150 conversation starters: good, deep, funny, for friends and over text

A conversation starter has one job: to make it easy for the other person to answer. That is why “hi” fails and “what is the best thing you have eaten this week?” works. Here are 150 conversation starters sorted by situation: good all-rounders, deep ones for when the chat is going well, funny ones, starters for friends, and short ones that work over text. None of them ask for personal details, so every one is safe with a stranger.

If you want more once the conversation is moving, there are lists of things to talk about and icebreaker questions, and a guide to keeping a conversation going.

What makes a good conversation starter

• It is a real question, not a greeting. Give them something to answer.
• It is easy. The first question should take five seconds to answer, not five minutes.
• It is open. “What” and “how” questions beat “do you” questions, which end in yes or no.
• It comes with your own answer. “Coffee or tea? I am a tea person, unfortunately.” Now it is a conversation, not a quiz.
• It fits the moment. The best starter is usually about something you both can see: the conversation starter on screen, the shared interest you both chose, the time of day.

Good conversation starters for anyone

1. What is the best thing that has happened to you this week?
2. What are you into at the moment?
3. What have you been watching lately, and is it worth it?
4. Coffee or tea? Or something else entirely?
5. What is something small that made you smile today?
6. What is a song you have had on repeat?
7. Are you a planner or a wing-it person?
8. What is your go-to comfort food?
9. What is something you could talk about for an hour?
10. What is the last thing you learned by accident?
11. What is a hobby you picked up recently, or want to?
12. Morning person or night owl?
13. What is your ideal weekend?
14. What is a place you would go back to tomorrow?
15. What is the best advice anyone has given you?
16. What is your unpopular opinion about food?
17. What is a game you have sunk far too many hours into?
18. What did you want to be when you were ten?
19. What is a skill you would love to learn?
20. Beach, mountains, forest or city?
21. What is your favourite way to waste time?
22. What is one thing you are looking forward to?
23. What is a film you could rewatch any time?
24. What is the strangest fact you know?
25. What are you good at that nobody would guess?

Deep conversation starters

For a conversation that is already going well. Ask one, answer it yourself, and give the reply room.

1. What is something you have changed your mind about?
2. What does a good life look like to you?
3. What are you proud of that you rarely mention?
4. What is a belief you hold that most people around you do not?
5. When do you feel most like yourself?
6. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
7. What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you?
8. What do you think you are wrong about right now?
9. What has been the biggest turning point in your life so far?
10. What do you want more of from the people around you?
11. What do you wish more people understood about you?
12. What makes you feel understood?
13. What is something you are still learning to accept?
14. What would your younger self be surprised by?
15. What is a small decision that turned out to be big?
16. What do you think happens after we die?
17. What is one thing you would keep if you had to give up almost everything?
18. What does friendship mean to you?
19. What is a fear you have mostly got over?
20. What are you avoiding at the moment?
21. What would you tell someone who is where you were five years ago?
22. What is a question you think about often?
23. What do you want people to say about you when you are not in the room?
24. What is something you forgave that was hard to forgive?
25. What is the best thing about being you?

More in deep questions to ask and philosophical questions.

Funny conversation starters

1. What is the most useless talent you have?
2. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Defend your answer.
3. What would your walk-on music be?
4. What is the worst haircut you have ever had?
5. If you were a kitchen appliance, which one?
6. What is a food you refuse to try?
7. What is the most ridiculous thing you have bought?
8. Which animal do you think you were in a past life?
9. What is your most irrational fear?
10. What is the pettiest hill you would die on?
11. If animals could talk, which would be the rudest?
12. What is your signature dish, even if it is toast?
13. What is the strangest thing you have searched for this week?
14. What emoji do you use far too much?
15. Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses?
16. What is your go-to karaoke song, and how bad is it?
17. What is a smell you like that other people find odd?
18. What is the most childish thing you still do?
19. If you had to eat one meal every day for a year, what would it be?
20. What is a word you always spell wrong?
21. What is your best excuse for being late?
22. Which fictional character would be your worst flatmate?
23. What is the most dramatic thing you have done over something tiny?
24. What is the worst gift you have ever given?
25. What would you name a boat?

Conversation starters for friends

1. What is something you have been meaning to tell me?
2. What has been the best part of your month?
3. What is one thing you would change about your routine?
4. What are you worrying about that you have not said out loud?
5. What is a plan we keep talking about that we should actually make?
6. What is something you have got into since we last talked?
7. What did you think of me when we first met?
8. What is a memory of us you think about?
9. What is one thing you are proud of this year?
10. What do you need more of right now?
11. What is the best thing you have bought lately?
12. What is something I should try?
13. What would you do with a free week?
14. What is a habit you are trying to build?
15. What is a skill you could teach me?
16. What is the last thing that made you laugh properly?
17. What are you looking forward to?
18. What is something you have changed your mind about since we met?
19. What is the most “you” thing you have done this week?
20. What is one thing we should do more often?
21. What is bugging you at the moment?
22. What is a small win you have not celebrated?
23. What is something you have never asked me?
24. What are you reading, watching or playing?
25. When are we doing that thing we said we would do?

For a longer list, see questions to ask your friends.

Good conversation starters over text

Text starters need to be short, easy to answer from a phone, and better than “hey”.

1. Quick one: coffee or tea?
2. What is the best thing you have eaten today?
3. Rate your day out of ten, and why?
4. Song recommendation, please. I am in a rut.
5. What are you up to right now, honestly?
6. Settle a debate for me: is cereal a soup?
7. What should I watch tonight?
8. Best thing about your week so far?
9. What is a small thing that made today better?
10. What is your current obsession?
11. Random question: what is your favourite word?
12. What is the last photo you took, described in words?
13. Would you rather: rewind button or pause button for your life?
14. What is one thing on your list this weekend?
15. Tell me something good.
16. What is a snack you could eat forever?
17. What is one thing you learned today?
18. If you could be anywhere right now, where?
19. What are you avoiding doing right now?
20. Sunrise or sunset?
21. What is the most useful thing you own that cost almost nothing?
22. What is one thing you would change about today?
23. Two truths and a lie. Go.
24. What is your go-to comfort film?
25. What is a question you were asked today that you did not know how to answer?

Keeping it going over text is its own skill: see how to keep a conversation going and text chat with strangers.

Conversation starters for someone you have just met

For a stranger, online or in person. These ask about interests and opinions, never about where someone lives, works or studies.

1. What made you try this today?
2. We both picked the same interest. What got you into it?
3. What is your honest answer to the conversation starter on screen?
4. What is a food from your country or region that everyone should try?
5. What is the best thing you have watched this year?
6. Which languages do you speak, and which would you like to?
7. What is a place you would love to visit?
8. What do you do to switch off?
9. What is a hobby you would recommend to anyone?
10. What is something people are surprised to learn about you?
11. What is a small daily habit you swear by?
12. What is a random fact you learned recently?
13. What is your comfort film or series?
14. Do you prefer cities, beaches or mountains?
15. What is a game everyone should play once?
16. What is your favourite way to spend a rainy day?
17. What is a song that puts you in a good mood?
18. What is one thing you are looking forward to?
19. What is a skill you taught yourself?
20. What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
21. What is something you could not stop talking about last week?
22. What is your ideal weekend, in three words?
23. Are you more of a texter or a caller?
24. What is the last thing you laughed at?
25. Ask me anything, and I will do the same.

How to use a conversation starter without it feeling forced

• Pick one, not five. One question with a follow-up beats a list.
• Say your own answer. Before or after theirs, but say it.
• Follow up. If they mention hiking, ask where. One follow-up shows you listened.
• Drop the script once it moves. A starter is a door, not a path.
• Skip anything that feels wrong. Pressing Next is a normal part of random chat.

On RandomHey you both see the same conversation starter the moment a chat begins, so nobody has to go first. Add an interest before you start and matching prefers people who chose the same, which gives you a second starter for free. Try one in a text chat or a video chat, no account needed, adults only.