...when the woman seated next to me asked me if she could borrow my phone as hers had run out of battery. She just needed to make a call. So I lent her my phone. Got it back. After that, we got to talk/got talking/got to talking. She told me that she was an actress...
I'm not too familiar with the phrase "get to talk". Could anyone please tell me which one of 'got to talk', 'got talking', and 'got to talking' would be correct?
"Got to talk" sounds like you had an opportunity to speak. It could be taken to mean that you had a conversation about something specific. For example "I saw my boss yesterday and I finally got to talk about my salary".
"Got talking" generally means you were able to begin a conversation and often suggests that you went on to have an extended and productive conversation. For example "I got talking to a guy I work yesterday with and it turns out we know a lot of the same people".
"Got to talking" is an idiom peculiar to American English. Is is not used by British English speakers. It is a variation of 'got talking' (ie it means that a conversation started, organically rather than deliberately) and, as this ngram shows, is used slightly more often in a sampling of literature in Google Books in American English.
to get (to) VERB-ing means "eventually began [VERB]ing"
We were sitting around the campfire and got (to) talking about horror films set in the woods.
They all had so much alcohol to drink, sooner or later nearly everyone got to puking.
The latter example is meant to respond to Kate Bunting's comment that it is "something pleasant". It doesn't have to be pleasant. The implication, if there is one, is that the action expressed by VERB was "natural" or "to be expected" under the circumstances. The circumstances led to VERB-ing.
got to talk, got to VERB, by contrast, implies that you have been wanting to talk together, wanting to VERB, but have not had an opportunity to do so.
My sister has been almost overwhelmed with her new job, and I have been out of the country on business myself, but we finally got to talk last night about the surprise birthday party we hope to have for our mom.
The new Broadway show has been so successful that it has been impossible to find affordable tickets. But I got to see it this past weekend.
There's an interesting quirk of English here.
"... got to talking ..." is the correct idiom. "got to" here means that you began to do the action. It may be most often used with "talking", but you could say, "I got to thinking about ..." or "We got to eating candy ..." or many other verbs.
"... got to talk ...", curiously, means something entirely different. It means that we were able to or were allowed to. Like, "The kidnappers told us to be quiet, but when they left the room we got to talk." Or less dramatically, "I wasn't allowed to eat candy when I was on the football team, but when the season ended I finally got to eat a chocolate bar."
This works with many verbs. "I have to stand all day at work but when I go home I finally get to sit down." "When I returned from the tropics I finally got to feel cold again." Etc.
I think "got talking" and "got to talking" mean the same thing. I can't think of a difference.
