Las frases imprescindibles que debemos conocer para poder mantener una conversación en inglés y que enseñamos en los cursos de inglés de Callan School Barcelona.

Truly mastering a language means you can comfortably hold a conversation in that language. One important thing that students sometimes forget is how important it is to know certain phrases in order for a conversation to flow.

 

Getting started

Of course the first thing we need to know is how to get the conversation started. Ask the other person how they are, and you can also add a personal question about their life

  • How are you? (‘I’m good!’ ‘Great!’)
  • How’s it going? (‘Good, looking forward to summer vacation!’ ‘Can’t complain; life is good!’)
  • How was your Christmas? (‘Great, I ate so much!’)
  • How’s Molly? (‘She’s good, playing lots of tennis these days.’)
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    Future plans

    A natural way to keep the conversation going is to ask the other person about their future plans. It could be for later in the same day, or for the weekend. Is there a holiday coming up? Is it Friday? Ask them if they have plans.

  • (On a Thursday or Friday): What are you up to this weekend? Any plans for the weekend? (‘Nothing much, playing golf on Saturday and going to the in-laws’ for lunch on Sunday.’)
  • Any plans for the Christmas holidays? Are you going anywhere for Christmas?
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    Work

    It is common to ask the other person in a conversation how everything is going at work, if they have anything new to share, etc. Some things we can say:

  • How’s everything at work? How’s life at the office treating you?
  • How’s work? Anything new to report?
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    Bringing the conversation to a close

    Whether you have somewhere to be, or the other person is in a hurry, the conversation must, at some point, end. We can help bring the conversation to a close by saying any number of things, like:

  • ‘Well, I have to be back at the office soon, I should go now.’
  • ‘I’ve got to pick my son up from school, I should get going.’
  • After saying why you must go, it’s polite to say something like ‘It was great seeing you’, or ‘So nice seeing you’. You can then suggest a future plan, if you wish:

  • ‘It was great seeing you, Anna’. ‘Let’s have coffee soon!’
  • ‘So nice seeing you, Jordi’. ‘We should get together for lunch soon!’
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    The end… Saying goodbye

    There are many different expressions we can use to say goodbye in English. One important thing to remember is that the word ‘goodbye’ itself sounds very formal, and we very rarely use it. Instead, we say:

  • Bye bye!
  • See you!
  • See you tomorrow/next week/tomorrow morning, etc.
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    Improve your conversational English

    A great way to improve your conversational skills is by studying English with a direct method. This involves speaking and listening to the language every lesson, not just doing exercises from a grammar book. By practicing listening and speaking all the time, students work on their conversational skills every lesson and see a big improvement fast

    Contact us to find out more about how we can get you speaking English confidently in no time!.

    See you!

     

    Alex E.
    Callan Team

    Referencias:
    . Fernández C. 2018. ‘Fórmulas de saludo en inglés’. Recursos gratuitos de inglés – Callan School of English

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