Asking for & offering favors
Make and respond to requests with the right level of politeness.
1Learn the essentials
Asking for favors is all about register: the bigger the ask, the more polite and indirect you go.
- Small favor: “Can you…?” Bigger one: “Would you mind …ing?”
- Give a reason — people say yes more often: “Could you cover for me? I have an appointment.”
- Offering help sounds friendly: “Do you want a hand with that?”
2Warm up & speak
Phrase 1 / 6
Could you do me a huge favour?
¿Me harías un favor enorme?
💡 Avisar antes de pedir da margen al otro para decir que no.
3Lock it in
¿Me harías un favor enorme?
Say it in English, then check yourself.
4Practise speaking
A small ask of a neighbour
A parcel arrives Thursday while you are at work. Your neighbour is in, and you have never asked them for anything.
You did it if
The whole request took under thirty seconds, and your offer back was something you can actually do.
Nothing here is listening or marking you — this is your own rehearsal, and you tick a move when you have said it out loud. For live correction, take the same situation to Rumi, your AI Tutor, in the role-play step below.
5Role-play the conversation
Rehearse the full conversation with Rumi, your AI Tutor — live, in-character role-play with gentle grammar & word-choice corrections as you go.