want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101. com [Music] welcome to englishclass101. com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hi how's it going i'm alicia nice to meet you in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn new more common ways to ask and answer the question how are you in english you've probably learned how are you and i'm fine in textbooks before but in the united states people will usually ask this question and answer it in a different way first let's review if someone says how are you you can say i'm fine i'm fine here are some other ways to answer pretty good this means about the same thing as i'm fine pretty good we also have not bad you can use this if you are feeling just okay or so-so not bad let's look at our question again how are you this is the most well-known way of asking how someone is you could use it when you want to be polite but now let's look at some different ways to ask how someone is these ways are more casual and much more common first hey how's it going hey how's it going you can answer this in many ways if you're feeling good you can say good good pretty good pretty good not bad not bad once more good pretty good not bad here's a tip even though these answers mean the same thing as i'm fine you can't answer how's it going with i'm fine it will sound a bit strange if you're not feeling good you can say not so good not so good not great not great or not so well not so well be careful if you say one of these the other person will usually ask why what's wrong to be polite then you will have to explain another casual but very common version of how are you is what's up what's up to reply use a cheerful voice as you say not much not much or nothing much nothing much this means you're free and able to chat since what's up is just another way of saying hello you can also reply with hey or hi now it's time for alicia's advice a lot of the time when we ask questions that mean how are you in english we're not actually asking about the other person's health we're only asking to be polite you should think of these questions as another way of saying hello a way for the conversation to get started instead of actual literal questions in fact when someone asks you what's up you don't even have to answer just say what's up in reply [Music] welcome to englishclass101.
com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone i'm alicia in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn how to ask what someone's job is in natural english of course you can just say what is your job this is correct english but it sounds too direct and awkward native english speakers almost never say this in a social situation instead they use a different question but before we master that we need to compare it to a very similar question what are you doing i'm presenting a video about english what do you do i'm an english teacher do you see the difference these two questions what are you doing and what do you do sounds similar but mean different things the first one is asking what you are doing right now this minute you answer it using an ing verb what are you doing i'm reading i'm watching tv while the second is actually a shortened version of what do you do for a living this is how we ask what is your job in natural english let's practice this question what do you do what do you do when native speakers of english ask this question it can come out very fast and sound more like what do you do in order to tell it apart from what are you doing just listen for the ing sound on the end of the question if it's not there then you're being asked what your job is so how would you answer this question just think of it as if the other person is asking you what is your job you could answer with i am plus your job i'm a teacher i'm a teacher or i'm an engineer if you want to learn more job names go to englishclass101. com and check out the core word lists these cover job vocabulary and more and include a picture and audio to help you perfect your pronunciation you can also mention the place that you work at starting with i work at i work at a hospital i work at a hospital i work at a law firm i work at a law firm if you work for a big company that is well known you can say i work for and then the name i work for microsoft i work for microsoft i work for the new york times i work for the new york times now it's time for alicia's advice when you ask the question what do you do and the other person tells you their job it's polite to make some kind of positive comment about his or her job for example how interesting or that must be exciting or even oh really remember to sound sincere [Music] welcome to englishclass101. com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone alicia here in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn how to ask what someone's hobbies are without using the word hobbies you've probably seen the question do you have any hobbies or what are your hobbies in an english textbook before however native english speakers almost never use the word hobbies when asking about them a much more natural way to ask the same question is what do you do for fun let's practice this question what do you do for fun what do you do for fun you can also ask what do you do in your free time what do you do in your free time so how would you answer this question let's look at how native speakers would do it the easiest way is to say i like to or just i like followed by what you like to do for example if you like watching movies you could say i like to watch movies or i like watching movies i like to watch movies or i like watching movies and if you like golf you could say i like to play golf or i like playing golf i like to play golf or i like playing golf you can emphasize how much you like your hobby by adding a word like really in front of like for example i really like watching movies on the other hand if you want to play down how much you like something you can say kind of for example i kind of like playing tennis now it's time for alicia's advice if you don't have any special hobbies or don't want to be specific a good way to reply is i like hanging out with my friends and stuff like that i like hanging out with my friends and stuff like that just use i like and add hanging out with my friends and then add and stuff like that [Music] welcome to englishclass101.
com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone i'm alicia this series explains some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn some different ways people will ask you where are you from first though where are you from can mean many things it can mean what city are you from or what state are you from in fact americans ask this question to each other all the time to learn what part of america the other person comes from of course though it can also mean what country are you from if you want to answer this question there are two ways to do it you can say i'm plus your nationality as in i'm japanese or i'm brazilian or you can say i'm from plus the country you are from as in i'm from italy or i'm from thailand if you're from a really famous city or place you can say that too for example i'm from beijing or i'm from new delhi many times though americans won't ask what country are you from or even where are you from in many casual situations they will say it in a simpler way where are you from this is just like where are you from but they take out the are where are you from you can use this too in casual situations of course in the united states as in other parts of the world people may be a little more indirect because they want to be polite to do this they might ask you if you are from the place where they meet you for example if you meet someone in new york they might ask are you from new york or if you are in san diego they might ask are you from san diego many parts of the united states are very multicultural so asking the question this way avoids what could be an embarrassing mistake you can answer this the same way you answer where are you from just add a simple no in front for example you can say no plus i'm plus nationality no i'm french or no plus i'm from plus country no i'm from russia now it's time for alicia's advice since the united states is very large people you meet may take great pride in the place or region they come from if you ask someone about where they're from they may respond by saying something like west coast or the east coast or california or the south or the midwest if they answer in this way it usually means they are interested in talking more about their region and how it differs from others [Music] welcome to englishclass101. com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone i'm alicia this series will teach you some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn some new ways to ask someone what's your name including one that you can use when you have forgotten someone's name now what is your name was probably one of the first questions you learned when you started studying english i have to tell you though that most native speakers of english would never say this in english just like in other languages it is often more polite to be a little indirect of course the easiest way to avoid asking the question directly is to not ask at all just introduce yourself and most people will respond by doing the same when introducing yourself simple is nearly always best just say hi i'm alicia to show that you want to know the other person's name just add and you at the end hi i'm alicia and you hi i'm alicia and you just like before take out my name alicia and put your name in its place after you say this the other person will tell you his or her name okay now let's talk about an embarrassing situation that happens to everybody you have already met this person once before but you have forgotten their name the most polite thing to do in this situation is to apologize and ask again there's a simple way to do this that's also polite i'm sorry what was your name again i'm sorry what was your name again this sentence is very similar to what's your name but it has three important differences first we say i'm sorry a small apology can go a long way after that we say what was your name this is just like what is your name but instead of is we use the past tense was this is really important as it tells the other person that you remember meeting them you haven't forgotten him or her you have just forgotten the name this little word makes all the difference i'm sorry what was your name finally we add again to the end this is another hint that tells the other person that you remember learning his or her name before but you just can't recall it right now i'm sorry what was your name again this phrase is appropriate for both formal and informal situations now it's time for alicia's advice in the united states it's normal to address people by name in conversation more than once in both formal and informal situations it's a way to show respect or interest in the other person and can help you make friends it is also a great way to practice someone's name so you don't forget it if you are talking to someone named ann for example instead of just what do you do for fun you could say and what do you do for fun you can also put the name at the end of the sentence what do you do for fun ann you don't want to say the person's name too often or it will sound a little strange but if you practice someone's name like this you won't forget it and people love to hear their own name [Music] welcome to english class 101. com english in 3 minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone i'm alicia in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn some ways to get in touch with someone after you have met them once already in a lot of textbooks you've probably seen the question what's your phone number what's your phone number it's a very useful question but there are two problems with it first it can sound a little too direct especially when talking to members of the opposite sex and second people use the phone a lot less these days than they used to instead they might prefer to connect by email or on a social network like facebook to start though a simple variation on what's your phone number that sounds a little less direct is could i get your number could i get your number we start the sentence with could which softens the request next say i then get and finally your number which is short for your phone number this question is slightly casual but it can be used in almost any situation recently many people prefer to use email rather than the phone to communicate asking someone for his or her email address is also a little less direct than asking for their phone number could i get your email address could i get your email address we just took could i get your number and replaced number with email address it's that simple could i get your email address if someone asks you either of these questions you can reply by saying sure my phone number is sure my phone number is or sure my email address is sure my email address is or sure it's and then say your phone number or email address at the end by the way if you're having any trouble with numbers check out englishclass101.
com core word lists for these and other key vocabulary words each word comes with a picture audio samples so you can perfect your pronunciation and sample sentences and phrases so you can master its use in a sentence recently many people use social networks like facebook or linkedin or an online chatting service like skype to communicate people might ask you about these especially if they are younger if someone wants to connect with you through one of these services they may simply ask are you on followed by the name of the service are you on facebook are you on facebook are you on linkedin are you on linkedin are you on skype are you on skype to answer you can simply say yes i am or no i'm not if you respond with yes i am the other person may ask how they can connect with you on one of these services of course if you're not on one of these services they won't be able to contact you if you still would like to stay in touch with the person though you can say no but my email address is or no but my phone number is and then say your email address or phone number by telling the other person a different way they can contact you you'll show them that you want to hear from them now it's time for alicia's advice if you ask someone for their phone number their email address or some other form of contact information they will usually give it to you if you have gotten to know them a little beforehand if you ask too early in the conversation though they may be hesitant about sharing that information the key is to make sure you talk for some time before requesting this kind of personal information [Music] welcome to english class 101. com english in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn english hey everyone i'm alicia in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in english it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn how to ask and say where you live usually someone will ask you where you live as a polite question after they've asked you your name where you're from and what you do for a living they'll say so where do you live this is inviting you to keep making conversation there are lots of ways you could answer this question but here are some of the most common you could say do you know and then the name of the area you live in do you know twin pines or you could mention a local landmark like near the library near the movie theater you could also answer by telling the person what train line you live on if your city has a train network or what station is the nearest to your house on the green line near central station so as you can see there are lots of possible ways to answer the question where do you live once you've told them the other person might respond in one of the following ways oh yeah i know it i live near there or maybe i'm afraid i don't know it the other person is just being polite by showing interest so you can reply by saying something like oh really since the other person is asking you this question to be polite a good way to continue the conversation is to ask them the same question in return you can just say how about you or where do you live put some stress on the you where do you live now it's time for alicia's advice asking where someone lives is a way to try to find something you have in common with the person you're talking to so if you're familiar with the area the other person lives in make some comments about it that's a really nice area or the park there is really pretty anything is fine as long as you don't say anything negative that could be taken as offensive like that area has a high crime rate or i hear that area is really dangerous [Music] welcome to english class 101.
