But we feel like we have to do it.

So, today, we're going to really focus on some questions you can ask people when you're in a small talk conversation.

And these are all related to the topic of work.

One of the easiest things to talk about is your job, your work, your career, your studies.

Along with travel, I think those are the most common small talk conversations.

So, today, I just have some really simple questions that you can ask people in a small talk conversation to, hopefully, make it a little bit easier for you.

And then we get talking. Let's say we're talking with this person; we've build up a bit of a rapport.

Now what we want to do is keep them talking.

Maybe they've mentioned their career; maybe you want to ask them what they do.

Easy question: What do you do?

Let's say this person is a lady, and she says she's a doctor.

After she said that she's a doctor, she may then ask you, "What about you?"

This phrase is extremely useful, and you can use it yourself in small talk.

Essentially, what this question does is, it turns the question back on the person who asked you that question.

So, they're asking you now, "What do you do?"

Well, then you answer the question.

Maybe, then, you want to ask more questions.

So, why not this one?

How long have you been doing that for?

So, this is a way to open up the conversation.

How long have they been doing it for?

It shows that you're interested in what they're talking about.

Something I always recommend during small talk is to react to everything they say.

So, for example, if they say, "Oh, I've been doing it for about 10 years,"

respond with a "Oh, wow!" "Really?" "Nice!"

Little words like this just show a reaction.

And then maybe you can follow up with another question.

For example, "How did you get into that?"

How did you get into that?

This essentially means, "How did you start that job? What made you want to do that job?"

Now, if they're a talkative person, this is definitely a way to get someone to talk for quite a long time.

Do you think you'll stick with it forever?

Do you think you'll stick with it forever?

To stick with something means to stay with.

Stick, like when we have glue and we stick things together.

Stick with it⏤well, that simply means, "Do you think you'll stay in this job forever?"

Really, it's a yes/no question, but in small talk, they might explain why.

Now, a lot of the time with "Do you...?" questions, we use the weak forms of "do" and "you".

The reason why is because "do" and "you" are what we would call "function words"⏤they're not really very important in this sentence.

So, we've replaced the vowels with the schwa (ə) sound.

Do you think; do you think?

Do you think?

This makes you sound a little bit more like a native.

You'll also notice I'm dropping the "t" on "it": with it forever.

That's just a common native thing to do.

You could say, "Do you think you'll stick with it forever?"

It's entirely up to you what you want to do there.

It's just my native way of pronouncing it⏤I like to drop t's at the end of words sometimes.

Oh, OK. Have you always worked there?

Have you always worked there?

And that simply is a way of asking someone if they've done any other jobs in the past, maybe what their first job was.

Let's talk about the /kt/ sound; what's that?

That's what we call a "constant cluster", the k and the t combination at the end of "worked", OK?

I hear lots of different variations of this from my students taking my pronunciation course.

And, uh, I actually did just add a new video to my pronunciation course,

all about these constant clusters with [pronunciation] and, you know, things like [pronunciation], and things like that, right?

All of these sounds that happen at the end that are really difficult.

Now, this one is a very common one: worked.

We need to create pressure to create that /k/ sound, and then we need to very quickly release that sound to spit that /t/, OK?

So, /kt/.

Now, when we create the /k/ sound, our tongue is up high, it's kind of bent, and the back is touching the top.

So, what we quickly need to do is, as soon as we create that /k/ sound, the tongue needs to flick the front to the roof of your mouth, and we create the /t/.

/kt/, worked, worked.

Their response might just be, "No"⏤now, hopefully, they'll say, "No, I actually did this job before."

But if they don't do that, then say, "Ah, right. Well, what else did you do before this job?" OK?

So, always be ready to ask more questions.

If they say no, why did they say no?

If they said yes, why did they say yes?

And, also, is there anything you can agree with or relate to that they're saying?

Maybe you've had a similar situation to what they're talking about.

Well, tell them; they want to know.

So, don't be afraid to talk about things which are similar in your life to what they're saying.

Anyway, that's it for today's video.

And, like I said, I do have a pronunciation course, which has over 100 people.

It's doing really well; I've had some great feedback.

So, if you want to join the course and also have the bonus of talking to me on WhatsApp with voice recordings, then I hope to see you soon.

You can go to etjenglish.com and start learning perfect British pronunciation right now.

You might have noticed that this video is available on a Friday.

That's right, I have now changed my days.

I release YouTube videos every Friday now, just because I like Fridays⏤is that OK?

Anyway, thanks again; I will see you next week.

And cheers, guys; bye.