Learn how to ask and answer "What's your phone number?"
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| Welcome to EnglishClass101.com’s English in Three Minutes. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn English. |
| Hey everyone, I’m Alisha! |
| In this series, we’re going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in English. It’s really useful, and it only takes three minutes! |
| In this lesson, you’re going to learn some ways to get in touch with someone after you’ve met them once already. |
| In a lot of textbooks, you’ve probably seen the question: |
| “What’s your phone number?” |
| (slow) “What’s your phone number?” |
| It’s a very useful question, but there are two problems with it. |
| Firstly, it can sound a little too direct, especially when talking to members of the opposite sex. |
| And secondly, people use the phone a lot less these days than they used to. Instead, they might prefer to connect by email, or on a social network like Facebook. |
| To start, though, a simple variation on “What’s your phone number?” that sounds a little less direct is: |
| “Could I get your number?” |
| (Slow) “Could I get your number?” |
| We start the sentence with “Could...?”, which softens the request. |
| Next say, “I”, |
| then “get”, |
| and finally, “your number?” which is short for “your phone number”. |
| This question is slightly casual, but it can be used in almost any situation. |
| Recently, many people prefer to use email rather than the phone to communicate. Asking someone for his or her email address is also a little less direct than asking for their phone number. |
| “Could I get your email address?” |
| (slow) “Could I get your email address?” |
| We just took “Could I get your number?” and replaced “number” with “email address”. It’s that simple. |
| “Could I get your email address?” |
| If someone asks you either of these questions, you can reply by saying: |
| “Sure, my phone number is...” |
| (slow) “Sure, my phone number is...” |
| or |
| “Sure, my email address is...” |
| (slow) “Sure, my email address is...” |
| or “Sure, it’s...” |
| And then say your phone number or email address at the end. |
| By the way, if you’re having any trouble with numbers, check out EnglishClass101.com’s core word lists for these and other key vocabulary words. Each word comes with a picture, audio samples so you can perfect your pronunciation, and sample sentences and phrases so you can master its use in a sentence. |
| Recently, many people use social networks like Facebook or Linkedin, or an online chatting service like Skype, to communicate. People might ask you about these, especially if they are younger. |
| If someone wants to connect with you through one of these services, they may simply ask: |
| “Are you on...?” followed by the name of the service. |
| “Are you on Facebook?” |
| (slow) “Are you on Facebook?” |
| “Are you on Linkedin?” |
| (slow) “Are you on Linkedin?” |
| “Are you on Skype?” |
| (slow) “Are you on Skype?” |
| To answer, you can simply say: |
| “Yes, I am.” |
| or |
| “No, I’m not.” |
| If you respond with “Yes, I am”, the other person may ask how they can connect with you on one of these services. |
| Of course, if you’re not on one of these services, they won’t be able to contact you. If you still would like to stay in touch with the person, though, you can say, |
| “No, but my email address is...” |
| or |
| “No, but my phone number is...” |
| And then say your email address or phone number. |
| By telling the other person a different way they can contact you, you’ll show them that you want to hear from them. |
| Now it’s time for Alisha’s Advice! |
| If you ask someone for their phone number, their email address, or some other form of contact information, they will usually give it to you if you’ve gotten to know them a little beforehand. If you ask too early in the conversation, though, they may be hesitant about sharing that information. |
| The key is to make sure you talk for some time before requesting this kind of personal information. |
| In this lesson we learned how to ask for a person’s contact information. But |
| what’s the best way to ask someone to meet you later? |
| Find out next time in the seventh English in 3 Minutes lesson! See you next time! |
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