Useful Phone Video Chat Expressions in English

today we are going to talk about phone

and video

chat expressions i made a list

of expressions you can use basic

expressions

and some more intermediate to advanced

expressions

and some idioms even that you can use on

the phone

and when you are doing a video

so i hope that everybody can find

something that is helpful especially

because we are using

phone and video chat more and more these

days

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show you today’s

lesson boards let’s take a look this is

what we are going to talk about today

i have first phone and video chat

expressions

basic expressions so if you are a

beginner

this is maybe good practice or you can

pick up something new

here check it out uh part two will be

connection problems so this is a list of

expressions you can use when you have

trouble

uh so i hope this is helpful for many

people

thing three we’ll talk about is other

useful expressions

other things that are helpful when

you’re doing

video chat situations so everybody is

here

let’s begin also if you have not please

do make sure to like and share this

video so other people can find

today’s lesson let’s get it started all

right

first basic expressions basic

expressions let’s talk about

basic expressions first let’s review

some phone expressions so phone that

means

i have phone here that means these

expressions

are expressions we use on the phone we

don’t use

hello in video chat situations we don’t

start the video chat so much with just

hello

because you can see the other person if

you have

no camera on your video chat you might

use

hello we use hello when we can’t see the

other person

generally another way you can

pick up the phone is with this pattern

name speaking name speaking so your

phone rings

and you pick it up and you go hi alicia

speaking

this we don’t use this with friends or

family

this one is used in more professional

situations

so for a business call a work call

something like that

we generally use name speaking alicia

speaking

for a business call professional call

also this pattern i included here

because you will probably hear this when

you call a customer

service phone number the pattern is

this is name how may i help you

at native speed this sounds like this is

alicia how may i help you

so this pattern typically

comes after like the company name so for

example

if you call a bank like let’s say you

call the bank of america

the person might pick up the phone and

say thank you for calling bank of

america

this is alicia how may i help you so

this is a pattern that’s

very common in customer service

situations

so after this just tell them what you

need

so this is a good pattern to listen for

okay the next one that i want to cover

this pattern right here it’s nice to

connect with you this is one we are

using a lot

recently when i say recently i mean in

2020

it’s nice to connect with you you can

see here

it’s nice to connect this is a key word

so these days maybe we have meetings or

we have

lectures school lectures online like we

don’t meet

face to face right when you meet someone

the first time

usually you say nice to meet you right

however

because sometimes we meet someone for

the first time

with video like we have a video meeting

for our first meeting

we feel like i didn’t really meet that

person like face to face

so instead of saying nice to meet you

we say it’s nice to connect with you

it’s nice to connect with you

you can use this uh on the phone

but i feel we’ve kind of used it with a

video

especially lately this year so it’s nice

to connect with you

or sometimes people say it’s nice to

digitally

meet you or it’s nice to meet you

digitally something like that but this

is a really really good expression

to pick up for this year it’s nice to

connect

with you with you so with

not to but with is like we’re doing

something together yeah okay

on youtube natalia says is it wrong to

say how can i help you

or can we use both may and can yes in

this pattern

if you are a customer service person if

you work in customer service

you can use how can i help you that’s

perfectly okay too

yeah this is alicia how can i help you

perfect that’s also okay

great someone writes it’s nice to

connect with you alicia great great

great very nice very nice

okay i’m looking for your questions if

you have questions please send i will

try to check them live

let’s continue the next one the next

good

basic expression uh is can i call you

back or can i call you back

later in this pattern i have later at

the end

you can choose your own time period can

i call you back

in 10 minutes can i call you back in

an hour can i call you back in a couple

days i don’t know

if you want to use uh that pattern

please use the preposition in can i call

you back

in 10 minutes can i call you back in

blah blah blah so please use the

preposition in don’t forget you’re in

i’ll put it there

in so you can check it out can i call

you back

in time okay uh

this one is a little bit

direct who is this who is this

sometimes maybe you pick up the phone

and you don’t know the person so you

pick up the phone it’s a number you

don’t

know you’re like you pick up the phone

they say

something they need some information

from you and you are

you think i don’t know this person you

can ask

who is this who is this so who is this

sounds a little bit

direct it sounds a little bit aggressive

uh so please be careful with this

okay uh then finally this one you have

the wrong

number you have the wrong number we use

this for phones

we don’t really use this for video chat

at least

i haven’t had the experience of a wrong

number

in video anyway you have the wrong

number

means you made a mistake so the person

calling you wanted to call

someone else you have the wrong number

you have the wrong number okay some

other examples sentences are coming

on youtube alexi says can i call you

back in a sec

great in a sec so sec

is short for second can i call you back

in a sec

means in a very short period of time

okay uh someone let’s see ritesh on

facebook says how do we get

pdfs of oh of this lesson there’s not a

pdf file of

this lesson there are pdfs of other

topics

there’s not a pdf version of this so

but you can take a screenshot i will

show you a screenshot of

all of today’s uh vocabulary topics

okay good uh

natalia says sorry back in later was not

clear why in oh

this is two different patterns if you

missed it can i call you back

later so later is just sometime

in the future can i call you back later

that’s one pattern

pattern two here can i call you back in

five minutes

can i call you back in an hour that’s

pattern two

there are two patterns there you can use

okey

all right that sounds good so that’s

part one

uh basic expressions you can use okay

let’s take a

short break and we’ll continue to part

two so if you missed it

of course there’s free stuff free pdf

lessons from the link below the video

if you are watching on youtube or above

the video if you’re watching on facebook

i showed you a few

examples of the things you can find

let’s see here’s a good one sports and

exercise very important

for all of us especially this year so

you can choose a topic that sounds

interesting to you

and take a look oh pets if any of you

are dog people i like dogs

you can find the names of your dogs so

check them out there’s a bunch of

different topics there

okay so let’s go to part two also if you

have not please make sure to like

and share this video so other people can

find today’s

lesson all right i’ll show you today’s

lesson boards if you want to take a

screenshot get ready

today’s lesson boards but um okay so

we talked about basic expressions next

i’m going to talk about expressions for

connection

problems everybody has these so i want

give you some expressions you can use to

try to solve those problems

so let’s continue to part

two alrighty um

let’s see some questions are still

coming and alex s

says on youtube is can i call you back

next week correct

yes yes can i call you back next week is

okay

um okay i don’t see other ones

so i’m going to continue let’s talk

about

connection problems connection problems

so when you start your call or you start

your video chat

often there is an audio so sound

or a video visual problem so

let’s take a look at how to

troubleshoot first can you see me

or we change the verb can you hear me

can you see me or can you hear me

this is a very common way to begin an

online video call in particular can you

see me

or can you hear me this now

is something we use at the end of this

pattern

after we make a change in our setting

so for example let’s say you can’t see

and you’re like i’m like can you see me

and you say

no i make some changes here

and then i say can you see me now

like after my changes maybe hopefully

you say

yes so we use can you see me now or can

you hear me

now it’s like i made some change

how is it now so please use this

after you make a change can you see me

now can you hear me now

okay this one then

a little hard to see maybe sorry i think

your mics or your cameras

not working or not

connected so again a couple options here

first let’s look at this mic

and cameras what’s that this is

the reduced form of mic is so mic

means microphone yeah like right here

this is my microphone

so mike is and camera is i think your

mic

is not working or i think your mic is

not connected

both are okay both are totally fine or i

think your camera

is not working i think your camera is

not connected

both are okay to use okay

all right then

signal this is the next one i want to

talk about the next vocabulary word here

signal so signal we use

for like um we tend to use signal

for mobile phones yeah we don’t use

signal for wi-fi and for internet

connections

so in that case you can use connection

so connection

we use for internet signal

we use for phones that’s the difference

in most cases if you make a mistake

we’re going to understand so

it says the signal is weak or it says

the signal is

bad or it says the signal is good

so you can look at your phone and be

like how’s my signal how is it

you might also hear reception reception

is okay to

use with mobile phones as well

um aditi says can we say your video is

blur a good one

blurry blurry blur is a noun blurry is

the adjective form

i’ll include i’ll talk about that one a

little bit later

so uh it says the signal is weak

so weak or bad both are okay it’s a weak

signal or a bad signal

or a good signal we use these words to

describe

the signal uh

kami gutierrez says when you say mike’s

not it’s similar to say

mike isn’t so if you want to use

mike is not we no s there no apostrophe

s the mic

isn’t working yes that’s what it means

that’s what it means

okay uh other questions don’t know okay

i don’t see any others

next one let’s talk about these

expressions these happen

all the time so the key word here the

key

verb here is to freeze to freeze like

ice

yeah but we say you this is past tense

you froze you froze

or he or she froze or as an adjective

you’re frozen you are frozen what does

that mean

it’s when the video stops like that

so you stop completely like you stop

like ice

right you can’t move anymore we say you

froze

as a verb or you are

frozen you are frozen please be careful

of your grammar

okay um

kanwaljit says can we say your voice is

not clear yes you can yes you can

other points okay oh i skipped one sorry

i sorry sorry uh this one it says

there’s a bad connection sorry everybody

i skipped one i missed one

uh this one it i wanted to talk about

this

these two sentences use it says

it says this it means the computer

or the software or the mobile phone says

so nobody is saying anything just

according to my mobile phone or

according to my computer

there’s a bad connection or the signal

is weak or the signal is bad

so please use it says to talk about your

network connection

uh shima on youtube says i am unable to

connect with you there is a network

problem how’s that sound perfect sounds

good sounds good

okay uh what does it mean frozen says

mavis on so

frozen this is an adjective frozen

we use for ice but when we are using

video chat

it means some the video stopped

so sometimes the video stops but the

audio

the sound continues in that situation

we say you’re frozen so your

visual the picture is not moving you are

frozen uh aj on youtube says can we say

your video is

stop no your video

has stopped stop is a verb

frozen is an adjective yeah so use this

pattern

you stopped or your video stopped

okay let’s go to the next one all right

next one is i lost you or we lost him

or her this is different from froze

or frozen because this lost

means the person’s connection dropped

so the person left the video chat

they disappeared so the connection was

cut we use i lost you

or we lost him or we lost

her that means someone was like someone

disappeared

from a video chat or from an audio call

okay um

other ones okay i don’t see other

questions yet

so let’s talk about the last two

just a general direct expression you can

use

i can’t hear you i can’t hear you yes i

cannot hear you

is also okay but it sounds more natural

to reduce

this can’t to can uh sorry it sounds

more natural to reduce

to can’t i can’t hear you i can’t hear

you

finally are you there are you there

this one is super helpful when maybe the

other person

froze and you’re not sure

like you can say can you see me or can

you hear me

or just are you there are you

there you can use this on the phone and

you can use this

on video chat are you there can you hear

we use them together like that okay

all right uh i don’t see other questions

that is everything for part two all

right

good ah that was nice okay uh thanks for

your great questions

um oh yeah some people have been writing

the expression

on mute on mute i’ll include that here

uh i’ll put that at the bottom of this

guy

to be on mute or

muted i think you’re muted we use two

patterns to talk about that

mute so uh this comment

is in the chat i’ve seen this in the

chat a couple times

on mute on mute so i think

you’re on mute that means your audio

is off so when for example

like you don’t see or you see someone’s

mouth moving but there’s no

sound you can say you’re muted

that’s the adjective or you’re on

mute you’re on mute kanwajit says how do

how do we say that the voice is coming

later your voice

is on a delay or there’s a delay or

there is

lag i’ll include this in the last one i

think there’s some time i’ll add that

point to the last one

there is lag we’ll talk about this in

part three

okay um okay

let’s continue then we’ll take one more

break

and then we’ll continue uh to part

three all right so if you missed it

there’s free stuff

for you from the link below the video if

you are watching on youtube

above the video if you’re watching on

facebook here’s oh this one i haven’t

shown in a while

business english this is a set

of expressions to use in a meeting you

can use these in

online meetings as well so check this

out

this is a list of job titles too this is

a good one i know

many of you are studying for work

purposes all right yes

monica on facebook says how do we talk

about when the voice goes and returns

and goes and returns

i’ll include okay i’m making a list of

things to add to part three

so great questions thank you for your

questions hamayon says can we say he is

losted

no lost is the past tense form of

lost no change to that verb it’s an

irregular verb

we lost him we can say he is lost

lost is also an adjective that’s the way

english works sorry

he’s lost means he can’t find his way on

the street

we do not use that pattern for video

chat

we say we lost him all right phew

great questions i’ll show you today’s

lesson boards again you can take a

picture

before we go to part three uh okay so

we talked about basic expressions we

talked about connection problems

just now and now we’re going to talk

about other

useful expressions i made a list of

another group so also if you have not

already please please please make sure

to like this video and share it so other

people

can find today’s lesson okay

sebastian says when my internet is not

good how do i express that

i talked about that in part two i’ll

show the picture again

today okay let’s go i think part three

will answer some of your questions you

have great questions coming in

if you have questions about technical

problems please check part two i just

finished talking about all right let’s

to part three uh other useful

expressions

so the first two here are about

recordings

recordings so often uh in your video

chat

uh your audio chat you have a meeting or

something

i know many people record the

information

two ways to do this one is an active

voice sentence one is a passive voice

sentence

are you recording this so this is a

direct

question to the other person are you

specifically are you recording this

this one is this being recorded where

this means is this conversation

being recorded this is passive voice

because it’s like i don’t know who is in

charge of the recording

i want to ask is this being recorded

so this is used in like a meeting i

don’t know who’s in charge

i want to ask though is this being

recorded

okay next one

it’s a little choppy choppy this

is a key vocabulary i wanted to

introduce

to you today it’s a little choppy

we use this mostly with video chat

you might use it with audio too you can

use it in the live streams as well

this sometimes happens in live streams

choppy

in this case choppy means it stops

and starts so like you see one frame

and stops and another frame it stops

that kind of video or audio we describe

that

as choppy it’s choppy so chop

is this action with a knife yeah we chop

vegetables

yeah so it’s that feeling with a video

file like

it’s cut and cut and cut that’s

something

choppy uh yes we can use

laggy oops sorry laggy it’s a little

choppy or it’s a little

laggy it’s also used too we use laggy

in like video games as well so i’ll add

that to the board

oops sorry laggy you can use laggy

in this situation too it’s a little

laggy

laggy so to lag means to fall behind

to fall behind so to fall behind is like

uh maybe the audio and the video aren’t

working correctly

okay hi marco from chile cool okay

so choppy or laggy ooh carrie has a good

question on facebook how do i say

is it okay if i capture a screenshot on

this video uh

if you want to take a picture of the

screen say

is it okay if i take a screenshot

is it okay if i take a screenshot or

can i take a screenshot can i take a

screenshot

some people are asking about choppy and

laggy

and these words so choppy and laggy they

mean the video

starts and stops or the audio starts

and stops quickly

so that when that happens we say it’s

choppy it’s laggy your video is laggy

or it’s choppy okay all right so let’s

continue on i hope that’s helpful for

everybody

everybody’s experiences this i think

let’s go to a positive expression

everything sounds good

everything sounds good so

when you uh join your chat session or

your

your phone session and often you ask

like can you hear me

or can you see me you can respond with

everything sounds good or you can say

everything looks good too everything

sounds good

everything looks good this means

everything is okay

like let’s continue so this is a

positive way

you can confirm audio’s okay videos okay

with everything everything sounds good

everything

looks good or just everything is good

okay all right um

okay i don’t see other questions so i

want to continue

to an idiom an idiom i chose this idiom

today

it’s quite interesting because it has

the word

phone in it but it’s not really

connected to phone calls

we have this expression to phone it

in or to phone something in

this idiom means to do something

with little effort or enthusiasm

in an example sentence he’s tired of his

job

and is phoning it in lately

he’s tired of his job and is phoning it

in lately

so when someone is doing a job or

project

or participating and they’re not trying

very hard

for example if this was the live stream

let’s say for ex i didn’t prepare

i didn’t prepare i just sat down i

talked to you

for 30 minutes about the news or

something you could say wow

alicia’s phoning it in like she didn’t

prepare anything there’s no

information so phoning it in

to phone something in means to do

something

with little effort or enthusiasm

however there are some cases especially

a long time ago

where we say we would say to phone

something in

like a request or an order like can you

phone in this order or can you phone in

this request

today though when we use it like this

it’s like saying that person

didn’t want to take the time to come and

meet

us or they didn’t want to visit the

office so they’re doing it by phone

so that’s the reason it sounds like

someone is doing something with

little effort okay

uh so this is kind of an interesting

idiom i wanted to include

okay um let’s go to the last one so

some of you asked about this point i

added it to the board there’s a little

space left

so there is lag or there

is echo echo so again in this sentence

i’m using

lag and echo as nouns yeah

there is lag there is echo

you might also hear um there is an echo

we don’t use there is a lag we do not

use that

there is an echo you might hear

so uh lag as we talked about is when

there’s like um there’s a delay

there’s a delay so we can use delay in

this pattern too

so the video and the audio don’t

match yeah echo

is when you hear the sound again so

sometimes you hear echo like

at the beginning of this live stream i

think like when

uh the youtube chat begins

and sometimes you hear a little bit of

my voice

again that’s echo echo echo so you hear

the same thing

quickly one after another there’s echo

or there’s an echo that’s how we can

describe

this okay some people are saying

asking about phone it in again a little

more information

about this idiom to phone something in

we use this expression to describe

when someone is not giving effort

or they’re not enthusiastic they’re not

trying very hard

so to give another example is like

someone gives a really lazy presentation

you can say wow he phoned it in like he

didn’t try

very hard he’s phoning it in lately

so someone who’s not trying hard is

someone who is

phoning it in uh

someone liking on facebook says can we

say login or log

into both both so login oh this is

tricky

i need to write this one uh so log

in how can i i don’t have any room to

talk about this

uh basically the short answer is you can

use both please

uh luis says can i use choppy in a call

yeah you can say choppy if you want to

use it in a

phone call we usually say you’re

breaking

up you’re breaking up so i can’t hear

you

very well okay kahina says echo means

repetition

yes so echo means repetition in the

sound

so you hear the same sound same sound

same sound so that’s echo yeah

echo aj says can we say it’s little hang

over here

no no so like i’m not sure what that

means

actually maybe if there’s a delay

there’s a delay

uh how do you say when there’s something

in maybe i don’t know

something in the background you can say

there’s something in the background

i’m not sure okay

i don’t see other questions about

today’s topic um oh aditi says what does

it mean when a student asks a teacher

let him or her in in an app ah

some of you maybe are using zoom or some