Beginner English Phrases For Conversation Part 9

Hi everyone and welcome to part nine of this beginner English phrases for conversation series.

Today’s phrase is ‘How do you spell that?’ This phrase can be used to ask someone how to write a certain word. This question is asking about the letters that you need to write the word. It’s not asking about the meaning or the pronunciation.

Let’s pretend you hear the word ‘connected’ and you don’t know how to spell the word. You can say ‘How do you spell that?’ How do you spell that?

Some different ways to say ‘How do you spell that’ are ‘Could you spell that for me, please?’ Would you mind spelling that for me? Spell that for me, please.

So if someone asks you ‘How do you spell that’, how do you answer this question correctly? You can say ‘It’s spelled …’ and then you give the spelling or you can just say the letters that you need to spell that word.

For example, if someone says to you ‘How do you spell “connected”‘, You can just say ‘C O double N E C T E D.’ When we have two of the same letters together, it’s better to say ‘double’. Double means two. For example, double O. Double T. Double C.

Now let’s talk about a common mistake with this phrase. Many students like to say ‘How do you spelling that’ but this is incorrect. After ‘how do you’, we normally need a verb 1. For example, ‘How do you eat that?’ How do you make that? How do you write that? So to correct this, you need to say ‘How do you spell that?’ Not ‘spelling’.