Telephone conversations

What to say when you are communicating on the phone

Watch and Listen
English telephone conversations start in the same way
– by introducing yourself.

Say “Hello, this is (name)” to let people know who

you are.

If you answer the phone and the caller doesn’t give

his name, you can say “May I ask who’s calling,
please?”.
 More useful phrases
Hello / Good morning / Good afternoon ...

This is John Brown speaking

Could I speak to ......... please?

I'd like to speak to ..... .....

I'm trying to contact ..........

 Be Polite
When you want to speak to a specific person, ask to
speak to him or her with a polite question starting with
‘may’ or ‘could’.
For example “May I speak to Rachel Smith, please?”
sounds a lot better than “I want to speak to Rachel
Smith”.

Use polite questions when you are talking about the

reason for your call, too.
For example, if you are calling a hotel, you can say
“Could I talk to someone about booking a room,
please?”.
 Holding and transferring
When people ask you to ‘hold’ during a call, they just
mean ‘wait’.

When they are ready to the connect you to the person

you want to speak to, they will use the word
‘transfer’ or ‘put you through’ to talk about
connecting your call to that person.
For example “Please hold… Ok, I’ll put you through
to Rachel Smith”.
 More useful phrases
Thank you for holding.

The line's free now ... I'll put you through.

I'll connect you now / I'm connecting you now.

 When it is not possible to
connect
I'm afraid the line's engaged. Could you call back later?

I'm afraid he's in a meeting at the moment.

I'm sorry. He's out of the office today. /

He isn't in at the moment.

I'm afraid we don't have a Mr./Mrs./Ms/Miss. ... here

I'm sorry. There's nobody here by that name.

Sorry. I think you've dialled the wrong number./

I'm afraid you've got the wrong number.

 Leaving a message
There are two ways to leave a message when someone
is not available to speak:
you can record a voicemail message
have someone write down a message.

Make sure to clearly state your name, the reason for

your call and a number that you would like the person
to call if you want them to call you back. Asking the
speaker to slow down or repeat something
 Leaving a message
Even native speakers have to ask people to repeat
thing sometimes – especially on the phone.

If there is a bad line or the sound is not clear, it’s

natural to ask the person on the other end to repeat
what he or she has said. Don’t be afraid to ask people
to slow down by saying,
“Sorry, I’m having a little trouble hearing. Could
you slow down a little?”
“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you repeat
it, please?”.
 More useful phrases
Can I leave / take a message?

Would you like to leave a message?

Could you give him/her a message?

Could you ask him/her to call me back?

Could you tell him/her that I called?

Could you give me your name please?

Could you spell that please?

What's your number please?