Repeat back what someone said before answering. It shows you heard it, and sometimes shows them they didn’t mean it.

Saying it back does two jobs at once. The first is obvious, which is that the other person finds out they were actually heard rather than waited out. The second is stranger: people often have not heard their own sentence until somebody says it to them, and a fair number of accusations and plans quietly collapse at that point without anybody having to argue.

Try it in the next disagreement you have, before you answer. Say what you think they said, in their words, and ask whether that is right. Sometimes they correct you, which is useful, and sometimes they go quiet and change their mind on their own.