When learning a foreign language, it is important to use that language as much as possible. This may be challenging, especially when you’re just beginning to learn. However, it is possible.

This article will provide you with questions that you can use with your teacher when learning new words. These phrases will help you to inquire about the meaning of new vocabulary and ask when and how they should be used. Some may be questions that you never thought to ask, even though they can help increase your understanding of new vocabulary. By using them regularly in class, you can learn to speak English as efficiently as possible!

Excuse me?

This can be used when your teacher says a word that you do not know or do not understand. You can also say things like Sorry? or What? followed by Can you repeat that? For example: Excuse me? Can you repeat that?

How do you spell that?

When you learn a new word, but are unsure of the spelling, you can ask this question. Another way to ask this could be Could you write it down for me?

How do you say this word?

You can use this question when you come across a new word, but are not sure how it should be pronounced. Perhaps you saw it in a book and understand its meaning, but don’t know how to say it. English spelling and pronunciation can be tricky! A more advanced way to ask this question is to say How do you pronounce that?

How do you say ____?

If there is a word that you know in your native language, but do not know in English, this is the question to ask. You can also try describing the word to your teacher first to see if they understand, and if that doesn’t work, you can simply ask How do you say ___ in English?

What does ____ mean?

When you don’t know the meaning of a word, this is a great question to ask. You can use this phrase when you come across a new word that you don’t understand and you would like an explanation in English.

Could you use that word in a sentence?

This is the phrase to use when you mostly understand the meaning of a word, but you want to make sure you understand it correctly. You can also ask this if you simply want to see how it would be used by a native speaker. A more advanced way of asking this is Can you give me an example using this word?

When is this word used?

You can ask this when you want to get a better idea of the typical context in which a word is used. Perhaps it is used differently than in your native language, or perhaps you just want to know if it is a word that you should remember. If that’s the case, you can also ask Do you use this word a lot?

Is it rude to say this?

This is a good question to ask if you think a particular word might offend someone! Another way of asking this would be to say Does it have a good or bad connotation? Connotation is the feeling that you get when a word is used, and it can be good or bad.

Are there any words with the same meaning?

If you want to learn more than one new word at a time, you can ask this question to see if there are any words that mean the same thing. A more advanced way of asking would be Are there any synonyms for this word? A synonym is a second word with the same meaning. For example, near and close are synonyms.

What is the opposite of ____?

When you would like to understand a word better by knowing its opposite, this is what you should ask. Another way to ask this is by saying Does this word have any antonyms? Antonyms are words that are opposites, such as hot and cold.

An important building block of language learning is vocabulary, and this list of phrases will help you to improve yours. They are all phrases that will make it much easier to communicate with your teacher entirely in English when you come across a new word that you don’t know. They will speed up and simplify the learning process.

After reading through these phrases, you should have a good idea which ones will be useful for you. Thus, you can now get ready to start using them in your next class!

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