Slack and Teams English at B1: Short, Polite Messages for Work Chat
Work chat sits between an email and a text to a friend. It is short and quick, but it is still read by your manager and by colleagues you barely know. This article gives you simple, polite phrases for messages in Slack, Microsoft Teams and similar tools, and explains the abbreviations that appear in every workplace.
The friends' group chat has its own rules, and work chat has different ones. At work, people write in short sentences, but they still say please, thank you and a small greeting. A message that is only "Send the report" looks rude in most offices, even though it is quick. The opposite mistake is also common: a long message with five paragraphs is heavy for a chat tool, and people may not read it.
The middle path is one to three short sentences: what you need, why, and by when. If the topic is long or formal, an email is the better place, and English for work emails covers that. For chat, the phrases below are enough to sound polite and clear from your first week.
Making a short, polite request
A good chat request has a greeting, a question form, and a reason or a time. The question form (could you, can you, would you mind) is what makes it polite. Adding "please" and "thanks" is normal, not weak.
| Too blunt | Better | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Send me the file. | Hi Tom, could you send me the file, please? | Safe for every colleague |
| I need the numbers. | Hi Anna, could I have the sales numbers by Friday? Thanks! | Includes a time |
| Check this. | Could you take a quick look at this when you have a moment? | Softer, not urgent |
| Call me. | Do you have five minutes for a quick call? | Asks, does not order |
| Where is the report? | Hi, just checking where we are with the report? | Friendly reminder |
| Help me with this. | I am stuck on this part. Could you help me, please? | Says what the problem is |
Following up without sounding pushy
Sometimes nobody answers. Do not write "Why no answer?" A follow-up should be polite, short and easy to answer. Wait a reasonable time, usually a day or two for a normal question, then write again and make the reply easy. Adding a small reason ("I need it for the meeting on Thursday") helps the other person see why it matters.
- "Hi Sam, just a quick reminder about the file from Monday. No rush, but I need it by Thursday."
- "Hi Sam, any update on this?"
- "Just following up on my message above. Could you let me know when you have a chance?"
- "Gentle nudge on this one, thank you!"
- "No worries if you are busy. Could you tell me who else might know?"
Acknowledging a message
In chat, people expect a small answer, even if you cannot do the task yet. Silence looks like you did not see the message. A short acknowledgement tells the sender that you saw it, and often a thumbs-up emoji is enough. Words are useful when you also want to give a time.
| Reply | Meaning | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Noted. | I have read this and understood | Neutral, a little formal |
| Got it, thanks! | I understand | Friendly and common |
| On it. | I am working on it now | Quick and confident |
| Will do. | I will do what you asked | Friendly |
| Sounds good. | I agree with the plan | Warm |
| Thanks for the heads-up. | Thank you for telling me in advance | Friendly |
| I will look into it and get back to you. | I need to check first | Useful when you are not sure |
| Could you clarify what you mean by X? | I did not understand | Safe way to ask |
The abbreviations you will see every day
Work abbreviations save time, and everyone uses them, so nobody will be surprised when you ask what one means. Learn to read them first. Use them yourself when your team does. The five below are the most common. Notice that some of them, like ASAP, can sound impatient if you use them with a manager, so many people write "as soon as you can" or give a real time instead.
| Abbreviation | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| EOD | end of day | Could you send it by EOD? |
| FYI | for your information | FYI, the meeting moved to 3 pm. |
| ASAP | as soon as possible | Can you check this ASAP? The client is waiting. |
| OOO | out of office | I am OOO until Monday. |
| WFH | working from home | WFH tomorrow, but online all day. |
| ETA | estimated time of arrival, or when something will be ready | What is the ETA for the report? |
| TBC | to be confirmed | Room 4, time TBC. |
| LGTM | looks good to me | LGTM, please go ahead. |
| BRB | be right back | BRB, five minutes. |
| AFK | away from keyboard | AFK for lunch. |
Status and away messages
A status message tells people when to expect an answer, and that saves you many questions. Keep it short and put the important thing first: when you are back, and who to ask instead. Set a real end date, so the message does not stay wrong for a week.
- "OOO until Monday 6 May. For urgent things, please contact Lena."
- "In a meeting until 2 pm, I will reply after."
- "WFH today. I am online 9 to 5."
- "On holiday until the 20th, with no access to email."
- "Focusing on a deadline, I may be slow to reply."
- "At lunch, back at 1."
A few small tone rules
Some habits protect you from small misunderstandings. Use a name in the first line when you write to one person. Put your question at the top, not at the end of a paragraph. Use one exclamation mark to sound friendly, but not five. In a channel that many people read, a short thread reply is better than a new message, because it keeps the conversation together.
Tone is easy to misread in writing, so read your message once before you send it. If it is a sensitive message, for example a disagreement, choose a call instead. The first month at work in English has more basic phrases for your early weeks.
To keep the phrases you like, save them as cards in MindDory and review them in the app. If you are unsure about a sentence, the grammar check or the grammar keyboard can check it before you send it.