How do you talk to ghosts in Phasmophobia?

One of the most unique features of Phasmophobia is the microphone recognition that picks up everything players say and grants them responses from the ghosts lurking in the shadows. Talking to ghosts is incredibly important for gathering ghost evidence, but actually figuring out how to properly do so can be confusing, especially for new players.

All Spirit Box questions in Phasmophobia

While ghosts can hear anything players say at any given moment, the best and most direct way to communicate with them is by using the Spirit Box. The Spirit Box cycles through radio frequencies at a rapid rate that produces white noise to allow spirits to manipulate the noise for communication.

Players should make sure the lights are turned off before they begin asking questions and should ask each question multiple times for the best results. A small ghost icon will light up on the Spirit Box when players have received a response alongside the verbal response they will also hear.

Three types of questions can be asked and receive responses from ghosts. All possible question types are as follows.

Aggression questions, will anger the ghost and grant players murderous or otherwise violent answers.
Location questions, will grant responses that will help players track down and locate the ghost.
Age questions, will grant some information about the ghost’s age.

A complete breakdown of all possible phrases players can ask and the responses they can receive from communicating through the Spirit Box are as follows.

Aggression

Many of these questions are those fans of any ghost-hunting show regularly see asked. In Phasmophobia, these basic questions will anger the ghosts and evoke violent responses. There are also some random and strangely specific references players can ask that will also grant violent replies.

Aggression questions

“Do you want us to leave?”
“Do you want us here?”
“What do you want?”
“What should we do?”
“Why are you here?”
“Are you friendly?”

“Are you angry?”
“Shall we leave?”
“Should we leave?”
“Can we help?”
“Is anything wrong?”
“Do you want to hurt us?”
“Do you want to build a snowman?”
“Are you French?”
“Do you want to watch Spongebob?”
“Are you hungry?”
“What do you want to eat?”

Aggression responses

The ghost’s response to aggression questions will be one word only and will always be one that is violent.

“Die.”
“Kill.”
“Attack.”
“Hurt.”
“Death.”
“Hate.”

Screengrab via Kingdom Twelve on YouTube

Location

These kinds of questions are generally the most helpful ones and also will reward players with a much kinder response.

Location questions

“Where are you?”
“What is your location?”
“Give us a sign.”
“Is anyone here?”
“Show yourself.”
“Are you here?”
“Are you close?”
“Can you show yourself?”
“Let us know you are here.”
“Can you talk?”
“Speak to us.”
“Anybody here?”

“Are you with us?”
“Anybody with us?”
“Anybody in the room?”
“Is there a Ghost here?”
“Is there a spirit here?”
“Are you Casper?”
“Yourself?”

Location responses

Depending on the type of response players get, they can then deduce whether they are near the ghost room or not. The following five responses indicate that the ghost is less than three meters away from them and thus that they are probably in the ghost room.

“I’m here.”
“I’m close.”
“I’m behind you.”
“Behind you.”
“Next to you.”

The other two possible responses indicate the ghost is likely far away and that the room you are standing in is not the ghost room.

“Far.”
“Away.”

Age

These questions can be helpful solely for determining if the Spirit Box is in fact one of the ghost’s pieces of evidence.

Age questions

“How old are you?”
“What is your age?”
“How young are you?”
“When were you born?”
“Are you old?”
“Are you young?”
“Are you a child?”
“Are you bored?”

Age responses

The ghost may respond with one of two simple responses.

“Old.”
“Young.”

General communication in Phasmophobia

Players can also simply speak aloud without the Spirit Box and may occasionally gain some form of response back. There are two methods of this type of communication.

Asking general ghost questions, which may or may not receive any response.
Saying the ghost’s name, which will seriously upset it and almost always evoke some kind of response.

General ghost questions

Asking general questions aloud while wandering through a map may cause some kind of reaction, verbal or nonverbal, to occur. Many of these questions overlap with those that evoke responses on the Spirit Box but they will generally receive a different kind of response when they are said aloud while exploring.

“Hello?”
“Can you show yourself?”
“Give us a sign.”
“Show yourself.”
“Can you talk?”
“Speak to us.”
“Are you here?”
“Are you with us?”
“Anybody with us?”
“Is anyone here?”
“What do you want?”
“Why are you here?”

“Do you want to hurt us?”
“Are you angry?”
“Do you want us here?”
“Shall we leave?”
“Should we leave?”
“Do you want us to leave?”
“What should we do?”
“Can we help?”
“Are you friendly?”
“What are you?”
“Are you close?”
“Let us know you are here.”

“Anybody in the room?”
“Anybody here?”
“What is your location?”
“Is there a spirit here?”
“Is there a Ghost here?”
“Who are you?”
“What is your name?”
“Who is this?”

“Who are we talking to?”
“Who am I talking to?”
“Can you give me your name?”
“How old are you?”

“How young are you?”
“What is your age?”
“When were you born?”
“Are you a child?”
“Are you old?”
“Are you young?”
“What is your gender?”
“Are you a girl?”
“Are you a boy?”
“Are you male?”
“Are you female?”
“Are you a woman?”

“Are you male or female?”

Saying the ghost’s name

Players can find the ghost’s name written on the Objective Board located in their ghost hunting van. If players say the ghost’s name while investigating inside the map area, they will anger it and may cause it to react.

Screengrab via Kinetic Games | Remix by Kacee Fay

Ghosts may throw items, flicker lights, jumpscare players, or otherwise react in a negative manner upon hearing their name. Occasionally, a ghost may even initiate a hunt to track down and murder players after hearing their name, which means players should be very careful with what they say.

Ouija Board questions in Phasmophobia

The last method of communication players can use to talk with ghosts is the cursed Ouija Board. This method is quite dangerous as it exacts a heavy sanity toll on all players and may also cause a hunt to immediately begin.

There are 14 types of questions players can ask using this method.

Location questions

These questions will reveal where the ghost is currently located, which means that if it is early on in the investigation, the ghost may be wandering and not in their specified ghost room. Each one of these questions will drain 40 percent of a player’s sanity.

“Where are you?”
“What is your favorite room?”
“Where is your room?”
“What is your room?”

Non-specific location questions

These two questions will simply reveal if the ghost is currently in the same room as the players. Asking these questions will result in a 20 percent sanity drop each.

“Are you here?”
“Are you close?”

Bone location question

Players can ask the ghost where a bone is located to then take a picture of it and receive an increased payout following the conclusion of the investigation. 20 percent of players’ sanity will drop from asking one of these questions.

“Where is the bone?”
“Where did you die?”
“Where is your body?”

Room count questions

Asking the ghost how many people are currently in the room is another method that players can use to help determine if the ghost is currently in that room. Players will experience a 20 percent drop in sanity from asking one of these questions.

“Who is here?”
“Who is in this room?”
“How many are in this room?”
“How many people are in this room?”
“How many people are here?”
“How many ghosts are in this room?”
“How many ghosts are here?”
“Are you alone?”
“Are we alone?”
“How many ghosts are present?”
“How many people are present?”

Sanity questions

These questions are particularly useful on the harder levels of Phasmophobia where players cannot see what their current sanity level is. Asking about sanity will grant a rough estimate back from the ghost through the Ouija Board. A five percent sanity decrease will occur upon asking one of these questions.

“What is my sanity?”
“How crazy am I?”
“How insane am I?”
“Am I insane?”

Age questions

Players can determine how old the ghost is by asking these questions. The ghost will give an answer between two and 90 years. Players will lose five percent sanity for asking one of these questions.

“How old are you?”
“What is your age?”
“Are you old?”
“Are you young?”

Shyness question

This question will allow players to determine if the ghost will respond to everyone or only those that are alone when they are later trying to communicate through the Spirit Box. Players will experience a 20 percent sanity deduction upon asking this question.

“Do you respond to everyone?”

Death questions

Players can learn how long a ghost has been dead by asking these questions. The ghost will respond with a number between 50 and 1000 years. A five percent sanity deduction will occur for asking one of these questions.

“How long have you been dead?”
“How many years ago did you die?”
“How long have you been here?”
“How long ago did you die?”
“When did you die?”

Method of death question

Players can ask the ghost how it died to receive a response based on how they died. A five percent sanity deduction will occur after asking this question.

“How did you die?”

Hide and seek question

Asking the ghost if they wish to play hide and seek will cause the Ouija Board to countdown from five to zero then will initiate a cursed hunt. This question will drain 25 percent of the players’ sanity.

“Do you want to play hide and seek?”

Yes or no questions

These types of questions will grant players a yes or no response. Players will lose five percent of their sanity upon asking each one of these questions individually.

“Do you like jazz?”
“Am I pretty?”
“Are we friends?”
“Do you hate me?”

Feeling questions

Players can check in on their ghostly friends by asking them how they’re feeling. A five percent sanity deduction will occur for asking one of these questions.

“Are you okay?
“How do you feel?”

Purpose question

Asking the ghost why it is there will reveal its purpose and what exactly is doing there. Players will lose five percent sanity for asking this question.

“Why are you here?”

Jokes

Players can also tell the ghost a silly joke to receive a specific response back pertaining to the original joke. Telling a joke will result in a five percent sanity deduction.

“Knock knock!”
“Marco!”