Common English Phrases to Keep Your Conversation Going!

0:00 Do you feel frustrated when you get stuck in English conversations?

0:04 You want to keep your conversation going but you don't know

0:09 what to say or maybe you freeze because you don't understand them.

0:15 You completely forget your words.

0:19 You don't know what to say.

0:25 Or they don't understand you.

0:28 I'm Emma, creator of mmmEnglish,

0:31 where I help millions of English learners around

0:34 the world develop confidence and fluency in English.

0:38 Today I have thirty awesome phrases to help you get unstuck during English

0:45 conversations so you know what to say and you can keep your conversation going.

0:51 I've also made you a free PDF workbook

0:54 with all of these useful common English expressions

0:57 plus a quiz to help you make sure

0:59 that you can use them accurately when you speak.

1:02 The link to download it is in the description below.

1:06 You'll need to add your name and your email

1:08 address so that I can send it to you.

1:10 You can also join my weekly newsletter so you never miss a lesson or a free PDF.

1:22 Every confident English speaker, whether they're native or non-native,

1:26 uses the phrases and these strategies that I'm

1:30 going to share today to help them communicate.

1:33 Native speakers use these phrases all the time

1:36 because it's a really natural part of communicating.

1:40 We don't always know what to say and it doesn't always come out perfectly.

1:46 Sometimes native speakers don't explain themselves clearly

1:50 and we have to use the expressions

1:52 and phrases in this video to react and to keep our conversations going.

1:57 But the difference is that native speakers or proficient

2:01 speakers are more likely to be confident English speakers.

2:05 They just know how to quickly get themselves out of trouble

2:09 if they need to, if they get stuck during a conversation.

2:13 They know how to fix it without panicking too much.

2:18 And this is the main difference between you and them.

2:21 You just need to know what to say in those situations to get yourself unstuck.

2:27 And there are plenty of phrases and expressions to help you in those situations.

2:32 Imagine that you've just run into someone that you know,

2:36 perhaps a colleague or a professor at your university

2:40 and you've just started chatting in English.

2:42 Things are going well but suddenly, you don't understand what they're saying.

2:48 They've used a couple of words that you don't recognise or perhaps

2:52 it could be because their accent's not one that you're familiar with.

2:56 So in these situations, you could say: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.

3:02 Could you repeat that?

3:04 Maybe you just didn't quite understand what

3:06 they said because they were speaking so fast.

3:09 In this case, you can ask: Could you say that again a little more slowly?

3:15 Sorry, I'm not following you.

3:17 We use this when we don't understand what someone means.

3:21 When the meaning is a little bit unclear,

3:23 if you're a little bit confused, then you can use it.

3:27 I don't think I understood clearly.

3:28 Could you say that again?

3:30 Okay so studying and memorising these phrases is step one.

3:36 But to make them your own, to make them part of your own active vocabulary,

3:42 you need to practise putting them into use,

3:45 using them in different situations with different people in different contexts.

3:49 You know that I'm a huge supporter of Hey Lady!

3:52 an online speaking community for women learning English.

3:56 Inside Hey Lady!, you can join daily conversations

3:59 and regular workshops to develop your conversation skills.

4:03 And any eligible mmmEnglish student is able to join

4:07 with a fifty per cent discount off your first month.

4:10 Click the link down in the description to join Hey Lady!

4:13 and use the code MMM50H.

4:16 Okay here's a new situation.

4:18 You're talking with someone but suddenly you forget your own words.

4:24 It's like every English word in your head just disappears all of a sudden.

4:29 Or you forget what you're talking about after you've already started talking.

4:34 This is the worst because the other person

4:36 that you're talking to is looking at you, waiting for you to continue.

4:42 Their full focus is on you and you've lost your words.

4:47 This happens to everyone, native speakers too.

4:51 So what can you say when you forget your words?

4:56 What's that word?

4:58 It's on the tip of my tongue.

5:00 We use this idiom to describe that very

5:03 familiar feeling when the word is so close,

5:07 it's so close in your mind, it's right here but you just can't get it.

5:14 So frustrating!

5:16 I'm sorry, I had a mental blank.

5:19 I can't remember the word in English.

5:21 At this point, the person that you're talking to will probably help

5:25 you to remember or remind you of the word that you're looking for.

5:29 You could even say: I forgot the English word.

5:34 Do you know what I mean?

5:35 Even if you can't find the word, don't let it stop you.

5:40 Say something like: Never mind.

5:43 And change the topic.

5:45 Tell me about the new project you're working on.

5:47 Never mind, it might come back in a minute.

5:50 This will help you to change the topic

5:52 and keep moving forward in your conversation.

5:55 You don't need to get stuck.

5:56 Sometimes it's not just a word that you've forgotten

6:00 but you completely forget what you were talking about altogether.

6:04 When this happens to me, I just say: Hang on, let me start over.

6:10 Let me try that again.

6:12 Oh, I completely lost my train of thought.

6:15 Hopefully it'll come back to me in a moment.

6:17 You have the choice to feel embarrassed and get frustrated with yourself

6:22 or you have the choice to just hit that reset button.

6:26 You just need to signal what happened to the person that you're talking

6:29 to so they know what's happening but then the conversation can keep going.

6:35 Listen to what I say but also how I say it.

6:39 Notice that I'm not taking myself too seriously.

6:43 I'm using facial expression just as much as the words

6:47 that I'm choosing to help communicate what's happening.

6:50 And this is a really important point.

6:53 Honesty is really important in conversation.

6:57 If someone is listening to you speak and then for some reason, you get stuck.

7:04 All of those expressions that we just went

7:06 through will help you to explain what happened

7:09 and it'll give some clues to the person listening so that they can help you out.

7:15 And let's be honest, it's going to happen to you a lot

7:19 on your journey to English fluency and once you're fluent,

7:23 it's still going to happen.

7:26 Fluency does not mean perfect.

7:29 It just means that you have all of the phrases and the expressions

7:33 that you need to have successful conversations in English even when you mess up.

7:38 There are plenty of times when you just don't know what to say.

7:43 Maybe because you're not properly prepared.

7:47 Maybe you've never talked about this topic before so you

7:51 have no idea what to say or how to contribute.

7:55 Or you might need a little bit of extra time to think about your answer.

8:00 It's not something that you know instantly.

8:03 And there are tons of things that we say in English when this happens.

8:07 To be honest, I'm not really familiar with the political situation in Venezuela.

8:13 If you need a little more time to think about your answer,

8:16 then try: That's an interesting question.

8:20 Let me think for a moment.

8:22 That's tricky, I've never been asked that before.

8:26 I'm not sure.

8:28 Give me a second to think about it.

8:31 Just give me a second to think how to explain it in English.

8:35 All of these phrases will give you some extra time,

8:39 just a few seconds so that you can take a deep breath,

8:44 get your thoughts in order and think about what you're going to say next.

8:47 If you're in a group conversation,

8:50 you can even direct that question towards someone else.

8:55 I need some time to think about my answer.

8:57 Does anyone else want to jump in?

9:00 Another really common situation, especially at work,

9:04 is when someone asks you to share your opinion

9:07 or your ideas about something but they catch you off guard.

9:13 You don't have anything to share with them, yet.

9:17 If you don't know what to say in these moments, you might freeze.

9:21 You might start searching for words and it feels like every

9:25 word has escaped your head and you've got nothing to share.

9:29 So in this situation, you can try to return the question back towards them.

9:35 I've never thought about that before.

9:38 What about you?

9:40 Oh gosh, I've never been asked that before.

9:43 What do you think?

9:44 Or even more casually.

9:47 What's your take?

9:49 This does two things.

9:51 The other person will start talking so you'll

9:54 have some extra time to think about your answer

9:57 but if you don't really have an opinion or an idea to share about this topic,

10:03 you'll probably get some ideas from what that other person is saying.

10:06 They might inspire you to think of something to share or to say.

10:10 Or maybe you agree or disagree with something that they said

10:14 but it's a way for you to keep the conversation going.

10:18 What if someone asks you something that you're not entirely comfortable with?

10:22 This can happen in a lot of different situations and it's okay to not

10:27 answer a question or not talk about a topic if you don't want to.

10:32 So I've got a few phrases to explain that you'd

10:34 prefer not to answer and you want to change the topic.

10:39 I'd rather not answer that, if that's okay, for personal reasons.

10:45 Is it okay if we talk about something else?

10:48 What are you doing this weekend?

10:50 You might find yourself in a situation where you're talking

10:55 but you notice the face of the other person changing.

11:07 They don't seem to be understanding you.

11:10 That's okay!

11:11 It might be your fault.

11:13 Maybe you weren't being clear.

11:15 But it could also be them.

11:17 Maybe they got distracted or they weren't paying attention.

11:21 So if you feel like this is happening, you could say: Am I making sense?

11:26 Are you following?

11:28 Remember we used the word following earlier in this lesson.

11:32 We said: I'm not following you.

11:35 So it's a good one to use in the context of a conversation.

11:39 Are you following me?

11:40 Both of these questions are used to check and to allow

11:44 the person you're talking to to ask a question if they need it.

11:48 If you feel really confident that they are not following,

11:51 you could say something like: I don't think I'm being very clear.

11:57 Let me try that again.

11:59 Sometimes, despite all of our best efforts, miscommunication happens.

12:06 They haven't understood you.

12:08 But it's totally normal,

12:09 we just need to be prepared to handle those situations when they come up.

12:14 So you can say: Sorry, I think there was a misunderstanding.

12:18 What I meant to say was...

12:20 This allows you to rephrase your ideas in a different

12:24 way to help the other person to understand.

12:27 You could also say: I don't think I explained myself clearly.

12:32 Or: I think you misunderstood.

12:35 But the important point here is that you're putting the blame

12:41 on the person that you're talking to when you say that.

12:45 It's quite rude to tell someone else that they have misunderstood you.

12:50 It just tells them it's their fault, not yours.

12:52 So you want to be really confident that they

12:55 are the one who misunderstood if you use it.

12:57 Notice how in the first sentence, we use the passive voice.

13:02 There was a misunderstanding.

13:05 I'm not specifically saying who was responsible for the problem

13:09 and that's usually the best way to go.

13:11 You either assume that it was you and apologise

13:15 and quickly fix it or generalise there was a problem here.

13:22 Okay so now you have thirty useful expressions to help you when

13:27 you're stuck in English and you need help keeping your conversation going.

13:33 If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you give it a like,

13:36 leave me a comment down below, I love to hear from you.

13:39 I suggest that you take all of these phrases

13:42 and practise using them in real conversations.

13:46 If you're eligible to join the Hey Lady!

13:48 community, use the link in the description below and the discount code

13:52 that will get you fifty per cent off your first month of membership.

13:56 Want to keep practising?

13:58 You know where to find me.

13:59 See you in there!