boat, whatever you like." This is something
that we say when someone says they like something that we think is a bit strange. So, for example,
if someone says, "They like running marathons every weekend," I might say, "Whatever floats
your boat. Not my thing but good for you." The question, "What floats your boat," is a variation
of that. Now, when we meet people and we have a really, really good conversation, the next
step is to ensure further contact, to create further contact. But we don't just want to say,
"What's your number? I would like to talk again." Although, I quite like the direct approach. There
are some other ways of doing this, like number 16, "I'd love to carry this on at a later date," or,
"I'd love to carry this on at another time." And this is basically saying,
"I would like to continue this conversation." So you're sort of stopping them there, saying,
"Pause, but let's continue this later on." Another good one to use if you can see that a conversation
is coming to an end, maybe it's like a break in a conference, and you know that the next lecture
is starting, but you still want to make sure that you remain in contact with this person,
you could say something like, "I feel we've got so much more to talk about. I feel we've got so
much more to talk about." And this one is really nice, because it's sort of passing the baton.
It's passing the responsibility over to the other person, and it gives them the opportunity to say,
"Well, let's stay in touch. Let's exchange contact details." It's good to use if you don't know if
they want to stay in touch, if you're kind of testing the water. If they say, "Yeah let's stay
in touch," brilliant. If they don't, well, there we are. At least we know. The next one, number 18,
is to discuss something over a consumable, a food or a beverage. For example, "We should discuss
this over lunch," or "We should chat over coffee. We should talk over dinner." If you think about
it, using the word over is quite appropriate, because normally two people having a meeting at
dinner are speaking over the top of the food. The conversation flows over the food or drink.
Another very simple, very casual one is number 19, "We should do this again." We should do this
again." It's implying, "We should see each other again." And the last one, number 20, if you want
to be very direct and give your contact details, you can say, "Here's my email. Here's my number.
Drop me a line and we'll sort something out." To drop someone a line is to write a brief message,
so it could be a text, a WhatsApp, an email. We can also say, "Drop me a text, or, "Drop me
a WhatsApp." To sort something out is to organise something. We'll arrange another meeting. And the
last set of phrases, and for me, the hardest part of any conversation, is leaving the conversation.
I'm terrible at parties. I end up talking to one person intensely for the whole event, and then
it comes to the end, and I think, "Ugh , I have not met many people here." It's just so awkward,
isn't it? If you don't have much time, you can use 21, which is, "Ooh, I'm a bit pressed for
time. I'm a bit pressed for time." And this is a nice way of saying, "I don't have any time,
I need to go." Or number 22 , "Right, I need to make a move." And in the UK, we always sort of
clap our hands together, or if we're sitting down, we slap our thighs and say, "Right,
I've got to be going." To make a move is to begin to leave or to leave. "I'm going to make a move.
I'm going to leave." It's a nicer way of saying it, because we're beating around the bush. We're
avoiding the topic. I don't want to say "I'm leaving," so I'm gonna say, "I'm making a move."
Another similar one is, "I'm going to have to get going. I'm going to have to get going," or,
"I need to get going." Again, this is to begin to leave. But by saying I have to, it's implying that
you don't want to, I just have to. I'm obliged to leave. It's not my choice. I need to. Now,
a really nice one, it's interesting, but ever so slightly manipulative, but I learned it from
someone that I really respect, an older woman in my village. I always enjoy talking to her
at parties in our village, but I probably enjoy speaking to her more than she enjoys speaking with
me. And once she said this wonderful thing when she wanted to leave our conversation, but she did
it in such a nice way. She said, "I don't want to hog you, so I'm going to go over here." And I felt
like, "Oh, she doesn't want to hog me ." To hog something is to take or use something good all for
yourself, so that other people can't have it. And she was saying, "I don't want to keep you all to
myself, so I'm going to make sure other people can talk to you too." And it's implying that
whoever you are talking to is so great that they need to talk to lots of people. Lots of people
can benefit from talking to them. It wouldn't be right to deny others the chance of talking to this
person. I thought it was really interesting, kind of like reverse psychology, instead of making me
feel abandoned, it made me feel flattered. "Oh, I'm so weak." Okay, and the last one, number 25,
"I've already taken so much of your time. I've already taken so much of your time." That's a
lovely way of saying, "You know, I don't want to leave, but I've wasted your time, so I'm going to
go, because it's fair on you." Okay, those are your 25 smart sentences for daily conversation.
Really good if you're going to a new place, you're going to meet lots of new people, or you're going
to see lots of people that you haven't seen in a while. It's also great for networking, if you're
going to have to have lots of conversations and leave conversations frequently. As I said before,
we have the full list and explanations and a quiz in the free PDF that goes with this
lesson. Just click on the link in the description box to get that. That's all from me. I hope you
enjoyed the lesson. I hope you learned something. Don't forget to check out my English courses.
We've just launched B1, B2 and C1, and if I do say so myself, they are bloody brilliant. If
you want to achieve the intermediate, upper intermediate, or advanced level of English,
check them out. The link is in the description box too. I will see you soon for another lesson.
Mwah!