STOP SAYING “I’M FINE!” | Reply This to "HOW ARE YOU?"

hey how are you you hear this phrase all the time and I'm sure you have a reflex to answer I'm fine thank you this was like your first English class at school right but the thing is what we've learned in school is not always applicable in real life in America for example if you're asked how are you in the majority of cases people don't care which means that your answer should depend on whether people care or not and I'm fine thank you it's really well kind of old-fashioned so today I'm gonna teach you how to

reply - how are you in different situations and with different people so here interested continue watching [Music] first let's look at some quick phrases that you can use you would use those phrases with acquaintances or strangers what does it mean when you come to a grocery store and the cashier asks you how are you this is a stranger and you don't want to tell them that you know everything is bad and you have to pay this college bill whatever or somebody sitting next to you in a bus or you're riding in an elevator like I've

read in an elevator every day I mean my neighbors and they're always how are you it doesn't mean really interested how am i they just want to start a conversation those people are also strangers actually in the United States people ask you how are you sometimes it's equal to hello and it's not really a question so in this situations it's better to give a short answer because you don't want to be too daunting with explaining what's going on in your life the first short answer is not bad which depending on your intonation can be either

positive or neutral so if you say no bad that means everything is okay everything is going well you can all say not bad which is neutral or not bad this is positive not bad the next right so you can say all right again here it means you're fine and everything depends on your intonation all right it's like okay neutral everything is all right positive you know you're enjoying your life I know right the next thing you can say good I'm good and sometimes you think that saying I'm good is grammatically incorrect because when we're talking

about actions we normally use adverbs instead of adjectives so for example saying we danced good is wrong we danced well it's better but because in this sentence you're actually saying I am good or you can just say good it makes a grammatically correct so don't worry about it I'm good is a completely grammatically correct phrase and it means that you're happy everything is going well in your life so again this is the last answer that I'm giving you when you reply to strangers so let's repeat them not bad all right good very short kind of

informal and you don't waste other people's time because you remember that how are you is just a way of saying hello and be polite but if you're talking to your friends if you're talking to your family members if you're talking to somebody who's really close it's actually impolite to just tell them like yeah I'm okay whatever I'm good you want to be more explicit you want to go into details because these people actually care about you and they want to know what's going on in your life you can say I'm exhausted you're really tired there

are a lot of things going on at work and you really want to complain them do it that's a perfect situation to complain because you're talking to your friends I'm exhausted if you tell your friend that you're okay sometimes if he's really worried about you he might ask you just okay and this would be an appropriate follow-up question because they might notice that something is not well that something's going on so they want more honesty from you okay you can say I'm frustrated my aunt in San Francisco she just got a new job and we

met for dinner and I was like how are you and she's like I'm frustrated there is this co-worker who is so annoying who is he's actually below her shows she manages him and he's trying to tell her what to do all the time and she said I'm first rated I don't know how to deal with him I don't know how to settle in this new working space because this guy keeps telling me what to do when in the reality I'm his manager totally appropriate phrase to answer question how are you I'm first to rated okay

I'm just frustrated if a friend calls you and you know he would always call when he has free time and wants to talk he didn't tell them hey I'm busy you know I'm recording a video for handling over in the channel I'm gonna call you back in half an hour I'm busy I'm busy you see what we're talking about here is giving people more details about how you're actually feeling and the next phrase is stressed out how are you I'm so stressed out right now you know I have exams coming in a week I have

to apply for a job I have to apply for a visa blah blah blah so there's a lot going on in your life and you are under this pressure I'm so stressed out by the way in the task for you after this video is to tell me how you are and I'm asking you how are you and if you already have a phrase in mind write it down comments below and tell me what's going on in your life let's make it more informal let's make it in a way that friends and relatives do tell me

how are you feeling what's going on in your life using one of those phrases that you're learning right now another very common phrase I've been better normally it's followed up by actually complaining about something or explaining what's going on in your life and why right now is not the best time why you're not enjoying your life right now and if you say I've been better I will probably ask what's going on why every better if everything is great if you don't want to go into too many details you can just say I'm great everything is

great how are you I'm great and the last but not the least if something is coming up in your life you're having a baby you're heading out to a concert you are getting in your job you can say I'm excited I'm excited and don't forget that when people ask you especially your friends when they ask you how you are and when you tell them what's going on in your life it's very important that you also ask them back what's going on in their lives because this is the way you start a conversation this is the

way you've being polite and maintaining relationship with people who matter to you that was it for me guys for today thank you so much for watching this video don't forget to subscribe this channel like this video if you liked it and I will see you very soon in the next video