How to start a phone conversation in English

Hi, folks.

My name is Benjamin and welcome back to www.engvid.com.

Today we are having a look at phone conversations, and you're going to be learning to ask firstly

whether the person you are ringing has time to speak, whether it's a good time to call,

and then we're going to be looking at explaining to them why we are calling them.

Okay?

So, let's get started.

Now, checking they have time to speak, you would use this if you're...

If you're phoning a friend or if you are a business calling an individual.

This is how we do it, so I can say: "Is now a good time to call?"

Okay?

And here I have "to call" in the infinitive.

"Is now"-is right now, now-"a good time to call?"

Or I can say: "Is this a good time to call?"

Okay?

Or I could say...

If it's to a friend I might say: "Are you busy, Jack?

Are you busy?"

This is more formal, this is more business talk.

"Are you free to talk?"

Okay?

It's probably better English.

Now, here we have: "Do you have...?"

Do you have?

Something you have.

"Do you have a minute?"

Obviously you don't have a minute in your pocket, but:

Are you free to talk for one minute?

"Do you have a minute to", and now we have two options.

So we could: "...have a quick chat".

Are you free...?

"Do you have a minute to have a quick chat?" or:

"Do you have a minute to speak?"

"Speak" is more formal, it's better for important things.

"To have a quick chat" is maybe you're working and someone has done something bad, so you're

being friendly, but you're saying:

"Are you free to have a quick chat?"

You're being friendly, but maybe they have done something bad.

Okay.

Now: "Have I rung", past tense of "to ring"...

"Have I rung at a bad time?" or: "Have I caught you...?"

Okay?

Catch a ball.

"Have I caught you"-I caught you-"at a bad time?"

And then if they say:

"No. It's fine. What do you want?"

then I carry on and I give them my reason for calling.

But if they say: "Yes, actually right now I'm really busy",

then I say: "Well, maybe I could call later today,

in a few hours' time, tomorrow", then you suggest a better time to call.

So, let's just recap.

We've got: "Is it a good time to call?",

"Are you busy?", "You free to talk?",

"Do you have the minute?", "Do you have a minute?" or:

"Have I rung...?", "Is now a bad time?"

Okay?

Now, the reason for calling.

Obviously if I'm just me, Benjamin, and I'm calling a business, then I don't need to say:

"Are you free?" because it's their job to be free.

So I just go straight into: "Hello. I'm calling about..."

Okay?

These are reasons.

So: "I am", you shorten it to: "I'm", "I'm calling about",

maybe it's a refund, the refund

you need to give me or: "I'm calling about..."

So we can have a verb plus "ing", so: "I'm calling about organising a meeting with."

Okay? So we have verb, let's just put a verb in, "organise", and then I would cross out the

"e" and put "ing".

"I'm calling about", a noun and a verb plus "ing".

You do that one or you do that one.

These are all patterns using noun or verb+ing until here.

Next one, this is a very formal style of English: "It's with regard to...

It's with regard to my refund", "organising the meeting".

Okay?

But this is formal English.

If you want to impress someone, use this one.

"It's about..." Okay?

If I'm calling my friend.

"Hiya, Jack.

It's about the party.", "It's about playing football on Saturday."

Okay? So this is...

This is more friends, this one.

This is smart, and this can be both.

Okay? "Calling about...", "With regard to...", "It's about..."

A couple of different ones here: "I'd like to", and then we need our verb in the infinitive.

"I'm calling because I'd like to show you my CV.

Can we organise a time for me to bring it to you?"

Okay?

Because I'd like to organise a time to meet, I'd like to plan next week.

Okay?

Verb in the infinitive.

"I'm phoning to..."

So you've got: "I'd like to" or "I'm phoning to".

I hope that makes sense.

Okay?

Just a very simple pattern, system for starting a phone conversation.

I've already been through this, but: "Are you busy?"

Make sure they have time, make sure it's a good time to talk.

If it is, tell them why and then you start your phone conversation.

Check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

Feel free to follow me, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and well done

for taking the time and making the effort to become a better speaker of English.

Bye.