Uploaded October 2015 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Learn all the English you need to leave natural, effective voice mail messages on the phone. I'll give you all the grammar, vocabulary, and expressions you need. I'll also teach you my six-step process for leaving effective messages. If you follow my method, your messages will be clear, polite, and will sound natural. So don't be nervous anymore -- watch, learn, and start speaking more confidently immediately! If you need more help, you can watch my other lesson on English for the phone at youtube.com/watch?v=6qSXlTPr2HA
Take the quiz on this lesson at: engvid.com/phone-english-leaving-voicemail
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, everybody. My name is Benjamin, and I'm here to help you become more confident with your spoken, written, and listening English. Okay? Today we're going to be doing a lesson to increase your confidence on the telephone, because it's incredibly important when you start entering a new country and you want to speak English to get a job, you need to be able to speak on the phone to be able to get that job or do what you are doing.
So, today, we're going to talk about how you leave a message with a person, times when you want to leave... When you want to be phoned back, and how to leave a message on an answering machine. Okay? So we're doing on a person, on an answering machine, and when you want to be phoned back. Okay? Great.
So, when we are speaking to someone on the phone and we do not get the person we want to speak to... I want to speak to Mark, but his friend, Dan, is there. So, I say to Dan: "Can you ask him"-as in Mark-"to call me back?" I want Mark to call me back; to telephone me back. Okay? "Can you ask him", so I have my verb, and then I have my indirect object here: "to call me back". Okay? That's one way of doing it.
Second way, if I don't need Mark to call me back, but I want Mark to know that I have phoned him, I could just say: "Can you just tell him/her", in this case: "Can you just tell Mark that I called?" or "I called"? Okay? "That" is optional. Okay? "Can you just tell Mark that I called?"
Or, if I want to know if Mark is still meeting me at the pub tonight, at the bar, I could say: "Can you just ask him if we're still on for meeting at the pub later tonight?" Okay? "Can you just ask him if we're still on for"? "Still on for" being an arrangement to see if that arrangement is still correct. Okay? "Can you just ask him if we're still on for"? If we are continuing with that plan.
Or, again, this is a way of saying that I called, I can say: "Can you say that Benjamin called?" Okay? Good.
Now, with this one of phoning back, it might be that there's a specific time that I want Mark to phone me. So, if I want Mark to phone me on Wednesday, I will say to his friend, Dan: "Dan, can you ask him to call me back on", I've got a set day, so I'm going to say: "Wednesday". Okay? Or, I could use a date, so I could say: "On the 21st of November". Okay? So I want him to ring me on that day; it's one particular day.
Now, "by" is a deadline. I need Mark to call me by, no later than... He must call me by; not after, he needs to call me before. "By", he needs to call me by 3pm today. He needs to call me no later than Thursday. He needs to call me by the 18th. He needs to call me by December. Okay? So, "by" is a deadline; the latest time he can call me.
"In", "in" is a... He needs to call me in this time, here. In the morning. Okay? It's in this time. If it's the month, then maybe he needs to call me in November. Okay? It's a time that he needs to call me in. Okay? "In": "in November", "in the morning", "in the evening". Maybe I work in the day, so he needs to call me in the part of the day of the evening. Good.
And last one, if I'm a very, very busy person... Okay? I need him to call me at 8pm. 8pm is the only time I will listen to Mark calling me. Okay? So: "Dan, please tell Mark to call me at 8pm." or "8 in the evening". Okay? Then I have left my message, and I just go and wait for my call. So, I'll go and see if Mark has phoned me.
Mark didn't call me back, so I'm going to have to ring him, and see if he picks up. Ah, it's gone straight to his voicemail, so now I need to leave him a message on his phone. Okay? So this is kind of a standardized form for how to leave a message on your phone. You don't need to do all of these if you're calling a friend. So if I'm calling Mark, maybe I just say: "Hi there, Mark. It's Benjamin. Sorry to miss you", because I missed him; I didn't connect with him, I didn't call him: "Sorry to miss you. I hope to still see you tomorrow night." Okay? So he already knows me; I don't need to tell him how he knows me. And he knows my number because he's my friend, and I'm just telling to... Calling him about an arrangement.
Learn all the English you need to leave natural, effective voice mail messages on the phone. I'll give you all the grammar, vocabulary, and expressions you need. I'll also teach you my six-step process for leaving effective messages. If you follow my method, your messages will be clear, polite, and will sound natural. So don't be nervous anymore -- watch, learn, and start speaking more confidently immediately! If you need more help, you can watch my other lesson on English for the phone at youtube.com/watch?v=6qSXlTPr2HA
Take the quiz on this lesson at: engvid.com/phone-english-leaving-voicemail
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, everybody. My name is Benjamin, and I'm here to help you become more confident with your spoken, written, and listening English. Okay? Today we're going to be doing a lesson to increase your confidence on the telephone, because it's incredibly important when you start entering a new country and you want to speak English to get a job, you need to be able to speak on the phone to be able to get that job or do what you are doing.
So, today, we're going to talk about how you leave a message with a person, times when you want to leave... When you want to be phoned back, and how to leave a message on an answering machine. Okay? So we're doing on a person, on an answering machine, and when you want to be phoned back. Okay? Great.
So, when we are speaking to someone on the phone and we do not get the person we want to speak to... I want to speak to Mark, but his friend, Dan, is there. So, I say to Dan: "Can you ask him"-as in Mark-"to call me back?" I want Mark to call me back; to telephone me back. Okay? "Can you ask him", so I have my verb, and then I have my indirect object here: "to call me back". Okay? That's one way of doing it.
Second way, if I don't need Mark to call me back, but I want Mark to know that I have phoned him, I could just say: "Can you just tell him/her", in this case: "Can you just tell Mark that I called?" or "I called"? Okay? "That" is optional. Okay? "Can you just tell Mark that I called?"
Or, if I want to know if Mark is still meeting me at the pub tonight, at the bar, I could say: "Can you just ask him if we're still on for meeting at the pub later tonight?" Okay? "Can you just ask him if we're still on for"? "Still on for" being an arrangement to see if that arrangement is still correct. Okay? "Can you just ask him if we're still on for"? If we are continuing with that plan.
Or, again, this is a way of saying that I called, I can say: "Can you say that Benjamin called?" Okay? Good.
Now, with this one of phoning back, it might be that there's a specific time that I want Mark to phone me. So, if I want Mark to phone me on Wednesday, I will say to his friend, Dan: "Dan, can you ask him to call me back on", I've got a set day, so I'm going to say: "Wednesday". Okay? Or, I could use a date, so I could say: "On the 21st of November". Okay? So I want him to ring me on that day; it's one particular day.
Now, "by" is a deadline. I need Mark to call me by, no later than... He must call me by; not after, he needs to call me before. "By", he needs to call me by 3pm today. He needs to call me no later than Thursday. He needs to call me by the 18th. He needs to call me by December. Okay? So, "by" is a deadline; the latest time he can call me.
"In", "in" is a... He needs to call me in this time, here. In the morning. Okay? It's in this time. If it's the month, then maybe he needs to call me in November. Okay? It's a time that he needs to call me in. Okay? "In": "in November", "in the morning", "in the evening". Maybe I work in the day, so he needs to call me in the part of the day of the evening. Good.
And last one, if I'm a very, very busy person... Okay? I need him to call me at 8pm. 8pm is the only time I will listen to Mark calling me. Okay? So: "Dan, please tell Mark to call me at 8pm." or "8 in the evening". Okay? Then I have left my message, and I just go and wait for my call. So, I'll go and see if Mark has phoned me.
Mark didn't call me back, so I'm going to have to ring him, and see if he picks up. Ah, it's gone straight to his voicemail, so now I need to leave him a message on his phone. Okay? So this is kind of a standardized form for how to leave a message on your phone. You don't need to do all of these if you're calling a friend. So if I'm calling Mark, maybe I just say: "Hi there, Mark. It's Benjamin. Sorry to miss you", because I missed him; I didn't connect with him, I didn't call him: "Sorry to miss you. I hope to still see you tomorrow night." Okay? So he already knows me; I don't need to tell him how he knows me. And he knows my number because he's my friend, and I'm just telling to... Calling him about an arrangement.
