Common English Phrases to Keep Your Conversation Going!

434,212 views ・ 2023-11-21

mmmEnglish


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Do you feel frustrated when you get stuck
0
140
2649
00:02
in English conversations?
1
2789
1711
00:04
You want to keep your conversation going but
2
4620
2888
00:07
you don't know what to say or maybe you freeze
3
7953
3567
00:11
because you don't understand them.
4
11520
2347
00:15
You completely forget your words.
5
15100
2020
00:19
You don't know what to say.
6
19190
2170
00:25
Or they don't understand you.
7
25350
2255
00:28
I'm Emma, creator of mmmEnglish,
8
28995
2938
00:31
where I help millions of English learners around the world
9
31933
3212
00:35
develop confidence and fluency in English.
10
35145
3090
00:38
Today I have thirty awesome phrases to help you get
11
38485
4330
00:42
unstuck during English conversations
12
42954
3066
00:46
so you know what to say
13
46264
1986
00:48
and you can keep your conversation going.
14
48250
2902
00:51
I've also made you a free PDF workbook with
15
51309
3232
00:54
all of these useful common English expressions
16
54541
3248
00:57
plus a quiz to help you make sure that you can use them
17
57789
3420
01:01
accurately when you speak.
18
61209
1546
01:02
The link to download it is in the description below.
19
62985
3050
01:06
You'll need to add your name and your email address
20
66125
3021
01:09
so that I can send it to you.
21
69146
1457
01:10
You can also join my weekly newsletter
22
70945
2706
01:13
so you never miss a lesson or a free PDF.
23
73651
3303
01:22
Every confident English speaker,
24
82080
2677
01:24
whether they're native or non-native,
25
84757
2125
01:26
uses the phrases and these strategies
26
86882
2851
01:29
that I'm going to share today to help them communicate.
27
89733
3199
01:33
Native speakers use these phrases all the time
28
93635
3170
01:36
because it's a really natural part of communicating.
29
96805
3140
01:40
We don't always know what to say and it doesn't
30
100185
3230
01:43
always come out perfectly.
31
103515
2450
01:46
Sometimes native speakers don't explain themselves clearly
32
106204
3585
01:50
and we have to use the expressions and phrases
33
110100
2805
01:52
in this video to react and to keep our conversations going.
34
112925
4173
01:57
But the difference is that native speakers or proficient speakers
35
117260
4468
02:01
are more likely to be confident English speakers.
36
121972
3404
02:05
They just know how to quickly get themselves out of trouble
37
125650
3380
02:09
if they need to, if they get stuck during a conversation.
38
129400
3610
02:13
They know how to fix it without panicking too much.
39
133370
4889
02:18
And this is the main difference
40
138348
1682
02:20
between you and them.
41
140030
1410
02:21
You just need to know what to say in those situations
42
141690
3860
02:25
to get yourself unstuck.
43
145715
1679
02:27
And there are plenty of phrases and expressions
44
147605
2791
02:30
to help you in those situations.
45
150396
1679
02:32
Imagine that you've just run into someone that you know,
46
152144
3615
02:36
perhaps a colleague or a professor at your university
47
156000
4158
02:40
and you've just started chatting in English.
48
160158
2447
02:42
Things are going well but suddenly,
49
162765
2954
02:46
you don't understand what they're saying.
50
166208
1958
02:48
They've used a couple of words that you don't recognise
51
168395
3217
02:51
or perhaps it could be because their accent's
52
171612
3170
02:54
not one that you're familiar with.
53
174782
1673
02:56
So in these situations, you could say:
54
176715
3069
02:59
I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
55
179784
2008
03:02
Could you repeat that?
56
182625
1128
03:04
Maybe you just didn't quite understand
57
184035
2374
03:06
what they said because they were speaking so fast.
58
186409
2815
03:09
In this case, you can ask:
59
189254
2330
03:11
Could you say that again
60
191851
1074
03:13
a little more slowly?
61
193105
1120
03:15
Sorry, I'm not following you.
62
195184
1551
03:17
We use this when we don't understand what someone means.
63
197335
3713
03:21
When the meaning is a little bit unclear,
64
201335
1982
03:23
if you're a little bit confused, then you can use it.
65
203317
3203
03:27
I don't think I understood clearly.
66
207085
1730
03:28
Could you say that again?
67
208925
1129
03:30
Okay so studying and memorising these
68
210734
2771
03:33
phrases is step one.
69
213514
2205
03:36
But to make them your own, to make them part of your
70
216100
3290
03:39
own active vocabulary,
71
219470
2434
03:42
you need to practise putting them into use,
72
222148
2861
03:45
using them in different situations
73
225009
2004
03:47
with different people in different contexts.
74
227115
2420
03:49
You know that I'm a huge supporter of Hey Lady!
75
229725
2961
03:52
an online speaking community for women learning English.
76
232686
3429
03:56
Inside Hey Lady!, you can join daily conversations and
77
236514
3531
04:00
regular workshops to develop your conversation skills.
78
240045
3190
04:03
And any eligible mmmEnglish student is able to join with
79
243424
4030
04:07
a fifty per cent discount off your first month.
80
247454
2821
04:10
Click the link down in the description to join Hey Lady!
81
250715
3070
04:13
and use the code MMM50H.
82
253814
2446
04:16
Okay here's a new situation.
83
256784
2120
04:18
You're talking with someone but suddenly
84
258974
2954
04:21
you forget your own words.
85
261928
1846
04:24
It's like every English word in your head just
86
264044
3662
04:27
disappears all of a sudden.
87
267706
1525
04:29
Or you forget what you're talking about
88
269342
2663
04:32
after you've already started talking.
89
272234
1971
04:34
This is the worst because the other person that you're
90
274315
3310
04:37
talking to is looking at you, waiting for you to continue.
91
277625
4153
04:42
Their full focus is on you and you've lost your words.
92
282155
5180
04:47
This happens to everyone, native speakers too.
93
287764
3210
04:51
So what can you say when you forget your words?
94
291584
3671
04:56
What's that word?
95
296465
1180
04:58
It's on the tip of my tongue.
96
298255
1419
05:00
We use this idiom to describe that very familiar
97
300414
3831
05:04
feeling when the word is so close,
98
304245
3303
05:07
it's so close in your mind, it's right here
99
307548
3081
05:10
but you just can't get it.
100
310629
2535
05:14
So frustrating!
101
314444
1170
05:16
I'm sorry, I had a mental blank.
102
316865
2059
05:19
I can't remember the word in English.
103
319354
2031
05:21
At this point, the person that you're talking to will
104
321965
2680
05:24
probably help you to remember or remind you of
105
324645
3326
05:27
the word that you're looking for.
106
327971
1549
05:29
You could even say:
107
329900
1693
05:32
I forgot the English word.
108
332104
1839
05:34
Do you know what I mean?
109
334110
920
05:35
Even if you can't find the word,
110
335980
2275
05:38
don't let it stop you.
111
338722
1443
05:40
Say something like:
112
340230
1464
05:42
Never mind.
113
342000
1276
05:43
And change the topic.
114
343680
1219
05:45
Tell me about the new project you're working on.
115
345190
1989
05:47
Never mind, it might come back in a minute.
116
347550
2470
05:50
This will help you to change the topic and keep moving
117
350240
3000
05:53
forward in your conversation.
118
353240
1580
05:55
You don't need to get stuck.
119
355040
1700
05:56
Sometimes it's not just a word that you've forgotten but you
120
356890
3889
06:00
completely forget what you were talking about altogether.
121
360960
2939
06:04
When this happens to me, I just say:
122
364080
2373
06:06
Hang on, let me start over.
123
366609
1852
06:10
Let me try that again.
124
370170
1070
06:12
Oh, I completely lost my train of thought.
125
372230
2600
06:15
Hopefully it'll come back to me in a moment.
126
375340
1879
06:17
You have the choice to feel embarrassed and get
127
377710
3269
06:20
frustrated with yourself or you have the choice to
128
380989
3090
06:24
just hit that reset button.
129
384079
1951
06:26
You just need to signal what happened to the person
130
386260
2634
06:28
that you're talking to so they know what's happening but then
131
388894
3819
06:32
the conversation can keep going.
132
392713
1867
06:35
Listen to what I say but also how I say it.
133
395080
4270
06:39
Notice that I'm not taking myself too seriously.
134
399820
3479
06:43
I'm using facial expression just as much as the words
135
403730
3919
06:47
that I'm choosing to help communicate what's happening.
136
407650
2793
06:50
And this is a really important point.
137
410919
2411
06:53
Honesty is really important in conversation.
138
413590
3690
06:57
If someone is listening to you speak
139
417929
2378
07:00
and then for some reason, you get stuck.
140
420485
3312
07:04
All of those expressions that we just went through
141
424040
2460
07:06
will help you to explain what happened
142
426500
3131
07:09
and it'll give some clues
143
429764
1666
07:11
to the person listening so that they can help you out.
144
431450
3140
07:15
And let's be honest, it's going to happen to you
145
435300
2929
07:18
a lot on your journey to English fluency and
146
438229
3961
07:22
once you're fluent, it's still going to happen.
147
442549
3170
07:26
Fluency does not mean perfect.
148
446339
2510
07:29
It just means that you have all of the phrases
149
449145
3080
07:32
and the expressions that you need to have successful
150
452245
3330
07:35
conversations in English even when you mess up.
151
455585
3180
07:38
There are plenty of times when you just
152
458865
2250
07:41
don't know what to say.
153
461195
1670
07:43
Maybe because you're not properly prepared.
154
463535
2970
07:47
Maybe you've never talked about this topic before
155
467015
3739
07:50
so you have no idea what to say or how to contribute.
156
470932
3941
07:55
Or you might need a little bit of extra time
157
475300
3428
07:58
to think about your answer.
158
478728
1402
08:00
It's not something that you know instantly.
159
480130
2440
08:03
And there are tons of things
160
483191
1615
08:04
that we say in English when this happens.
161
484806
2414
08:07
To be honest, I'm not really familiar with the political
162
487520
3460
08:10
situation in Venezuela.
163
490990
1529
08:13
If you need a little more time to think about your answer,
164
493060
3537
08:16
then try:
165
496597
993
08:18
That's an interesting question.
166
498190
1868
08:20
Let me think for a moment.
167
500600
1130
08:22
That's tricky, I've never been asked that before.
168
502205
2763
08:26
I'm not sure.
169
506783
1242
08:28
Give me a second to think about it.
170
508215
2259
08:31
Just give me a second to think how to
171
511856
1958
08:33
explain it in English.
172
513824
1550
08:35
All of these phrases will give you some extra time,
173
515844
3351
08:39
just a few seconds so that you can
174
519405
2765
08:42
take a deep breath,
175
522414
1461
08:44
get your thoughts in order and think about
176
524053
2505
08:46
what you're going to say next.
177
526558
1347
08:47
If you're in a group conversation,
178
527945
2493
08:50
you can even direct that question towards someone else.
179
530438
3432
08:55
I need some time to think about my answer.
180
535355
2055
08:57
Does anyone else want to jump in?
181
537720
1689
09:00
Another really common situation, especially at work,
182
540090
3699
09:04
is when someone asks you to share your opinion or
183
544033
4196
09:08
your ideas about something
184
548230
2335
09:10
but they catch you off guard.
185
550965
2306
09:13
You don't have anything to share with them, yet.
186
553770
3123
09:17
If you don't know what to say in these moments,
187
557635
2540
09:20
you might freeze.
188
560255
1110
09:21
You might start searching for words and it feels like
189
561655
3013
09:24
every word
190
564668
1303
09:25
has escaped your head and you've got nothing to share.
191
565971
3103
09:29
So in this situation,
192
569495
1669
09:31
you can try to return the question back towards them.
193
571164
3481
09:35
I've never thought about that before.
194
575605
1719
09:38
What about you?
195
578424
911
09:40
Oh gosh, I've never been asked that before.
196
580305
2280
09:43
What do you think?
197
583095
889
09:44
Or even more casually.
198
584785
1700
09:47
What's your take?
199
587160
1310
09:49
This does two things.
200
589030
1790
09:51
The other person will start talking
201
591370
2491
09:53
so you'll have some extra time to think about your answer
202
593861
3596
09:57
but if you don't really have an opinion or an idea
203
597843
3338
10:01
to share about this topic,
204
601181
1822
10:03
you'll probably get some ideas from what that
205
603003
2397
10:05
other person is saying.
206
605400
1279
10:06
They might inspire you to think of something
207
606929
2220
10:09
to share or to say.
208
609149
1295
10:10
Or maybe you agree or disagree with something that they said
209
610885
3200
10:14
but it's a way for you to keep the conversation going.
210
614515
3178
10:18
What if someone asks you something that you're not
211
618175
2430
10:20
entirely comfortable with?
212
620825
2029
10:22
This can happen in a lot of different situations
213
622914
2763
10:25
and it's okay to not answer a question or
214
625677
3469
10:29
not talk about a topic if you don't want to.
215
629146
2609
10:32
So I've got a few phrases to explain that you'd
216
632035
2680
10:34
prefer not to answer and you want to change the topic.
217
634715
3570
10:39
I'd rather not answer that, if that's okay,
218
639576
2978
10:42
for personal reasons.
219
642900
1429
10:45
Is it okay if we talk about something else?
220
645220
2150
10:48
What are you doing this weekend?
221
648550
1180
10:50
You might find yourself in a situation where you're talking
222
650280
4069
10:55
but you notice the face of the other person changing.
223
655149
3450
11:07
They don't seem to be understanding you.
224
667125
2784
11:10
That's okay!
225
670209
620
11:11
It might be your fault.
226
671660
1630
11:13
Maybe you weren't being clear.
227
673370
1430
11:15
But it could also be them.
228
675170
1690
11:17
Maybe they got distracted or they weren't paying attention.
229
677680
3159
11:21
So if you feel like this is happening, you could say:
230
681040
3281
11:24
Am I making sense?
231
684731
1587
11:26
Are you following?
232
686910
1072
11:28
Remember we used the word following
233
688180
2370
11:30
earlier in this lesson.
234
690700
1290
11:32
We said: I'm not following you.
235
692380
2430
11:35
So it's a good one to use in the context of a conversation.
236
695610
3170
11:39
Are you following me?
237
699050
1140
11:40
Both of these questions are used to check and to
238
700535
3339
11:43
allow the person you're talking to
239
703874
2700
11:46
to ask a question if they need it.
240
706574
2000
11:48
If you feel really confident that they are
241
708805
2259
11:51
not following, you could say something like:
242
711064
3249
11:55
I don't think I'm being very clear.
243
715142
2062
11:57
Let me try that again.
244
717834
1060
11:59
Sometimes, despite all of our best efforts,
245
719554
3481
12:03
miscommunication happens.
246
723334
2270
12:06
They haven't understood you.
247
726264
1320
12:08
But it's totally normal, we just need to be prepared
248
728410
2680
12:11
to handle those situations when they come up.
249
731100
2630
12:14
So you can say:
250
734329
1390
12:15
Sorry, I think there was a misunderstanding.
251
735875
2401
12:18
What I meant to say was...
252
738490
1619
12:20
This allows you to rephrase your ideas in a different way
253
740530
3909
12:24
to help the other person to understand.
254
744439
2540
12:27
You could also say:
255
747199
1420
12:29
I don't think I explained myself clearly.
256
749397
2442
12:32
Or:
257
752289
773
12:33
I think you misunderstood.
258
753062
1917
12:35
But the important point here is that
259
755755
3600
12:39
you're putting the blame
260
759355
2145
12:41
on the person that you're talking to when you say that.
261
761678
2704
12:45
It's quite rude to tell someone else that
262
765045
2394
12:47
they have misunderstood you.
263
767439
2066
12:50
It just tells them it's their fault, not yours.
264
770004
2500
12:52
So you want to be really confident that
265
772784
2471
12:55
they are the one who misunderstood if you use it.
266
775255
2190
12:57
Notice how in the first sentence,
267
777685
3049
13:00
we use the passive voice.
268
780734
1680
13:02
There was a misunderstanding.
269
782905
1870
13:05
I'm not specifically saying who was responsible
270
785614
2699
13:08
for the problem and that's usually the best way to go.
271
788313
3211
13:11
You either assume that it was you and apologise and
272
791754
3730
13:15
quickly fix it or generalise
273
795484
3510
13:19
there was a problem here.
274
799494
1220
13:22
Okay so now you have
275
802420
1924
13:24
thirty useful expressions to help you when you're
276
804877
3418
13:28
stuck in English
277
808295
1518
13:30
and you need help keeping your conversation going.
278
810000
3367
13:33
If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you give it a like,
279
813590
2750
13:36
leave me a comment down below, I love to hear from you.
280
816439
3191
13:39
I suggest that you take all of these phrases
281
819939
2551
13:42
and practise using them in real conversations.
282
822520
3419
13:46
If you're eligible to join the Hey Lady! community,
283
826000
2459
13:48
use the link in the description below
284
828800
2398
13:51
and the discount code that will get you fifty per cent
285
831198
2867
13:54
off your first month of membership.
286
834065
1904
13:56
Want to keep practising?
287
836359
1120
13:58
You know where to find me.
288
838239
1080
13:59
See you in there!
289
839670
763
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7