Transcript for:
Enhancing Responses to "How are you?" in English

fun fact when i was in university i used to talk in my sleep i'll tell you more about that at the end i'm teacher tiffany let's jump right in [Music] all right has anyone ever asked you this question how are you i'm quite sure they have and maybe your answer was i'm fine thank you and you stop saying this answer now i know you're probably shocked because a lot of you learned this in books in your english classes you learned to say i'm fine thank you and you but in actuality native english speakers don't speak like this so today i'm going to teach you two different ways to properly respond to how are you now let's jump right into my screen here we go so there are two different ways now the first way is give a response that also includes a basic question used by native english speakers and the second way is to give a response that also includes a connection question used by native english speakers so what we're going to do for today's lesson is we're going to look at these two categories and i'm literally going to give you natural ways of responding based on these two categories so let's go to the first category remember giving your response plus a basic question so here we go all right now the first example we have is this one and i have happy answer plus basic question now very quickly when i say happy answer it means my response is based on my feeling okay so here we go i can say i'm doing great thanks how about you so again first we have how about you this is a way you can respond with the basic question instead of saying and you you can say how about you all right now next let's see let's say for example you just want to give a normal response i'm pretty good thanks what's new with you alright so in english when we say what's new with you we are basically asking the person what's going on in your life is there anything new or anything exciting happening in your life and in english we say what's new with you all right so you can use that one now let's go to the next example here we go the next one is when you're busy you can say i've been a bit busy but okay now really quickly guys i said i've been a bit busy so we use a bit in front of busy to kind of emphasize that yeah we've been a little bit more busy than usual you see i even added a bit right there so you can start using that so again my answer because i'm busy is ah i've been a bit busy but okay now we have to figure out how to ask them another question right so again this is what i said how have things been with you again how have things been with you so for pronunciation after me how have things been with you great job this is another natural way of asking a follow-up question okay so next example here we go you guys are learning a lot in this lesson now let's say you're stressed so you can say things have been a bit rough lately but they're getting better now let's pause again when we say a bit rough in english that's another way of expressing that we're going through a difficult time something that is not easy to go through in english we say a bit rough okay a bit rough now my follow-up question to the person i'm talking to is here we go how have you been one more time how have you been now guys remember as you're watching this lesson you don't have to worry because all of the information is in the free pdf and the link is in the description you can always download the free pdf that goes along with this lesson okay all right let's go back now the question we're gonna ask is again how have you been all right how have you been so next we have satisfied answer plus a basic question i can say never been better so you can say that as well now never been better is used when everything is going great even to look at my face you can see that wow teacher tiffany looks happy no stress everything's good hey never been better all right okay so now let's see the question we would ask them we can say what about you again what about you three simple words what about you hey me man i have never been better what about you so even when i use it toward you you can feel oh wow teacher tiffany really wants to know how i've been right okay now let's jump to the second category okay remember the second category involves asking a connection question so let me explain what that is okay all right so moving on to the next category with the connection question again the happy answer we said i'm doing great thanks now we have a connection question i heard that you now the underlying portion is the portion you were going to change i said got a new job how's that going all right guys so again as we're moving forward in this section when you see the underlying portion that's the portion that you want to change so for me i'm connecting with the person i'm talking to i said hey i heard that you got a new job how's that going i'm connecting my question to something that i already know about this person that's another important aspect of improving your english because it shows that you're thinking before you speak make sense all right now let's go to the next example remember these patterns are all in the pdf so don't worry okay all right so now let's say we're wanting to give a normal answer again i'm pretty good thanks now here's the connection question i saw your facebook post about your business what's the update alright so again guys i saw something connected to the person that i'm speaking to and i chose to say hey i saw your facebook post about your business what's the update i want to know more information about something that i saw that is going on in the person's life that's what you want to do so you can say i saw dot dot dot what's the update so you can use the same pattern again you're gonna sound more natural and more like a native english speaker when you use these responses to how are you instead of just saying i'm fine thank you and you you don't want to sound like a robot you want to sound more natural okay so let's keep going here we go all right now our next one is the busy answer again we said i've been a bit busy but okay now we say i remember that you said you were also working on some things any update all right so now again the underlying portion remember i said also working on some things so the portion the pattern you want to memorize is i remember that you said you were and then put something there so think about a conversation you had with this person ah i remember that you said you were trying to get a new job any update so again the person listening will really want to respond to you and appreciate the fact that you're connecting with them again showing your english fluency is improving alright so next example here we go now for the next one we have the stressed answer so things have been a bit rough lately but they're getting better now i know your mom had some good news recently how is she so i have the now in parentheses because you don't have to say that but you can so with this one it's very important that you think of some information that has happened to this person or something that you know is going on in their life right so you say i know you were trying to get a plane ticket to paris how is that going you see i thought about what this person told me or what they were doing and i connected it to my question for them okay so again you can use that pattern and it will change the pattern will stay the same but the information will change depending on who you're speaking to again very important when it comes to showing your fluency okay all right now remember one more here we go so the next one again is the satisfied answer hey i've never been better you are also looking quite happy any special reason alright so i like this one because you're not just focusing on yourself you say hey i've never been better but hey you know what you are also looking very good any special reason or you are also looking amazing any special reason so you see remember english conversation is all about this going back and forth back and forth so this person gave me a compliment then well they asked me how are you and i said yeah i'm good i am amazing i've never been better so i'm happy but i also want to know and want to ask the person i'm talking to hey why are you happy what makes you so happy using this pattern again you are also looking dot dot any special reason so again let's look at it real quick again one more time you are also looking quite happy any special reason all right so guys again we looked at two different categories one where we gave a response and a basic question and the second one gave a response and we added a connection question guys this is really how you begin to answer the question how are you more naturally and more like a native english speaker i really hope you guys enjoyed this lesson remember if you want to continue studying with me and you want me to be your english teacher as always you can join the speak english with tiffany academy you see the link right here on the screen you can click it in the description and join me become a member of my academy and continue learning and improving your english skills don't forget to download the free pdf that goes along with this lesson and as always remember to speak english [Music] you still there i didn't forget so here's the story one day my best friend came to my room when i was in university and she said hey tiff how are you tiff's my nickname i said i'm good how are you she said do you remember anything from last night i said no i slept really well last night how about you she said oh i slept good but before i went to bed i had a conversation with you i said you did i i clearly remember going to sleep before you last night our rooms were across from each other at our dorm um and she said no no i called you last night at 11 30 p.m she said not only did i call you but a group of our friends called you i said huh she said yeah we called you at 11 30 and had a full conversation and i told them that you talk in your sleep i was blown away she told me that they called me on the phone they asked me questions i gave them answers and then i said all right guys have a good night talk to you later and i didn't remember anything so we had a good laugh and she told me tiff you have to be careful because you don't know what you say when you're asleep so that's something funny about me guys a fact that you probably didn't know that i talked in my sleep when i was in university and i still may talk in my sleep but i'll never know i'll see you guys next week