100 essential business English phrases

Why these phrases work

Office English is a narrow dialect. In meetings, emails, and client calls, the same 60 to 70 phrases cover roughly 80% of what you will ever need to say. Memorize them, and you sound instantly professional — without waiting to reach C1 across the board.

Each section below gives you the exact phrasing a native speaker would use. Drop them into your next email or meeting unchanged and you will feel the shift in how colleagues respond.

Meetings (10 phrases)

• Thanks everyone for joining — let's get started.
• Can we circle back to that point in a minute?
• Just to make sure I understood — you're saying that...
• I'd like to build on what Sara just mentioned.
• Could you walk us through the numbers?
• Let's park that and come back to it at the end.
• I hear you, but I'd push back on that a little.
• Are we aligned on the next steps?
• Let's take that offline — it's too detailed for this room.
• To wrap up, the action items are...

Emails — opening and requesting (10 phrases)

• I hope this email finds you well.
• Just a quick note to follow up on...
• Thanks for your email — I'll get back to you by Friday.
• Would you mind sending over the latest deck?
• Could you confirm whether you're available on Tuesday at 3pm?
• I wanted to loop you in on this thread.
• Apologies for the delayed reply — things have been hectic.
• Could you share your thoughts on the attached proposal?
• I'm writing to follow up on our call last week.
• Please let me know if you need anything else from my side.

Emails — closing and next steps (10 phrases)

• Let me know if this works for you.
• Happy to jump on a quick call to discuss.
• I'll keep you posted as things progress.
• Let's plan to reconvene next week.
• Feel free to reach out with any questions.
• Looking forward to your thoughts.
• Best regards, / Kind regards, / Many thanks,
• I'll circle back once I have more information.
• Thanks in advance for your help on this.
• Speak soon.

Client calls (15 phrases)

• Thanks for making the time today.
• Can you hear me clearly?
• Sorry — I think you're on mute.
• Before we dive in, could you walk me through the context?
• That's a great question — let me think for a second.
• I want to make sure we're on the same page.
• Could you clarify what you mean by "soon"?
• Let me share my screen for a moment.
• Does that answer your question, or would you like me to go deeper?
• I'll send you a summary of what we discussed by end of day.
• What's the best way to move this forward?
• I appreciate you raising that concern.
• Would it help if I put you in touch with our technical lead?
• Let's agree on a deadline that works for both sides.
• Thanks for your time — talk soon.

Presentations (10 phrases)

• Good morning, and thanks for having me.
• Today I'm going to walk you through three key points.
• Let me give you some context before we dive in.
• As you can see on this slide...
• To put that number in perspective...
• This brings us to our second point.
• I know we're short on time, so let me fast-forward.
• I'm happy to take any questions you have.
• That's a fair point — let me address it.
• To summarize the three takeaways...

Negotiations (10 phrases)

• Thanks for sharing your proposal. I have a few thoughts.
• I understand where you're coming from, but...
• Is there any flexibility on the price?
• What would it take for us to reach 50,000 euros?
• Let me float an idea — what if we structured it differently?
• I'd need to run this by my team before committing.
• Can we find some middle ground here?
• That number is a bit of a stretch for us.
• I think we're close — what's the remaining gap?
• We have a deal.

Practice three or four of these out loud before your next meeting. You will be surprised how quickly they become part of your natural vocabulary.