How to politely exit a conversation in English | Learn English with Cambridge

Hi, I’m George,

and today we’re going to learn how to politely

exit a conversation.

Did I tell you about my cat’s birthday last week?

Some of the local cats came round and we had a little party.

We had… we had a sort of cat cake.

Did you know that cats don’t even eat cake?

Bet you didn’t.

Max is a nice guy, but he does waffle a lot.

Hey!

And I’m a busy man.

How can I exit the conversation without being rude?

Did I tell you about my cat’s birthday last week?

Er, bye, Max.

What do you mean?

I’m leaving this conversation.

Tell me you don’t mean that.

This would be too rude.

I needed another way.

Anyway, I’ve started giving her this new type of food.

Before, we’d always used dried food,

but then someone… It’s been nice chatting to you, Max,

but I’ve really got to get back to work.

Oh, okay.

See you later.

Yeah, speak soon.

Bye.

What a nice guy.

When exiting a conversation in a formal situation,

for example,

at work, you can start by saying, well,

it’s been really nice chatting to you.

Or well, it’s been nice talking to you, but …

And then you can explain why you need to leave the conversation.

For example, you can say,

I’ve really got to get back to work,

or I’ve really got to finish my essay.

That day, Max continued to try to talk to me about his cat.

I couldn’t avoid him any longer.

I needed to exit the conversation.

George, I was just trying to tell you before,

we’ve actually got her on the dry food now.

Max, I’m really sorry, I’ve got to run.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I should actually get going now.

Okay.

All right.

Sorry.

Speak to you soon.

Yeah, bye.

If you’re trying to exit a conversation in the street,

you can apologise first,

and then explain

that you urgently need to be somewhere else.

For example, I’m really sorry, but I’ve gotta run.

In this sentence,

we push got to together to make gotta.

I’m really sorry, but I’ve gotta run.

Or you can say, I’m really sorry,

but I should probably get going.

Should probably, in this sentence,

makes it sound like you don’t want to leave the conversation,

but you have to.

Hi, George.

This is a picture of my cat.

This is actually her third birthday

and we got her… Have you met my friend, Ben?

This is Max.

Oh, hi, Max.

Hello, Ben.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, I do.

I’ve got a cat.

If you want to leave the conversation,

but you aren’t going to leave the room,

you can introduce the person to someone else by saying,

oh, have you met my friend…?

That’s all we have time for today.

If you enjoyed the lesson,

please like the video and subscribe to the channel.

Also, if you’re interested in learning

how to start a conversation,

you can check out Greg’s video linked in the description below.

See you next time.

Bye.