arrow_back BlogGuide40 conversation starters to talk to anyone online
Updated October 6, 2026 · 5 min read
The first message is the hardest. A good conversation starter is open (it cannot be answered with yes or no), easy to answer, and gives the other person a way to ask you the same. Here are forty, sorted by mood.
To get started gently
- What are you doing right now, besides chatting?
- What is the best thing that happened to you this week?
- Which song have you listened to too many times lately?
- Coffee, tea or something else, and when do you drink it?
- What time of day are you at your best?
- What is the weather like where you are?
- Which language would you like to speak fluently?
- What did you have for lunch, and was it good?
- Are you more of a morning person or a night owl?
- What is your favourite season, and why?
To laugh
- Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or ten duck-sized horses?
- What is the strangest food you really like?
- If your life had a soundtrack, what would the first song be?
- What superpower would be useless but funny?
- What would you do with a free day and no limits?
- What is your most embarrassing autocorrect?
- Which animal would be the worst roommate?
- What invention would you remove from the world?
- What would the title of your autobiography be?
- What is the silliest thing you were afraid of as a child?
To discover each other
- What is a small thing that always makes your day better?
- Which place would you like to visit before anything else?
- What is a skill you would like to learn this year?
- What is the best advice you have been given?
- What job did you want to do as a child?
- Which film or series can you watch again and again?
- What is your favourite way to spend a rainy Sunday?
- Who is a person who inspires you, and why?
- What is a tradition from your country that you love?
- What is a word in your language that is hard to translate?
To go a little deeper
- What is something you changed your mind about?
- What would you do if you were not afraid of failing?
- What do you wish you had known five years ago?
- What makes you feel at home?
- What small habit has made your life better?
- When did you last laugh until it hurt?
- What is a memory you would love to relive?
- What do you value most in a friend?
- What are you proud of that nobody knows about?
- What would make this year a good one for you?
How to use them
Answer your own question first. It gives the other person something to react to, and it shows you are not running an interview. Then follow up on a detail you found interesting rather than jumping to the next question. And if a topic does not work, move on lightly.
Questions
What if the other person does not answer?
Do not insist. In a room of 5, someone else will pick up the thread, or you can move to another room.
Which starter works best?
Light and playful ones. Save the deeper questions for when the conversation is already warm.
