Ask These Simple Questions To Keep a Conversation Going
While making small talk in English is an important skill, sometimes you want the conversation to last longer. So what can you do if your chats are ending too quickly?
We're here to help! In this article, we’ve collected some common questions you can ask in an English conversation to keep you and your partner talking.
Ask “What About You?”
Simply asking “What about you?” is one of the easiest ways to stop a conversation from ending too quickly.
For example, if your conversation partner asks if you like spicy food, you can answer and then return the question — ask them the same question with "What about you?":
Alex
Do you like spicy food?
Briana
Yes, I love it! What about you?
If you're chatting with more than two people, this is also a good way to bring the third or fourth person into the conversation.
Alex
Do you like spicy food?
Briana
Yes, I love it! What about you, Sarah?
Sarah
It's OK, but it's not my favorite.
Ask “Why?”
Asking someone for reasons is also a good way to keep a conversation going.
However, simply asking “Why?” can sound too direct. Instead, it's often better to use one of the following:
- Why is that?
- How come?
You can think of “How come?” as a shorter form of “How did you come to that opinion?” or “How did you reach that opinion?”
See how it’s used in the following dialogue:
Danny
I don't drink alcohol.
Zach
How come?
Danny
Well, I don't really like the taste.
Notice that by saying “How come?” Zach means, “Why not?” or “Why don’t you drink alcohol?”
Related article: Bottoms Up! English Expressions for Drinking
Another very casual option is to say, "Oh yeah?" This shows that you're surprised or interested by what your partner has said and that you'd like to hear more about it.
Maxine
I decided to quit my job.
Kat
Oh yeah?
Maxine
Yeah, the workload is starting to stress me out.
Ask “How?”
Another choice for extending conversations is to ask questions starting with “How.” Both Why and How questions are open-ended, which means they encourage longer answers with more explanation.
On the other hand, Who, What, Where and When questions can be answered with very short responses — and that might make a conversation end faster than you'd like!
Here are some examples of How questions you can ask:
- How did you get into this (new hobby)?
- How did you decide to (join this company)?
- How did you reach that conclusion?
- How so?
“How so?” means “How is it so?” “So” replaces an adjective. For example, if your brother tells you your hair looks weird, you can say, “How so?” to mean “How is it weird?”
Here’s another example:
Flora
I went to a Japanese hair salon today and it was really nice!
Jo
How so?
Flora
Well, they didn't just cut my hair; they also gave me a head massage!
Jo's “How so?” means “How was it nice?” That's why Flora gives more detail about her experience.
Ask “What Do You Think?”
One great way to develop a conversation is to ask someone for their opinion on something. Here are three ways you can do this:
- What do you think about this?
- How do you feel about this?
- What are your thoughts on this?
“This” in the questions above can be replaced with whatever you want to ask about. For example, “What do you think about the new law?”
Keep in mind that “think” as a verb is used with “about”: “What do you think about this?” But the noun form, “thought,” is used with “on”: What are your thoughts on this?”
- What do you think about the new law?
- What are your thoughts on the new law?
Ask “What If?”
Hypothetical questions usually ask what you might do if something happened. That’s why they’re also called "What-if" questions. While they don’t have to start with “What if …,” many do include “if” statements:
Depending on the conversation topic, you can ask about hypothetical situations, such as:
- What if they gave you a raise? Would you still want to quit?
- What if your friend apologized to you? Would you forgive her?
- If you were planning the event, what would you do differently?
You can review the grammar for making sentences like these here.
“Tell Me More!”
Finally, you can ask your partner to tell you more about something.
- Interesting. Tell me more!
- Could you tell me more about that?
- I’d love to hear more about that.
Time to Practice!
So now you know that instead of Who, What, Where and When, you should use more How, Why and What-if questions to keep your English conversations going.
Would you like to practice in a real English chat? Engoo tutors are available 24/7 and have helped thousands of students improve their conversation skills for business and casual situations. Give it a try yourself!
