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Please suppose in a dialogue between you and your friend he/she is going to start talking about a matter that you feel bad about it and you want to ask them not to enter that subject. Does the sentence below work naturally in this case:

  • We’d better not to enter this subject.

I was wondering if it doesn't sound natural, someone lets me know what is said in this case usually?

Added:

Case one:

Professor: We were talking about the theory of relativity during the last session. We also proved these equations (pointing out to the written list which is appeared on the Video Projector curtain.) There are some related equations too that I like to bring them all up and discuss about them, but we are short of time. We'd better not enter this subject at least now.

Case two:

Maria and Denis are in love. Once when they are talking about their past evidences, Denis starts to talk about one of his ex-girls and it sounds a bit upsetting to Maria to hear about it. She just says: "If you don't mind, please don't enter this subject please Denis."

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    Please don't go there.
    – user3169
    Feb 12, 2017 at 21:03
  • These are two completely different scenarios and the first example has nothing to do with the question posed in the title.
    – TimR
    Feb 13, 2017 at 0:17
  • @TRomano, but there is only one single sentence in our language which can be freely used in both sentences. For us, they are "too" similar cases.
    – A-friend
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:08
  • @TRomano may I change the subject? Of course if you and other respectable members don't mind. :)
    – A-friend
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:37

2 Answers 2

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There are dozens of ways to say this. Could you provide more context? Do you want to be polite? Curt? Dismissive? Afraid?

For example I could say:

I'd rather not go there right now. (polite)

or I could say

I have no interest in discussing that. (curt)

or

What an idiotic topic of conversation. (dismissive)

or

That subject really bothers me and I don't want to talk about it. (fearful)

Again, without more information, the list is very large.

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  • I will make up a scenario. Thank you very much again.
    – A-friend
    Feb 12, 2017 at 22:44
  • Is it possible in my both cases say: "We'd better no go there." in polite way @Andrew?
    – A-friend
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:21
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    "It's better not to go there" is already fairly polite, although a "please" doesn't hurt: "Please let's not go there."
    – Andrew
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:32
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    No, neither is natural English. The professor would say "but we had better not get into this subject (just) now". Maria says to Denis, "please don't talk about your exes."
    – Andrew
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:47
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    I disagree with TRomano that these are completely separate subjects, but each would say it in a different way. As I said in English there are many ways to say this, so it's difficult to narrow to a single example that works in any context.
    – Andrew
    Feb 13, 2017 at 22:15
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If a subject is making you feel uncomfortable you can say

I'd rather not talk about it (right now).
I don't really want to talk about this.
I don't feel comfortable discussing this.

to avoid the subject. You might also say

Can we talk about something else.
Must we discuss this?

Of course you can suddenly change the subject

Nice weather we're having today!

to throw off the line of conversation.

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  • Thank you very much for your ever detailed posts @Peter. They are always useful. Just not to be forgotten, you didn't mention anything about the case when you're short of time. #1 :)
    – A-friend
    Feb 13, 2017 at 21:14
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    If you are pressed for time, but feel a long discussion is necessary, you can always say "Sorry, I have to run to something. Can we discuss this later when I have more time?" If you don't intent to follow up later than "Can we discuss this later..." will suffice.
    – Peter
    Feb 13, 2017 at 22:07

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