100 conversational chunks & idiomatic expressions — reacting, starting conversations, expressing opinions, keeping conversations alive.
100 phrasal verbs in context — common spoken verbs you need to recognize and use automatically.

Since you asked for tables and no Anki, here they are.

1. 100 conversational expressions & idioms¶

These are deliberately biased toward real-life spoken English, rather than literary idioms.

A. Starting and responding to conversations¶

#	Expression	Example in context
1	How's it going?	Hey, how's it going?
2	How have you been?	It's been a while. How have you been?
3	What have you been up to?	So, what have you been up to lately?
4	How's everything going?	How's everything going at work?
5	What's new?	Hey, what's new with you?
6	How's your day going?	So, how's your day going?
7	What brings you here?	Hey, what brings you here?
8	How did you end up here?	How did you end up working in France?
9	How's work going?	How's work going these days?
10	How was your weekend?	So, how was your weekend?
11	What was that like?	You went surfing? What was that like?
12	How did that go?	You had an interview? How did that go?
13	How come?	You left early? How come?
14	What happened?	You look tired. What happened?
15	What do you mean?	What do you mean by that?
16	What about you?	I'm doing pretty well. What about you?
17	How about you?	I'm staying home tonight. How about you?
18	And you?	I'm from France. And you?
19	Really?	Really? I've never been there.
20	Oh, nice!	You got a new job? Oh, nice!

B. Natural reactions¶

#	Expression	Example in context
21	No way!	No way! You actually met him?
22	You're kidding!	You're kidding! That's crazy.
23	Seriously?	Seriously? I had no idea.
24	That's crazy.	That's crazy. I can't believe it.
25	That's interesting.	That's interesting. I've never thought about it that way.
26	That makes sense.	Yeah, that makes sense.
27	I see what you mean.	Okay, I see what you mean.
28	I know what you mean.	Yeah, I know what you mean.
29	Exactly.	Exactly. That's what I was thinking.
30	Absolutely.	Absolutely. I completely agree.
31	Definitely.	Definitely. I'd do the same thing.
32	Fair enough.	Fair enough. I hadn't thought of it that way.
33	Good point.	That's a good point.
34	That's true.	Yeah, that's true.
35	I guess so.	I guess so. I've never really thought about it.
36	I suppose so.	I suppose so, although I'm not convinced.
37	Not really.	Not really. I'm not a big fan of it.
38	Not necessarily.	Not necessarily. It depends on the situation.
39	It depends.	It depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
40	You've got a point.	You've got a point there.

C. Keeping the conversation alive¶

#	Expression	Example in context
41	Tell me about it.	It's been a stressful week. — Tell me about it.
42	I know, right?	It's freezing today. — I know, right?
43	Exactly what I mean.	That's exactly what I mean.
44	You know what I mean?	It's difficult to explain. You know what I mean?
45	You know what?	You know what? I think you're right.
46	Come to think of it...	Come to think of it, I haven't seen him recently.
47	Now that you mention it...	Now that you mention it, I haven't heard from her either.
48	Speaking of...	Speaking of travel, have you been to Spain?
49	That reminds me...	That reminds me, I need to call my brother.
50	By the way...	By the way, did you hear about John?
51	On a related note...	On a related note, have you tried the new restaurant?
52	What about...?	What about the other option?
53	How did you get into that?	How did you get into cycling?
54	How long have you been...?	How long have you been doing that?
55	Have you ever...?	Have you ever tried surfing?
56	What made you...?	What made you move here?
57	What do you think of...?	What do you think of the new office?
58	How do you feel about...?	How do you feel about the idea?
59	What was your first impression?	What was your first impression of the city?
60	Would you ever...?	Would you ever consider moving abroad?

D. Buying yourself thinking time¶

These are extremely valuable when your English is good but you need an extra second to formulate your answer.

#	Expression	Example in context
61	Well...	Well, I'm not really sure.
62	Actually...	Actually, I've changed my mind.
63	Basically...	Basically, we ran out of time.
64	To be honest...	To be honest, I didn't really enjoy it.
65	If I'm honest...	If I'm honest, I'd rather stay home.
66	Let me think...	Let me think... I think it was around 2018.
67	How can I put it?	How can I put it? It's complicated.
68	What I mean is...	What I mean is, we need more time.
69	What I'm trying to say is...	What I'm trying to say is that I understand your point.
70	As far as I know...	As far as I know, he's still living there.

E. Opinions and preferences¶

#	Expression	Example in context
71	If you ask me...	If you ask me, it's not worth the money.
72	The way I see it...	The way I see it, we have two options.
73	Personally, I'd...	Personally, I'd wait until tomorrow.
74	I'm really into...	I'm really into cycling at the moment.
75	I'm not really into...	I'm not really into heavy metal.
76	I'm a big fan of...	I'm a big fan of that restaurant.
77	I'm not a big fan of...	I'm not a big fan of crowded places.
78	It's not really my thing.	Camping is fun, but it's not really my thing.
79	It's not my cup of tea.	Horror movies aren't really my cup of tea.
80	I'm on the fence.	I'm still on the fence about moving.

F. Very useful idiomatic chunks¶

#	Expression	Example in context
81	It slipped my mind.	Sorry, it completely slipped my mind.
82	That rings a bell.	His name rings a bell, but I can't remember why.
83	I can't be bothered.	I'm too tired. I can't be bothered to cook.
84	I'm fed up with...	I'm fed up with dealing with the same problem.
85	It's driving me crazy.	This noise is driving me crazy.
86	I'm not feeling up to it.	I'm not really feeling up to going out tonight.
87	I'm better off...	I think I'm better off staying here.
88	It's up to you.	We can leave now or later. It's up to you.
89	It's not worth it.	Don't argue with him. It's not worth it.
90	I can't help it.	I know I shouldn't laugh, but I can't help it.
91	I don't mind.	We can stay here. I don't mind.
92	I'm fine with that.	If you want to leave early, I'm fine with that.
93	I'm not sure about that.	I'm not sure about that. It seems risky.
94	So far, so good.	How's the new job? So far, so good.
95	At the end of the day...	At the end of the day, it's your decision.
96	In the long run...	It'll save us money in the long run.
97	It turns out...	It turns out we were looking at the wrong file.
98	I ended up...	I ended up staying home all weekend.
99	For what it's worth...	For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice.
100	At least...	We missed the train, but at least we got a refund.

2. 100 phrasal verbs¶

Here I would focus on spoken, everyday usage, rather than obscure phrasal verbs.

A. Everyday life & movement¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
1	get up	I usually get up around seven.
2	wake up	I woke up in the middle of the night.
3	go out	Do you want to go out tonight?
4	come back	What time are you coming back?
5	go back	I don't want to go back there.
6	come in	Come in and make yourself comfortable.
7	go away	We're going away for the weekend.
8	hang out	We usually hang out after work.
9	stay in	I'm tired, so I'm going to stay in tonight.
10	come over	Do you want to come over for dinner?
11	pick up	I'll pick you up at eight.
12	drop off	Can you drop me off at the station?
13	get in	What time did you get in last night?
14	head out	I'm going to head out now.
15	set off	We set off early in the morning.
16	get around	It's easy to get around the city by bike.
17	get away	We need to get away for a few days.
18	show up	He didn't show up for the meeting.
19	turn up	He turned up late again.
20	stay over	Do you want to stay over tonight?

B. Understanding & discovering¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
21	find out	I'll find out what happened.
22	figure out	I need to figure out how this works.
23	work out	We'll work out a solution.
24	look up	I'll look it up online.
25	look into	I'll look into the problem.
26	check out	You should check out this restaurant.
27	go through	I've gone through the documents twice.
28	make out	I couldn't make out what he was saying.
29	point out	She pointed out a mistake.
30	come across	I came across an interesting article.

C. Communication¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
31	bring up	She brought up an interesting point.
32	get back to	I'll get back to you tomorrow.
33	speak up	Could you speak up?
34	cut off	We got cut off during the call.
35	call back	I'll call you back later.
36	hang up	Don't hang up yet.
37	get through	I couldn't get through to him.
38	talk over	Let's talk it over before deciding.
39	point out	He pointed out that we were late.
40	bring up	I don't know how to bring up the subject.

D. Relationships & emotions¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
41	get along	Do you get along with your colleagues?
42	get on	I get on really well with her.
43	get over	It took me months to get over it.
44	let down	I don't want to let you down.
45	break up	They broke up last year.
46	make up	They argued but eventually made up.
47	fall out	They fell out over money.
48	look after	Can you look after my daughter?
49	cheer up	Cheer up, things will get better.
50	calm down	Just calm down and tell me what happened.

E. Problems & solutions¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
51	deal with	I'll deal with it tomorrow.
52	sort out	Don't worry, we'll sort it out.
53	work out	We'll work out what went wrong.
54	mess up	I messed up the presentation.
55	break down	My car broke down on the way home.
56	run out of	We've run out of coffee.
57	get rid of	I need to get rid of these old clothes.
58	put up with	I don't know how you put up with him.
59	end up	We ended up staying until midnight.
60	come up with	She came up with a great idea.

F. Work & responsibilities¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
61	take on	I can't take on another project.
62	take over	She's going to take over the team.
63	carry out	The team carried out several tests.
64	take up	I took up cycling last year.
65	put off	I keep putting off the meeting.
66	follow up	I'll follow up with the customer tomorrow.
67	set up	We need to set up a meeting.
68	fill in	Can you fill in this form?
69	fill out	I need to fill out an application.
70	hand in	I need to hand in the report tomorrow.

G. Starting, stopping & changing¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
71	give up	Don't give up just yet.
72	give in	Eventually, I gave in.
73	carry on	Please carry on.
74	keep on	He kept on talking.
75	cut down on	I'm trying to cut down on sugar.
76	cut out	I'm trying to cut out processed food.
77	take back	I take back what I said.
78	turn down	She turned down the offer.
79	turn out	It turned out really well.
80	wind up	We wound up staying until midnight.

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
81	sign up	I signed up for an English course.
82	try out	I'm going to try out a new app.
83	check in	We need to check in before the flight.
84	check out	We have to check out by eleven.
85	look around	Let's look around before deciding.
86	look forward to	I'm looking forward to seeing you.
87	hang on	Hang on a second.
88	hold on	Hold on, I'll be right back.
89	go ahead	Go ahead, I'm listening.
90	keep up	I can't keep up with you.

I. More highly useful ones¶

#	Phrasal verb	Sentence
91	put on	Put on a jacket; it's cold.
92	take off	Take off your shoes.
93	put away	Can you put away your clothes?
94	turn on	Can you turn on the light?
95	turn off	Don't forget to turn off the oven.
96	turn down	Could you turn down the music?
97	run into	I ran into an old friend yesterday.
98	break out	A fire broke out in the kitchen.
99	give back	I need to give back this book tomorrow.
100	hang on to	Hang on to your ticket until the end.

The important part for your particular problem¶

I would not try to memorize 200 items as a vocabulary exercise.

Your goal is to make them available automatically during conversation.

For example, imagine someone says:

"So, what did you do this weekend?"

You want your brain to have something like this available immediately:

"Not much, actually. I just hung out with my daughter. We ended up going for a walk and grabbing something to eat."

Then you can continue:

"What about you? What did you get up to?"

And if they tell you about a trip:

"Oh really? How did that go?"
"How did you get into that?"
"What was it like?"
"I'd love to try that sometime."

That's the skill I'd target: being able to keep a conversation moving without having to construct every sentence from scratch.

One correction to your original idea, too: "idioms" isn't quite the right category for everything you need. The most useful concept here is chunks / formulaic language. Native speakers use enormous numbers of these prefabricated expressions in everyday speech. Learning them in context is likely to be more useful for your specific difficulty than simply accumulating more idioms.