When you need this

Smoking comes up less than it used to, but it still comes up: someone offers you a cigarette outside a party, a new roommate asks if you smoke, a friend says they're vaping more than they'd like. This lesson is the language for those moments: saying whether you smoke, answering an offer, and asking about someone else's habit without sounding like a doctor.

A few facts shape how Americans talk about it. You have to be 21 to buy any tobacco or vaping product anywhere in the US. Smoking indoors in public places is banned in most states, and many campuses are completely smoke-free. So most students don't smoke, and "No thanks, I don't smoke" is an ordinary answer that nobody questions. When someone does smoke, the polite move is to ask before lighting up near others.

Phrases

the direct, neutral question

the standard answer to an offer

you have never started

you smoked in the past and stopped

you smoke sometimes, not every day

a person who smokes, or doesn't

using an electronic cigarette

asking permission before lighting up

a polite, clear no to that question

smoke you breathe from someone else's cigarette

smoking is difficult to stop

you'll stay with them without smoking

Say it out loud

Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.

Practice · 3 min

Answer naturally. Situation on the left, one natural line on the right.

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Say it today

Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.