Talk to Nikola Tesla (AI) and practise your English
Ask Nikola Tesla how a rotating magnetic field turns a motor, what he showed the crowds at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, or why he spent his old age feeding pigeons in New York. This AI character is courteous, precise and a little dramatic, and he describes machines as if you could see them turning. When you make a mistake, he repeats your sentence correctly inside his reply, then asks you something back. You can start free, with no sign-up.
Serbian-American inventor, born in 1856 in Smiljan (now Croatia). He worked for Edison's company, dug ditches in hard times, then invented an AC induction motor and the Tesla coil and dreamed of sending power without wires. Courteous, a little dramatic and full of stories about how it all happened.
An AI-generated character inspired by historical records. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing the real person or their estate. It can make mistakes.
Nikola Tesla
AI characterAsk Nikola Tesla how a rotating magnetic field turns a motor, what he showed the crowds at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, or why he spent his old age feeding pigeons in New York. This AI character is courteous, precise and a little dramatic, and he describes machines as if you could see them turning. When you make a mistake, he repeats your sentence correctly inside his reply, then asks you something back. You can start free, with no sign-up.
Serbian-American inventor, born in 1856 in Smiljan (now Croatia). He worked for Edison's company, dug ditches in hard times, then invented an AC induction motor and the Tesla coil and dreamed of sending power without wires. Courteous, a little dramatic and full of stories about how it all happened.
An AI-generated character inspired by historical records. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing the real person or their estate. It can make mistakes.Who was Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, then in the Austrian Empire and now in Croatia, on 10 July 1856 by today’s calendar (28 June by the old Julian calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in which his father was a priest). He studied engineering in Graz but left without a degree, then worked for a telephone company in Budapest and for Edison’s company in Paris. In June 1884 he moved to New York, worked at the Edison Machine Works for about six months and left, possibly over an unpaid bonus. In 1886 investors pushed him out of his first company, and he took repair and labouring jobs.
In 1888 he patented an alternating-current (AC) induction motor and licensed it to George Westinghouse. He became a US citizen in 1891, the year he patented the Tesla coil. Westinghouse lit the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago with AC, and in 1898 Tesla showed a radio-controlled boat at Madison Square Garden. In 1899 he built a laboratory in Colorado Springs and produced artificial lightning; his Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island, meant to send messages and power without wires, was never finished. He died in his room at the Hotel New Yorker on 7 January 1943, aged 86. In 1960 the SI unit of magnetic flux density was named the tesla.
What you can talk about with Nikola
Conversation missions
A mission gives your chat a goal, so you know what to say first and practise one useful piece of English.
- Ask Nikola 3 questions about his first job in New York
- Tell Nikola 4 things you did or loved as a child
- Describe your best friend to Nikola in 4 sentences
- Tell Nikola about a fair, festival or show you went to, using 'there was / there were'
- Tell Nikola about a hard time in your life and how it got better, in 5 sentences
- Tell Nikola about a storm you remember, using 'I was … when …'
The English you will practise with Nikola
Nikola’s life is full of sudden turns: a flash of an idea, a lost company, a night of man-made lightning. That makes him a natural partner for telling stories in the past, putting events in order and imagining how things could have gone differently. At beginner level he asks about your childhood and your friends; at higher levels he wants your opinion and your reasons.
- Past simple, regular and irregular: “I moved”, “I worked”, “I lost”, “I built”, “I began”.
- Past continuous with past simple: “I was walking home when the storm started.”
- Time clauses for the moment an idea arrives: “As soon as I saw it, I knew”, “while I was walking”.
- The past passive for history: “The motor was patented in 1888 and licensed to Westinghouse.”
- The third conditional: “If Tesla had stayed in Paris, would he have met Westinghouse?”
- Electricity and invention words: current, motor, coil, spark, patent, wireless.
A sample conversation with Nikola
See how a mistake is fixed inside the reply, then the conversation carries on.
Yesterday I go to a job interview and I don't get the job.
Ah, you went to a job interview yesterday and you didn't get the job? I know that feeling! In 1886 I lost my company and dug ditches for two dollars a day. Two years later, George Westinghouse wanted my motor. So tell me, what did they ask you?
Do you know smartphones? Everyone has one in their pocket now.
Everyone? Wonderful! In 1926 I told a magazine that a man would carry a wireless instrument in his vest pocket. Is that what you mean? I have never seen one, so you must be my teacher. What does it do, and where does it get its power?
Edison was your enemy and he stole your ideas, right?
Enemy? No, that is too simple, my friend. I worked for his company for only six months and left angry about a bonus I never received. We thought very differently: he tried everything, one by one, and I calculated first. But he worked like a bee! Why do you think people love a story about two enemies?
You said 3, 6 and 9 are the key to the universe!
Did I? I do not remember writing that, and I wrote a great deal. People put many strange words in my mouth. What I truly wrote about was sending energy without wires. But tell me, where did you read this?
Questions about chatting with Nikola
Am I really talking to Nikola Tesla?
No. This is an AI-generated character inspired by historical records about Nikola Tesla. It is not the real person, does not represent him or his estate, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by anyone connected to him, including any company that uses his name. It can make mistakes, so check important facts.
Is chatting with AI Nikola Tesla free?
Yes. You can send 10 messages a day free, without an account. To keep talking, create a free TalkDrill account; your chat moves into your account, so Nikola remembers the stories you have already swapped.
How does talking to Nikola help my English?
You tell stories and he really listens. When you make a mistake, Nikola says your sentence again the right way inside his answer (“Ah, you were working late when the lights went out?”), then asks what happened next. You see the correct form without being stopped, and you keep writing in full sentences.
What can I ask him about?
His childhood in Smiljan and Gospić, the idea for his motor, arriving in New York in 1884, the “war of the currents” between AC and DC, his coils and radio-controlled boat, Colorado Springs and Wardenclyffe, and friends such as Mark Twain. You can also bring him a famous story about himself and decide together whether it is record or legend.
Is it suitable for students?
Yes. Nikola keeps to school-safe topics and politely changes the subject when a conversation goes somewhere it should not. He explains his machines only in general terms, never gives instructions for building electrical devices at home, and stays out of politics. Replies are shorter and simpler for beginners.
