50 Questions to Get to Know Someone

50-questions-to-get-to-know-someone-humor-that-works-2

Want to get to know me better (or anyone really)?  Just ask one of the below questions to get to know someone. They’re meant to be fun, interesting questions that can help you learn more about the person you are talking to.  These are great as team building questions, learning more about your co-workers, and for spicing up your standard introductions with funny questions to ask.

A quick caveat: there are thousands of interesting questions to get to know someone. I’ve found that the below questions (pulled from games like Table Topics, shows like Inside the Actor’s Studio, and from my own brain) are unique and interesting enough to force a person to think.  If they’ve been asked the same question a thousand times before, it’s not as effective in engaging the person in your conversation.  These are just a starting point; take these team building questions and modify them to meet your needs and situation.

“What’s Your Favorite…” Questions

Asking someone about their favorite blank is a great way to get know them better and learn about their preferences and opinions. These questions are good for when you are first meeting someone and are easy to incorporate as part of introductions in a larger group, such as asking each person to say their name, role, and favorite food as a child.

  1. What was your favorite food when you were a child?
  2. What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod?
  3. What is one of your favorite quotes?
  4. What’s your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?
  5. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?
  6. What is your favorite form of exercise?
  7. What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year?
  8. What’s your least favorite mode of transportation?
  9. What is your favorite body part?
  10. What sound do you love?

“What If…” Questions

Hypothetical questions help you learn more about another person’s personality, as well as their ideal state of the world. Since many of these questions might evoke longer responses, they are better suited for one-on-one conversations or smaller group discussions.

  1. If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?
  2. If you could paint a picture of any scenery you’ve seen before, what would you paint?
  3. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
  4. If you knew the world was ending in 2012, what would you do differently?
  5. If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
  6. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
  7. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
  8. If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?
  9. If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?
  10. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?
  11. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
  12. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
  13. If you were reincarnated as an animal/drink/ice cream flavor, what would it be?
  14. If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?
  15. If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?

Personal Questions to Get to Know Someone

Asking personal questions gets right to the purpose of getting to know someone and can be used in smaller groups with elaborate answers or larger groups with quick responses.

  1. Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?
  2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
  3. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?
  4. What would you name the autobiography of your life?
  5. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

Personal History Questions

Questions involving people’s past help give you insight into their character and background by revealing memorable moments from the person’s life. These are great for one-on-one interactions or for smaller, more intimate groups. These questions help build trust as they are more personal than some of the other types of questions.

  1. Have you ever had something happen to you that you thought was bad but it turned out to be for the best?
  2. What was one of the best parties you’ve ever been to?
  3. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?
  4. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
  5. What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?
  6. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?
  7. When was the last time you had an amazing meal?
  8. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?
  9. What do you miss most about being a kid?
  10. What is your first memory of being really excited?
  11. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
  12. When was the last time you were nervous?
  13. What is something you learned in the last week?
  14. What story does your family always tell about you?
  15. At what age did you become an adult?

Random Questions to Get to Know Someone

Random questions can be a great way to add some quirkiness to introductions or a conversation. These are best used when each person gets a different question because they intentionally break people’s expectations with an abstract question in the midst of a variety of other questions.

  1. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.
  2. Where’s Waldo?
  3. The best part of waking up is?
  4. How now brown cow?
  5. Whasssssuuuupppppp?

What’s your favorite question to get to know someone?  Share it with the rest of us in the comments.  If you liked this post, you might enjoy my TEDx talk on humor at work.

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223 thoughts on “50 Questions to Get to Know Someone”

  1. Squishable Narwhal

    I think you guys need to chill… These questions don’t have to be exclusively for introductory conversation. They can also be used for just something to do when you’re bored! For example, the entire reason I came to this page was because my friend Molly and I were bored and wanted to find some random questions to ask each other just so we could be talking about SOMETHING. Plus it kills time! : )
    So just stop complaining and enjoy the randomness. And for those of you who just don’t like the questions asked, go write your own! Then everyone wins.

  2. It would be nice if women asked at least some of these questions. Instead all they wan to know is what do you do for living as if that would cover it all. If I had my dream job of being archeologist than yes, judging me by it would be accurate.

  3. Some of these are good for married people too. My wife and I used them to play a “mommy and daddy only” game. Ask your partner to name YOUR favorite vacation (or whatever) and as they guess move closer to or farther away from their happy place. Once they get it right they get a little bit of happy fun time. It’s a great way to learn about your spouse and its awesome foreplay 😉

  4. I really liked these questions. There are a bunch of fun, unique ones on here. I’ll ask some of these every Friday for a Friday Fun Fact tradition I just started at work.

  5. And to elaborate on my previous response. A lot of these “past, present, and future” questions sound like you are interviewing them for a job. Don’t get me wrong, if the right subject comes up I am very talkative if I know they are into it as well. But unfortunately I am very limited on subjects so I need to start learning. haha.

  6. I’m kind of anti-social and would like to be more social so I am looking for stuff like this. It seems to me though that it would be weird to just start asking questions like this unless you were on a date. If you were talking to co-workers or something especially men(unless you were gay) I would think they would think you are a weirdo if you just randomly started asking random questions even if it is “just to get to know them.” Like, “What chore do you absolutely hate doing?” or something is weird. I would imagine they would be thinking, “Why is he asking me that? What a weirdo.” It seems it’s better to be knowledgeable about a bunch of subjects and find a subject they are interested in and have a conversation that way. Like about cars for example, or the latest technological gadgets. But not weird questions like this stuff like you are about to have a personal relationship with them…unless of course you are on a date. But that’s totally different.

    1. A good conversation starter in your situation would be something like…. Did you grow up around here (if you didn’t know that much about the person). Listen carefully about where they grew up and ask questions about what you know or don’t know about the area where they grew up. When getting to know a person, you want to focus on them, instead of you, because people love to talk about themselves. Ask questions about the are where they grew up, it’s okay to say you don’t know anything about that area, and ask them what it’s like. Compare what you’ve learned and read about the area they are from. If it happens you were both raised in the same area then find out where they went to school, what was their big thing in high school. Do you both have families, are you dating; and if it’s a co-worker then the safe work questions etc. If it’s a bar type situation where you want to talk to someone ask them if they are having a nice evening; if this person is out celebrating something fun with friends? Once you get to know them a bit better then you can ask them about more personal things; in the meantime if there is a restaurant attached you can ask them if they’ve ever eaten at the restaurant and what do they think of the food. Its okay to ask if the other person is a local; they will let their guard down more easily if you tell them you are either local or are a transplant and tell them where you are from. Don’t reveal too much about yourself, see if there is an interest sparked in the other person’s eyes, or if they appear bored with the conversation up to that point. Ask them if they are into sports or any other kinds of hobbies or activities, what do they do for fun. If you know nothing about it again don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t have any prior experience with what they do but would love to hear about how they got started with it, how long they’ve been doing a particular thing and what is the best way to get started if one were interested in it. I have walked up to total strangers in the grocery stores because they were wearing a shirt from my home state. (I live across the country) that has started a great conversation. The produce department of the grocery store is a great example of a place to start a conversation. Pick up a fruit or vegetable and ask a person if they have ever tried this before…. please don’t pick a potato or tomato unless you have some specific knowledge about it; however, pick up something obscure such as a start fruit, dragon fruit, or something you have never heard of. If they haven’t ever heard of it either than you can ask if they have ever heard how it’s prepared or what it might taste like. Usually by then you will figure out whether they want to continue a conversation or are uncomfortable with the encounter. However, don’t necessarily take that as a rejection of you; they might just be in a hurry to get somewhere or have a deadline. I suggest grocery stores because that is a great place to practice talking to people, the meat department or the produce department are wonderful places to practice conversation skills. Lines of any kind are a great place to practice conversation skills. Try to find something in common and mention it. There are always a few who aren’t into conversing but for the most part people are happy to have something to kill the time. doing this with strangers will help you feel more comfortable when it comes to meeting new people and also getting to know the people you casually know much better. Remember people like to talk about themselves even if it is a question about what they would recommend about something. Only very few people will think you are a weirdo unless you get too personal too quickly. It also depends on where in the country you live. Some parts of the country are more suspicious of others, than other parts of the country. Good luck to you. Just keep it relative to the situation and not too personal too quickly.

  7. I was looking for questions to ask my husband of 9 years. And Finally there are some questions I can ask him, that I actually don’t think I know the answers to!! So thanks! 🙂

  8. I’m all about a good vibe that I get from a person so if I feel like I can be myself flaws and all, all of my questions will be answered truthfully and I’ll be sure to do the same in return. It’ll all fall in place in time if its meant, the truth behind it all is you can ask all the questions you want to a person but they’re gonna tell you only what they want you to know if the feelings aren’t mutual to the question being asked.

  9. I agree with Katie, you have to let the bonding grow on its own. If the connection is there then you wont need to get advise from anyone else on what to talk about with your significant other. The questions are good ones to ask, but it’ll all form on its own if that’s what you really want to know. And if the person you ask likes you enough, they’ll tell you the truth.

  10. To respond to what Benedict had said, it’s not about being the same age. Clearly you would be the same age if you are immortal for a day. The question is basically asking what wild and crazy thing you will do if you are not going to die for that one day. Basically. So your answer is an invalid one, not the question.

  11. Ummm “If you could be immortal for a day what would you do?”
    Okay, if you were immortal for a day, it means you would stay the same age… That happens to you everyday idiots. What an invalid question.

  12. I liked them but you could do a little better. For example
    Favorite color
    Favorite animal
    Do you have any siblings
    Stuff like that I would say

  13. I think these are great questions. I work for the Boy Scouts as a camp counselor, so fun/wacky/bizarre/whatever-adjective-you-want get to know you questions (that are appropriate) are a great way to start merit badge sessions. I’m a bit on the dry side, humor wise, so anything helps! Of course, my favorite is “what’s the best place to hide a dead body.” 🙂 Anyhow, thanks!

  14. I needed help with these questions and you guys really did that for me. Thank you so much so give yourself a pat on the back! Thank you soooooooo much!

  15. A lot of people are leaving comments that these are ‘lame’ or bad questions to ask in a situation like a date or upon first meeting someone. I admit that running through these one by one is probably going to make you look like a weirdo with no social skills to have a real conversation. However, if you go through them candidly with someone you already know well, a lot of them yield surprising results and make you really think, while others are just fun and brought up some awesome memories. Great find!

  16. There are a lot of terrific, conversation-inspiring questions here. Thank you for posting them. Many of the questions sparked some interesting discussion in our home tonight.

  17. i think that these questions are helpfull to somepeople that really need to know these facts and/or questions just to know a person so yeah bye everyone thankyou 4 reading.

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