Useful Vocabulary and Phrasal Verbs for English Telephone Conversations

Learn Common Telephone Phrasal Verbs in English with meaning and examples.

• Break – up

Meaning: Become inaudible over the phone, usually because of a bad connection

E.g: “Sorry, could you repeat that, please? You’re breaking up”.

• Call for someone

Meaning: To telephone for someone or something

E.g: I’ll call for you at 7 o’clock.

• Call back

Meaning: To telephone someone again or to return a call

E.g: She said she’d call back.

• Call up

Meaning: Call someone on the phone

E.g: My dad called me up to tell me the bad news.

• Cut off

Meaning: When a telephone call finishes because of a bad connection
E.g: We were cut off in the middle of our conversation.

• Get through

Meaning: To be connected to a place by telephone

E.g: I finally got through to Tom on his mobile.

• Hang on

Meaning: Wait for a short time (informal)

E.g: Hang on – I’ll just see if he’s here.

• Hang up

Meaning: End a telephone call by putting the phone down

E.g: After I hung up I remembered what I’d wanted to say.

• Hold on

Meaning: Wait for a short time

E.g: Could you hold on a moment, please?

• Pick up

Meaning: Answer the telephone call

E.g: The phone rang and rang and nobody picked up.

• Put through

Meaning: Connect by phone

E.g: Could you put me through to the manager, please?

• Speak up

Meaning: Speak louder

E.g: Can you speak up a bit? It’s very noisy here.

English Phrases for Telephone Conversations

• I’ll call you later.
• Leave a message.
• Hi Simon, it’s Anna.
• Did you get my message?
• Can I speak to Rob, please?
• Hi, Jenny. Where are you?
• Thanks for getting back to me.
• Leave a message after the beep.
• What’s your number?
• I’m returning your call.