What to say when he only sends one word texts

He might be bad at texting and more comfortable in person. Some people find messaging exhausting and save their real conversation for a call or a date. If everything else feels solid, this is fixable.

Or he's interested but anxious. He doesn't know what to say so he plays it safe with the smallest possible response. This one gets better if you make it easier for him to actually have a thought.

The third option is he's not that interested. One word replies are what you get when someone's lukewarm. He's not rude enough to ghost, just checked out enough that he won't try. This is the one you need to spot early because it won't change.

Don't keep lobbing questions at him like he's a quiz. Instead, reply with something that stands alone. Say something with actual texture to it, something that shows you're not just fishing for a response.

Then step back. Let him decide if he wants to rise to it. A good reply here creates a small moment where staying silent or replying with 'lol' feels noticeably less interesting than actually talking to you. You're not trying to trick him into depth. You're just refusing to make surface level the only option available.

One one word reply could be timing. He's at work, distracted, woke up groggy. Two or three in a row starts to look like a pattern. By the third time, you have real information.

If he's consistently giving single words across a week of texting, and nothing changes when you shift how you write, then you know where you stand. Don't keep testing him or wait for him to suddenly get better at this. Either take it to a call or a date where conversation might flow better, or accept that texting is just dead and move toward someone who meets you halfway on your preferred channel.