150+ Interesting Questions to Ask Friends

Questions serve a bigger purpose than just being a way to get an answer from someone. 

They help steer conversations, they make us think, and they open up parts of people’s personalities we didn’t know were there. 

This list of 150+ questions to ask friends is split into four categories, each for different situations with friends! 

Have you ever known someone for many years and they say something that makes you think “How did I never know that?”

Asking questions can do so much for a friendship, and asking questions to friends also helps you build social confidence so you can bring your question-asking skills to other settings where you might not be as comfortable. 

From finding common interests to learning how you can best support your friends, questions can be the framework for deep and meaningful conversations friendships. 

Here’s the list of 150+ interesting questions to ask friends!

Questions to Ask Friends at a Party

Parties are places where silence can feel extra awkward, but also places where you can have some fun with questions.

Here are some questions you can ask your friends at a party (new and old) to keep that from happening!

1. What’s your best high school memory or story?
2. What do you still love doing that you loved as a kid?
3. What was your least/most favorite job?
4. What caused you to laugh harder than you’ve ever laughed?
5. If money weren’t an issue, where would your vacation home be?
6. What’s something no one at this party knows about you?
7. What’s the last book you read?
8. Do you have any pets?
9. What’s the best birthday present you ever got?
10. Which decade would you most want to go to a party during?
11. What’s a goofy hobby you have?
12. Do you play any sports? 
13. What’s your most embarrassing story?
14. What’s your proudest story?
15. What’s one thing that’s always in your fridge?
16. Do you have a favorite animal?
17. Do you have a spirit animal?
18. Do you know your communication style? (Click here and take my quiz to find yours!)
19. Who is your favorite comedian and why?
20. What’s your dream job?
21. Do you believe in ghosts?
22. What’s your favorite party hors d'oeuvre?
23. What about aliens?
24. What’s your favorite holiday?
25. What song is on every one of your playlists?
26. Does pineapple belong on pizza?
27. Do you have any scars? 
28. What’s the best purchase you made in the last year?
29. Do you have any secret ways to deal with daily stressors?
30. What do you do to get a mental escape from your daily grind?
31. What kind of business would you start if you could do it tomorrow?
32. How many different towns/cities have you lived in?
33. Do you believe in life after death?
34. What inspires you the most?
35. Who inspires you the most?
36. If you had a million dollars to give to charity, what would the charity be and why?
37. What do you think about the most when you’re alone?
38. What angers you that probably shouldn’t?
39. Are you competitive?
40. Would you rather be at a party like this, or home with a good book or show?
41. Which non-profit would you consider working for?
42. Which branch of the military would you join if it were required?
43. Does money buy happiness?
44. Do you think more about the past or the future?

Deep Questions to Ask Friends

These questions are a little bit deeper and should be reserved for one-on-one or small group settings with close friends. These questions can all help you build rapport with your conversational partner.
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1. What superpower would you want the most?
2. What makes someone a “best friend” for you?
3. Have I ever disappointed you?
4. When talking yourself up, do you say “You got this” or “I got this?”
5. What’s the biggest issue the country faces?
6. What movie always hits you in the feels?
7. What do you dream about the most?
8. Has your heart ever been broken?
9. If you could teleport, where would you choose to live?
10. Who was your favorite president?
11. What is one decision you regret?
12. If you were alone for a whole week, what do you think would be on your mind the most?
13. What do you think will cause the end of the human race?
14. How do you want to be buried?
15. Do you recall having a favorite age?
16. What would you change about me, if you could?
17. What’s your biggest vice?
18. Do you ever die in your dreams?
19. Have you ever betrayed anyone you cared about?
20. Were you a favorite child of either of your parents?
21. What part of your life are you trying to improve right now?
22. What is the single most important thing to you in a friendship?
23. What has changed the most about you in the last 5 years?
24. Which family member is or was the most important to you?
25. Did you have a mentor in your profession? How did you meet them?
26. What are your most favorite and least favorite parts of having me as a friend?
27. Do you still have contact with any high school teachers or college professors?
28. Do you forgive easily? Why or why not, do you think?
29. What is your ideal number of children?
30. What celebrities did you look to as role models when you were young?
31. Is there any topic you are extra-sensitive about?
32. How many times have you been in love?
33. What is your most sentimental belonging?
34. Have you ever realized you had an implicit bias?
35. Do you think robots will run the planet in our lifetime?
36. Is love blind?
37. If you could bring back one person from the dead who would it be and why?

Fun Questions to Ask Friends

Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid a lull in conversation, even with your best friends.

Here are some fun questions to ask friends when you’re bored or just passing some time.

1. What is something you’re proud of even though you know it’s weird?
2. Have you ever been to a big music festival?
3. What’s your favorite place you’ve never actually been to (based on pictures and stories)?
4. Do you look up old classmates on social media?
5. How did your parents meet?
6. Do you know any funny sayings in foreign languages?
7. How old were you when you got your first smartphone?
8. Who is your favorite movie villain?
9. Do you have a favorite smell?
10. What was your favorite Halloween costume?
11. What is a silly fact you know?
12. Did anyone ever throw a surprise party for you?
13. Did you ever throw a big house party? 
14. What’s something you think everyone should learn how to do?
15. Would you rather have a yacht or private jet?
16. Is there a food you could eat every day for the rest of your life?
17. What exotic animal would you have as a pet if you had a ton of land?
18. Which meal is your favorite to go out for?
19. What U.S. city could fall off a map and not bother you at all?
20. What’s the biggest event you’ve ever attended?
21. If you ever have kids, what will you name them?
22. Would you rather have a hot tub or a pool?
23. What’s a food you don’t like that everyone else does?
24. Do you have a favorite dinosaur?
25. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
26. What was one videogame you couldn’t be beat at as a kid?
27. What sound can’t you stand?
28. Would you rather face off against zombies, aliens or vampires?
29. What’s your favorite board game? Who taught it to you?
30. What band would you tour with if you were a musical savant that anyone would hire?
31. What sport would you play if you had unlimited athletic capabilities?
32. Would you do high school again if you could get paid what you make now to go?
33. Did you ever run away as a kid?
34. Do you have a favorite word?
35. Do you have a favorite curse word?
36. What are three things still on your bucket list?
37. What’s something you’ve never tried but always thought you’d be good at?
38. What is your “deserted island album?”
39. What’s your favorite app?
40. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever cooked?
41. What’s a funny college story you have?
42. Do you like theme parks and/or roller coasters?
43. What was your favorite family vacation as a kid?
44. Do you have any tattoos or would you get one?
45. Dogs or cats?
46. How much money would it take for you to take a punch from a Mike Tyson?

Questions to Ask New Friends

Here are some good questions to ask during the “getting to know someone” stages!

Note: Be sure to check out this article on how to make friends as an adult if you want more friends in your life!

1. Do you have any siblings?
2. Have you lived in any other countries or states?
3. What famous person do you look up to?
4. Do you want to be doing the same job five years from now?
5. What’s your favorite food to cook for guests?
6. Do you prefer a dance club or a campfire?
7. What did you want to be when you were a kid?
8. What’s something you want to be remembered for?
9. What actor or actress makes you laugh the most?
10. What’s your favorite emoji?
11. Where do you want to travel to next?
12. What’s your favorite way to learn?
13. If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?
14. Where were you on your last birthday?
15. How do you find self-motivation when you’re having a bad day?
16. Do you prefer the mountains or the ocean?
17. Would you rather go 100 years in the future or 100 years in the past?
18. What’s something you have a love-hate relationship with (TV show, sports team, etc.)?
19. What’s the last book you read?
20. Do you like group work or working alone?
21. What’s something that brings you great comfort?
22. Do you listen to music when you go to bed?
23. What smell always takes you back to your childhood and why?
24. Do you have any pets? Do you want more?
25. What’s something you learned this week?
26. What’s one website you can’t live without?

Whew! That was a LOT of questions...what’s next?

To be a good partner in conversation, you have to really listen to answers, and be ready to answer plenty of questions being returned.

Though this list is random, keeping your questions relevant in a conversation is an art, too. 

Listen deeply, and do your best to relate your response in some way. (Also, remember to balance your questions with observations and stories so you don't accidentally interrogate people!)

The Spokes Method, for instance, is looking at a central topic and thinking of all the questions you could ask related to it (like spokes around the center of a bike wheel).

Watch this video for more tips on building your conversation skills:

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