Effective Small Talk Conversation Starters in English - How to Make Small Talk in English

hi everyone let me take these out uh good morning  um or maybe good afternoon or good evening  

depending on where you are okay guys hopefully  you can see my screen now today we are going to  

learn some small talk conversation starters  so we're going to learn what small talk is  

what topics we usually talk about  

and then i will give you many examples of  conversation starters for small talk in many  

different situations so let's go ahead and get  started so question number one what is small talk

small talk is polite conversation about  unimportant or uncontroversial topics so  

polite this means friendly nice right very casual  and when we have small talk we talk about things  

that are not important and not controversial  if you don't know this word controversial  

if something is controversial  it might make um might mean that  

many people disagree about this topic so if  it's uncontroversial it means we can all agree  

on this we can all talk about it easily and with  no arguing okay so we often have small talk with  

co-workers acquaintances strangers and even our  friends and family and the people we know well  

so we can have small talk with almost anyone so  uh small talk topics what do we usually talk about  

when we are having small talk small talk topics  usually include things like the weather weekend  

activities and hobbies and current events  so what is a current event current means now  

or around this time and an event is  a thing that happened so for example  

the coronavirus pandemic is a current event  right we might talk about that in small talk

but just like there are many topics that we can  talk about and that we do talk about often there  

are topics we do not want to talk about and  this includes things like politics religion  

or anything too personal so if especially if  i do not know you very well i do not probably  

want to talk about something that could be  controversial like politics so you know who  

is president and what i think or religion right  many people have different religions or anything  

too personal so if i maybe if i am meeting you  if i want to say hey how about the weather today  

that's okay but if i want to say hey i'm having  huge family problems right now no too personal  

right we do not want to do that so let's learn  some small talk conversation starters so for each  

topic we'll look at five or six questions that  you can use to start conversation all right the  

number one topic we usually think about and joke  about when we talk about small talk is the weather  

so the weather is of course uncontroversial  unimportant but it's something easy to talk about  

maybe you're waiting in line or maybe you are  sitting next to someone you only know a little  

or maybe you're just trying to start a  conversation the weather is an easy topic  

to talk about so let's look at five  conversation starters for the weather

number one can you believe how it's been  so here in the blink we might say can you  

believe oh where'd my mouse go nope  there we go sorry guys just a moment  

sometimes my uh mouse disappears  can you believe how rainy it's been  

can you believe how hot it's been can  you believe how cold or snowy it's been  

so any weather that has been happening recently we  can easily start a conversation can you believe so  

i i am here in florida in the us and it is raining  every day a little so i might say can you believe  

how rainy it's been and someone might respond oh  i know it has been so rainy i really want to go  

hiking but i can't because it's always raining oh  i love hiking where do you like to hike and so on  

so even these small questions like can you believe  how rainy it's been can be great conversation  

starters all right let's see our next one so here  we can also talk about what the weather will be  

like in the future i heard it's going to blank  today or i heard it's going to blink tomorrow  

or i heard it's going to blink this weekend so  maybe it's winter and i heard it's going to snow  

today or i heard it's going to snow tomorrow or  this weekend right whatever your future time is  

that you heard about the weather  so i heard it's going to snow today  

oh yeah i think i i heard that too maybe  i'm going to go skiing this weekend right  

so here this is not a question many of  the examples today will be questions  

but we can also start a small talk with just a  statement about a fact right i heard it's going  

to snow today oh yeah i heard that and then your  conversation begins okay let's look at a few more  

beautiful day isn't it so this  is a another question isn't it  

so here we're just confirming or saying  something we know the person will  

agree with or have the same opinion as  us about isn't it beautiful day isn't it  

so a great thing maybe you're just uh speaking  to someone again you don't know very well oh  

beautiful day isn't it yes it's such a gorgeous  day and you can continue your conversation  

okay a couple more so let's say there's beautiful  weather right whatever that means to you  

and you might ask someone are you going to  get out and enjoy this beautiful weather today  

or this weekend or some future time right are you  going to do something outside to enjoy the weather  

so this is a great small talk question right  because this is a great way for our conversation  

to really begin are you going to  go somewhere to enjoy the weather  

well we're going to learn something about  the person we're talking to maybe they say  

no i'm going to stay inside i don't like this  whether it's too hot or maybe someone says yes  

i'm going to go kayaking right no matter what we  learn something and we can start a conversation

and something similar to the first question keep  losing my mouse where at the oh there it is so  

just like can you believe how rainy it's been  we can say something like the weather has been  

blank lately hasn't it the weather has been rainy  lately the weather has been great lately right so  

here we're just filling in with our adjective  about the weather the weather has been hot  

cold rainy great terrible right all right so these  are our weather small talk conversation starters  

now another place we can talk about the  weather with anyone anywhere but some small  

talk is uh different for each place or  situation so here let's look at small talk  

at work so of course at work we see the people  we work with every day or five days a week or  

you know depending on what your job is so we are  a little familiar we know them so we often have  

small talk with the people we work with so  let's look at some work small talk questions  

a great question to ask is so how did you get  into and whatever the job is so i'm a teacher  

so let's say i am at my school and i meet  a new teacher or i just see them very often  

and i want to know them a little better or just  want to chat i might say so how did you get into  

teaching how did you get into teaching and  then they'll tell me about why they started  

teaching and so on so this is a great question  to ask someone at work so how did you get into  

sales so how did you get into  medicine right whatever your field is  

so this is a great small talk question for someone  you work with that you just want to get to know

let's see another great question  how long have you been working here  

so maybe you don't know right you're just being  

conversational you just want to have some small  talk so how long have you been working here

a very common uh small talk question at work is  looking forward to the weekend or just asking  

about the weekend right many of us at some time  in the week feel so tired at work so we might  

ask are you looking forward to the weekend or  what are you going to do this weekend right

we can also in small talk just make comments about  what is happening right so we could say something  

like i can't believe how busy we are today or i  can't believe how slow we are today can you so  

maybe it is a very busy day so busy that normally  it is not this busy i can't believe how busy we  

are today can you oh no i can't believe it i have  so much work to do okay and last one we can also  

just talk about the week right this week has gone  so slowly maybe it feels like friday but it's only  

tuesday oh this week has gone so slowly hasn't it  or maybe it's a busy week it's going very quickly  

so i think it's only wednesday but it's already  friday this week has gone so quickly hasn't it  

so here we see some very common or very normal  and typical questions for small talk at work  

okay let's go to our next one this is one  that i think you will all be interested in  

which is small talk at social events so this could  be a party or maybe you go to lunch with a friend  

and they bring two people who you don't know  right or something like this any social event  

a work party or a social gathering anything like  this where it's social right casual uh and you're  

talking to people that you do not know yet okay  so let's look at some small talk at social events  

a great starter for small talk is what  brings you here oh what brings you here  

let's say there's a big party that my  friend is having and they have they  

know so many people oh what brings you here oh  i'm friends with so and so and they invited me  

right so basically what why are you here  what made you come to this social event  

another great small talk conversation starter  is asking how that person knows the host of the  

event so let's say my friend uh my friend molly  is hosting a social event she's having a party  

she has a big house and many people are there  but it's her party so when i see someone there  

maybe i'm just hanging out right someone is  next to me oh hey so how do you know molly

oh i met her da da and then  we can start our conversation  

just by sharing how we know the host of the party

another great uh small talk conversation  starter is giving someone a compliment  

so a compliment is uh saying something nice about  that person maybe it's about their appearance  

maybe it's about what they're wearing right so  usually when we uh give a compliment to someone we  

don't know we might comment or compliment them on  something they're wearing so i might say something  

like wow i love your shirt can i ask where you got  it so maybe i see someone wearing a shirt and it  

has my favorite uh singer on it my favorite band  wow i love your shirt can i ask where you got it  

oh thanks yeah oh do you like  this band too i got this shirted  

right so a great way to start the conversation  is just by giving someone a compliment

another what's we have two more the next one  for a social event is how are you liking this  

social event so we don't say uh social event this  is in what we call these parentheses why because  

we would replace this with a word like party  

or let's say there is a fundraiser so that a  fundraiser when people have some big dinner  

or party to help raise money for some purpose so  how are you liking this party how are you liking  

this fundraiser right just a casual small talk  conversation starter oh it's really great or  

oh man i'm so bored or anything that they  respond with we can continue our conversation  

and last so here we have our a statement we can  use maybe i see someone who looks like they're  

uh really not having fun at this social event  i might say something like it looks like you  

could use another drink so just a funny way oh uh  maybe they are drinking wine but it looks like oh  

this is not fun looks like you could  use another drink so here are some  

small talk conversation starters for social events  okay we have a couple more so next is small talk  

about current events and if you remember  from earlier a current event is something  

happening now so something in the news for example  uh some event that we hear about in our local area  

or in our country or in the world right anywhere  so uh i might ask someone did you hear about blank  

let's say in my town there was a fire uh the uh  a restaurant caught on fire did you hear about  

the fire at um the chile's restaurant  did you hear about that so we can ask  

did you hear about and then someone might answer  yes and we talk about it or they might answer  

no and we tell them about it right oh you  didn't hear about it oh let me tell you  

so did you hear about this current event did  you hear about uh the flooding in germany right  

another current event did you hear about  the uh building that collapsed in miami  

right things in the news that maybe when they're  just happening we might ask did you hear about it

we can ask what do you think about some  current event so uh what is your opinion  

about some current event that is happening  oh what do you think about um the la the new  

uh lockdown in uh korea where you you  know it's uh or any current event right  

so covid lots of current events what  do you think about that oh i think  

we can also uh start sentences with where we  heard something so the next two we see are sorry  

the next two we see are i heard on the  radio today that or i saw on the news that  

and then talking about whatever that thing  is oh i heard on the radio today that um  

uh lady gaga is doing a concert next  week we should go right whatever the  

current event is so we can say where we heard  it i heard it on the radio i saw on the news  

i read in the newspaper and so on and then  sharing what that thing is and a great  

current event and also a common topic for small  talk uh is about sports did you catch the game  

last night so maybe there was a basketball game  last night that uh i know many people watched  

if i'm just being friendly and having some  small talk hey did you catch the game last night  

so here we see some great conversation  starters for small talk about current events

all right how about with strangers we'll go  through these a little quickly so the first  

two things we might talk about  with strangers is commenting on  

let's say they have a baby or a child or they  are walking their dog we might just be friendly  

and say something like oh what a beautiful  baby how old is he or how old is she  

or if they're walking their dog what a cute  puppy what's his name or what's her name  

so this is a great way to just have small talk  maybe you are in the park or you're walking in  

your neighborhood and you see someone and you  just want to be friendly and have some small talk  

or if you're outside again at the park or going  for a walk or something like this you might  

just say it's a beautiful day to be outside  isn't it so here again we see that isn't it  

i think we saw this in our weather section  it's a beautiful day isn't it so here just  

confirming right this means i know you will  agree it's a beautiful day to be outside isn't it  

now the next few we're going to look at  are if you are waiting so i'm going to put  

a line here now what if you are waiting in a  long line somewhere maybe you're at a theme park  

waiting to go on a roller  coaster or you're at the store  

and you're just being casual having small talk  with the person in front of you or they might  

ask you these questions too can you believe this  line oh it's so long can you believe this line  

you might ask someone maybe you think maybe  i will not go on this roller coaster or i  

will not buy this thing today let's see how  the person at the end of the line excuse me  

how long have you been waiting and last it  looks like we're going to be here for a while  

so we have our two different situations this is  very casual like out at the park or out for a walk  

when you just see people you don't know  or you're just trying to be friendly  

and here waiting waiting in  line waiting to do something  

so those are some great conversation starters but  that's not the limit we can have small talk about  

many topics like shows movies plays and so on oh  hey instead of did you watch the game last night  

have you seen the new that new movie  have you seen the black widow movie yet  

right small talk we could talk about food  restaurants or cooking so a new restaurant  

opens up in town and i'm talking maybe to  my co-worker or to my friend of a friend  

and i say something like hey have you  gone to the new sushi restaurant yet

hobbies are a great small talk topic  

uh anything that you want to ask someone about  their hobbies or share a little bit about yours

travel oh have you have you traveled to this  national park yet have you traveled to this  

other place yet and finally local favorites  so this means anything in your town or your  

area that you're just being conversational  about so that could be local restaurants local  

shops local places to go and just chatting about  those things so before we end today's lesson let  

me give you some small talk tips my tip number  one is to ask open-ended questions so this means  

that they are not yes or no questions so uh if  those can be good right like it's a beautiful day  

isn't it that's a yes it is or no it isn't  question that's okay but it's even better to ask  

open-ended questions so often these start with our  wh words who what when where why how which right  

so these are great because we get more information  that's a better way to start a conversation

next practice active listening so  especially if you feel a little nervous  

about small talk in english make sure to listen  carefully don't focus on what you will say next  

focus on listening to the other person and then  you can think about what you want to say next  

and finally show your enthusiasm so be kind be  friendly and you will definitely be successful