Do you ever get stuck when talking in English on the phone?You don’t know what to say or how to say it? And most of all, you can barely understand a word the English speaker is saying!

There are a few elements of English that come into this, but one is of course the vocabulary we use, especially phrasal verbs, which are very common.

In this video you will learn 6 common and useful phrasal verbs to use on the phone, or when talking about phone conversations.

*Stay to the end of the video for a fun QUIZ!

THE PHRASAL VERBS:

1.  SPEAK UP

To speak up means to speak louder or increase your volume (a very formal way to say it!). 

But the more common way to ask someone to speak louder is to say ‘speak up’. This can sound very direct, so you can be more polite by saying;

Can / Could you speak up (a bit) please?

Would you mind speaking up a bit please? (Would you mind + verb ing )

2. HANG ON

In this case, to hang on means to wait for a short while. We also often say ‘hold on’. 

“Can you hang on for a minute? I’m just finishing off something.”

“Just hold on for a minute. I’ll grab a pen and make a note.”

3. PASS ON (a message) 

When we ‘pass on a message’ to someone, we transfer (or relay) a message from one person to another. This is usually done via spoken communication. This is a separable phrasal verb, which means we can say;

– I will pass on your message. 
or
– I will pass your message on. 

4. GET OFF (the phone)

So, we know that ‘get off’ often means simple to depart from a bus, train, plane, boat or bike. But we can also use it to mean that we want to end a phone call. 

“Sorry, I have to get off the phone. The meeting is about to start.”

“Get off the phone! You’ve been talking for an hour!” 

5. BREAK UP

When the phone connection ‘breaks up‘ it means the signal is not clear and you can only hear bits of the other person’s voice. This often happens when we are travelling on a train and we go through a tunnel, or we are driving in an area with a bad signal. 

“Sorry, I can’t hear you! You’re breaking up!”

“It’s breaking up. I’m on a train and we’re going through a tunnel right now.”

6. (get) CUT OFF

To get cut off means to lose the phone connection completely! We can also say the connection ‘drops out’. 

“I was talking to my friend on the phone and we got cut off.”

“The phone connection got cut off. We didn’t get to finish the conversation.:

Now you have 6 useful phrasal verbs that you can use when talking on the phone. 

Make a note of them. Practise using them in a sentence and this will help you memorise them and starting using these phrasal verbs easily in conversation. 

Leave me a comment below and make some sentences and I will help you!