Say What Happened: English Phrases + Dialogue

How do you talk about something that happened to you in English?

It can be difficult to talk about events and experiences in the past in a natural way.

These tips and examples will help you tell and understand stories in English using natural phrases and patterns.

What happened? English dialogue

Here is a natural English dialogue showing how native speakers often talk about things that have happened:

Polly tells Mel that she saw her neighbour recently. The neighbour was picking up rubbish in the street. Polly asked the neighbour what he was doing. The neighbour said he was just trying to make the street look nicer. Polly thinks the neighbour’s behaviour was strange, but Mel disagrees.

Listen: Find out what happened!

This dialogue is a short example of how people say what happened in casual English conversations.

1. Listen to the audio first a few times without the transcript to see how much you can understand. What is Polly’s story about? What happened? What phrases can you hear?
2. Read the breakdown of the conversation below
3. Listen again to the audio while reading the story transcript at the same time.

Story dialogue: stages

Let’s break down how Polly tells this story, and how Mel responds.

We’ll also look at the key language features in each part of the conversation.

Guess what?

Native speakers often start informal stories with phrases like “Guess what?” to make the other person listen carefully:

• Polly: Guess what! = I have something interesting to tell you!
• Mel: What? = Tell me what it is!

You may also hear these common phrases when people start telling stories:

• “You know what?” = I have something interesting to tell you.
• “You’ll never guess..” = I have some surprising news for you.

Remember: When someone says “Guess what!“, or “You know what?” the other person usually says, “What?” to ask for more details.

You know..

We often use phrases like “You know” to check the other person understands the background. This could be people or places we think they already know.

• Polly: Well, you know that guy who lives next door to us? = Do you know which person I am talking about? Please confirm.
• Mel: Yeah…

Use different past tenses

To say what was happening first, we can use past continuous forms, like “I was walking..”

• So, I was walking home the other day, yeah? = I was walking home recently.

But to say what happened next, we often use past simple tense forms (e.g. “I saw him”).

• And I saw him ,,,

Use filler phrases

Speakers often use phrases and fillers like “yeah”, “like” or “you know” to fill gaps in the conversation:

• So, I was walking home the other day, yeah?
• And I saw him, like, you know, picking up rubbish..
• You know, like bits of paper and crisp packets and stuff.

Asking for details

If parts of your story are not clear, the other person may ask for more details with phrases like:

• How do you mean? = Please explain. I don’t understand.
• So, did you say anything to him, then? = Did you talk to him?
• How come? = Please explain. I don’t understand.
• How so? = I need more details

Use soft phrases

To “soften” harsh comments about people or things, we often use phrases like “a bit”. These sound more polite and less harsh!

• Yeah, but it’s still a bit weird, though, don’t you reckon? = .. but it seems a little strange, no?
• Aren’t you being a bit hard on him? = I think you are being too harsh / unkind.

Say what he / she said

Many stories are about “who said what”. To explain what someone said in a relaxed way, native speakers often say “he/she was like” instead of “he/she said.“

• ..he was like, “Oh, I’m just..” = He said, “I’m just ..”
• ..and I was like, = and I asked him, “What are you doing?”

“I was like” can also mean “I thought..”

• I was like, “Oh my God!” (= I thought, “I don’t believe it!”)

Discuss what happened

To discuss what happened, speakers might use phrases like “don’t you reckon?” to check if the other person agrees.

In this example, Mel says “Well, at least..” because she thinks Polly is being too harsh. We often use this expression to make bad news sound better.

• Mel: Hmm. Well, at least he wasn’t doing anything illegal. = He wasn’t doing anything wrong. I can’t see a problem.
• Mel: How so? Maybe he was just being a good neighbour! = Why? Maybe he was just trying to be helpful!

Tell me what happened! Dialogue transcript:

Read the transcript with the audio after you’ve listened a few times already.

Extra vocabulary from this story

• Rubbish – Trash or garbage.
  Example: “He was picking up rubbish off the street.”
• Tidier – Cleaner or more organized.
  Example: “He wanted to make the street look a bit tidier.”
• At least – Something good, even if the situation isn’t great.
  Example: “At least he wasn’t doing anything illegal.”
• to be hard on someone – Being strict or judging someone too much.
  Example: “Aren’t you being a bit hard on him?”

Other patterns for talking about what happened

Here are some other patterns and phrases native speakers use to tell stories – and respond to other people’s stories. Learning to recognise these features can help you understand and react to stories more naturally:

Tag questions

Question tags are short words or phrases like “..is it?” or “..doesn’t it?” that we add to the end of statements to make tag questions. Native speakers often make tag questions to show they agree with the speaker:

• A: “..and then he told me to go home!”
• B: “Well, that’s not very nice, is it?” (= I agree that that was a very rude thing to say)

We also use short question tags to check the other person has understood or heard each part of the story:

In the first example from the story, “..yeah?” is the question tag:

• So, I was walking home the other day, yeah? (= did you understand that part?)

“So .. then?” question patterns

“So .. then?” questions are just regular questions with a filler word at the beginning and the end. We often use “So .. then?” questions when we want more details about what happened in someone else’s story.

• So, did you say anything to him, then?

Using present tenses to talk about the past

Using present tenses to tell stories is another common feature of natural storytelling in English. We naturally use past tenses to talk about past events, but present tenses can sometimes make stories sound more interesting:

• So, I walk into the bar, yeah? I go up to him, right, and I go “What’s your problem?” Then, right, he turns around and looks at me, and it‘s a totally different guy!”