Phone Call Phrases
Whenever you
want to be friendly with someone, you can make small talk. You can ask them
about their day, or you may be more specific if you remember details from your
past conversations.
Hi, [first
name], how are you?
This one is more general and you can use it when
you don’t remember anything specific to ask about.
How are you
getting on with…?
This second phrase is more specific and should be
used if you remember certain details. This will make the other person feel good
about talking to you and may even improve your relationship. For example, if
you remember that a company will move to a new office building, you might ask:
Taking messages
If you answer
a phone call and the caller wants to speak to someone who is unavailable, you
should take a message. You can do that in any of the following ways:
I’m sorry,
she/he’s not here today. Can I take a message?
I’m afraid
he/she’s not available at the moment. Can I take a message?
This response doesn’t tell the caller why “he/she”
is unavailable. However if you know why, and it’s okay to share that
information, you might say something like this:
I’m afraid
she’s in a meeting until 4 p.m. Can I take a message?
Could I ask
who’s calling, please?
You can use this phrase to politely find out who is
calling.
I’ll give
him/her your message as soon as he/she gets back.
After you’ve written down the caller’s message, you
can say this phrase.
Leaving messages
On the other
hand, when you make a phone call and the person you want to talk to is not
there, you should leave a message for them. Here’s what you could say:
Could you
please take a message? Please tell her/him that…
Could you please take a message? Please tell her
that Cindy from accounting called about Mr. Shapiro’s expense reports.
I’d like to
leave her/him a message. Please let her/him know that…
I’d like to
leave him a message. Please let him know that tomorrow’s lunch meeting is
cancelled.
Asking when somebody will be available
If you don’t want to leave a message, you can ask
when would be a good time to call again:
When is a
good time to call?
When is
she/he going to be back?
Asking for information
When you ask people to give you information, it’s
important to be polite. Using the modal verb “could” and a question is helpful
in this case.
Could I ask
what company you’re with?
Could you give
me your mobile number, please?
Asking the
other person to repeat information
Don’t worry
if you can’t always understand people on the phone. It happens to native
speakers all time! Just ask the person to repeat the information for you: “I’m
sorry, could you please repeat that?”
If you have to write down names, it’s best to ask
people to spell words out for you. You can use either of the following two
phrases:
Could you
spell that for me, please?
How do you
spell that, please?
It’s always safe to repeat important information
just to double check:
Let me see
if I got that right.
Let me see
if I got that right. Your name is Sam, S-A-M, and your phone number is
555-222-1111, correct?
Sometimes the connection is bad and it’s okay to
ask the other person to speak more loudly:
Would you
mind speaking up a bit? I can’t hear you very well.
Whenever you don’t understand something, it’s best
to ask. The information may be important, so just ask them to repeat it for
you:
I’m sorry, I
didn’t catch your first name.