Phrases for conversation

When we think of vocabulary, we usually think of learning new words. But it's important to learn new phrases as well. Why? Think about a phrase like "I don't think so." If you try to explain it as a string of individual words organized grammatically, you'll probably say something like this:

'I' is the subject of the sentence, and 'think' is the verb. 'Don't' is a contraction for 'do not,' so actually 'do think' is the verb and 'not' is an adverb. 'So' is a pronoun in this case, referring to what was said before. To string it all together, you are saying that you do not think that the thing that was said previously is the case. If you say "I don't think" then you are saying that you just plain don't use your brain, but if you say "I don't think so" then you are saying that you think differently than what was said previously, you have a different opinion.

Nobody wants to hear that. Even the rare person who is interested to hear that will probably not learn the phrase very well from that description. It's complicated.

Let's look at what happens if we don't dissect the phrase into its grammatical parts but instead consider it as a single unit. How would we explain it then?

If someone asks you a question and you are 90 percent sure (not 100 percent sure) that the answer is 'no,' you can say "I don't think so." You can also say "I don't think so" if the answer is definitely 'no' but you want to say it gently.

I feel much better giving my learners this explanation. I understand it. I think they'll understand it. Nobody is getting tangled up in knots.

Below, I'll put some examples of phrases that your students can learn, and you can find more online by searching "ESL conversation phrases" or something similar. I found a long list at ESLGold, and some of the ones below are from fluentu.

But once you have an idea of what to look for, you'll start recognizing them in context. Then, you can teach the ones that are most relevant for your learners. The ones that come up in conversation -- or that should come up in conversation -- are the ones to start with.

Some phrases:

• Thanks (so much) for [noun OR -ing verb] Thanks so much for driving me home. Thanks so much for the gift.

• Thanks for letting me know.

• I really appreciate _-_. I really appreciate you driving all the way out here. Thanks so much for the ride; I really appreciate it.

• Where are you from?

• Nice to meet you.

• What do you think?

• How does that sound?

• That sounds great/wonderful/like a good idea.

• Could you repeat that, please?

• Where can I find ___ ?

• I (don't) think so.

• I'm not sure.

• It's not my favorite. (a polite way to say that you don't like something)

• How about ___?

• Why don't you ___?

• It was great to see you! (to end a conversation)

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash