Resulta que

Resulta que is one of those conversation elements that make your Spanish sound more natural but can be difficult to remember to use. Once you get the hang of it, you'll find lots of opportunities to use it.

Telling New Information

Sometimes you want to alert your listener that you're about to share surprising new information, for example, the latest developments on a topic you've been discussing. Here's how it might work: [Prefacing, setting the topic:] So remember how I told you about my friend who doesn't use condoms, how he says they're uncomfortable? [New information:] Well it turns out he just got his girlfriend pregnant. Pues resulta que acaba de embarazar a su novia.

Think of resulta que as a signal to the listener that the important part of a story is coming up: Conocí a un tipo anoche en una fiesta y resulta que trabaja en la misma empresa que tu hermana. Qué casualidad, ¿no? What's the important information here? That the speaker works in the same company as the listener's sister. So that part can be prefaced with resulta que.

Reacting with Resulta que

Here's a line muy telenovelera that I've used to get a laugh. When someone implies that a problem is your fault, you can reply: O sea, ¿ahora resulta que yo tengo la culpa? So now you're saying it's my fault?

Es que works similarly but is used for giving reasons.