Episode 33 - Starting A Conversation In English - How Are You? - Varied Questions And Answers

We have already covered some vocabulary and options related to this topic all the way back in episode 6, but here we are looking specifically at answers to the question 'How are you?'. I hope it's useful, see you tomorrow!Also remember that as a beginner we need the structure of rules to know where to start and how to build sentences, but as a native speaker we rarely know as many rules as language learners do. This means that while the rules are essential to start learning a language, as you become more advanced you start to notice where native speakers often break them, or don't use them at all. 😔 So we can ask: How are you? How's it going? (Pronunciation: Howzit goin?) How have you been? This last one is usually asked when we haven't seen someone for a little while. But you don't really need to be any more creative than that, instead we're more likely to vary the answer. Mistakes How are you? It was good. This doesn't work, we need a pronoun and we're asking about right now, so we need 'am' instead: I am good. How are you? I feel great! / I feel happy! This is actually the answer to the question 'how do you feel?'...which we're a lot less likely to ask! We're a bit scared about talking about feelings.😨 Remember, 'how are you' is a kind of greeting, we're rarely actually asking you how you feel or how you are, we're just extending our 'hello'. Good Options How are you? I'm good. This is good. The grammar is right 'I am' or 'I'm' and we can match it with an adjective: good, great, well, fine, OK etc Here is a list of other alternative answers you might hear native speakers using in response to the question: How are you? Fine thanks, you? This is the shortened version of 'Fine thank you and you?' Grammatically it's not good, but it works, we understand and it's very common. 'I'm grand' is very common in Ireland. Good ta. 'Ta' means 'thanks'. It's very casual. Not bad. All good thanks. Yeah, you alright? This means 'fine, you?' Same old, same old. I'm holding up. Hanging in there. These all mean 'I'm fine', even though they sound bad. They are acknowledging that things/life is stressful, but we rarely ask more questions. When we tell someone to 'hang in there' it's a bit like the Korean 'fighting!' or the Chinese '加油' (Jia You) it means, 'keep going', or 'you're going to be OK', or 'keep trying'. Super! Awesome! Just for very good days (very American!) Could be better. About as close to saying 'I'm not OK' as we get. We might choose to ask more questions, but only if we're willing and have time to hear what is going on. It's all happening! This is often said by someone who is in a rush or very busy. It means 'there is a lot going on' or 'I'm stressed out'. We would rarely ask more because, they're already stressed out or they are very busy. We might say 'let me know if I can help with anything', if we're willing to help. Additional Vocabulary Bear in mind - idiom - I think I said this about 4 times today! It means 'don't forget' or 'try to remember'. There's a big debate still ongoing about whether the spelling should be 'bare' or 'bear' but just remember we'd rather talk about 🐻 than being naked!!🤣🤣 Find out more about the actual grammar about 🐻 here: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/bear-vs-bare/ Erode - to disintegrate 'She can get away with anything' - idiom - 'to get away with something' means you maybe made a mistake or even committed a crime but nobody will stop you and you won't get in trouble. We sometimes use this to refer to favourite members of the family, for example, who, no matter what they do or how they behave, their parents will always forgive them. Elaborate - to make more clear, to go into more detail