How to Ask People to Wait: Top 10 Expressions for Asking to Wait in English 1

How to Ask People to Wait: Top 10 Expressions for Asking to Wait in English

How to ask people to wait in English? Sometimes when you are very busy and somebody asks you to do something, you need to ask them to wait.

How to Ask People to Wait

1. Hang on a moment / a mo.

2. Give us a second.

3. Half a moment / a mo.

These phrases are quite informal but polite in tone. You are busy and expect to be able to help them quite soon.

4. I’ll be right with you.

This is especially useful in customer service situations where you want to ask a customer to wait for a few minutes.

5. Sorry, I’m a bit tied up right now.

This is really saying how busy you are but at the same time, you are asking people to wait. It is quite polite.

6. Wait and see.

This one is refusing to tell somebody something about the near future. We often use it when we are preparing a surprise for somebody.

7. You’ll just have to be patient.

8. Give me a chance.

These phrases are less polite and are suggesting that you think the other person is being too impatient.

9. Don’t be so impatient.

This is more impolite and you are actually directly criticizing the other person for being impatient.

10. We wish to apologize for the delay to …

This phrase is a formal announcement that you might hear on a train or plane. It is followed by a noun phrase.

Other Common Phrases in Daily Conversations