I learned to use a sentence like "Is there anything to talk about" in school. But "What's there ~?" sounds more natural? And are these sentences also okay to use? ・What’s there to eat? ・What’s there for me to help?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Great question! "Is there anything to talk about" is not a common phrase among native English speakers. A more common phrase is "What do you want to talk about?", which is asking another person what they want to have a conversation about. "What's there to talk about?" sounds similar to "What do you want to talk about?", but has a different meaning. The phrase "What's there to talk about?" is a rhetorical question that is said when someone does not think there is anything to discuss regarding a certain topic or situation. You can use "what's there" to mean "what is there", so it is acceptable to say "What’s there to eat?" and "What’s there for me to help with?" Ex: A: How was your date? B: What's there to talk about? Nothing interesting happened.
