36 Smart and Interesting Responses to HOW ARE YOU

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hello everyone and welcome back to

english with lucy today i’m doing one of

your requests somebody asked me how to

respond to how are you and they don’t

just want to say i’m fine or I’m good

some more advanced interesting and

creative ways to answer how are you now

I’ve mentioned before that this question

how are you does not always mean what do

you think it means it’s not always

necessary to reply to how are you with

how you are in this lesson I’m going to

tell you all about how to answer this

very common and important question and

I’m going to help you sound more

advanced and more like a native speaker

before we get started I would just like

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up right let’s get started with the

lesson firstly I want to discuss some

common mistakes that non-native speakers

often make and

native speakers as well and there’s also

a perceived mistake natives will tell

you that you’re wrong

but you’re actually right and we’ll go

through that many people will tell you

that it’s incorrect to respond to how

are you with I’m good

they say it’s wrong it’s not wrong to

any natives who are listening and

thinking oh my word my mother told me it

was wrong my whole life your mother was

wrong I’m sorry even my own parents told

me that it was wrong to say I’m good I

should say I’m well however in this case

good can be used I think my parents

probably told me not say it because it

sounded too American and as a child I

had this terrible habit of picking up

phrases that I’d seen on American TV

shows and using them in a tiny little

British accent and they hated it saying

I’m good is grammatically correct if you

are not directly referring to your

health so if you’re just saying in

general I am good it’s fine just as if

you’d say in general I am bad I’m well

is also fine and it normally means that

you’re referring to your health for

saying good or satisfactory however this

is where people get confused if you say

I’m doing well that’s fine but be

careful when responding with I’m doing

good because if you say I am doing good

it means you are doing good things like

visiting homeless shelters and donating

toys to children’s hospitals good things

you aren’t talking about how you are now

let’s take a look at some easy ways to

say I’m good or I’m fine I’m good

I’m fine I’m well are pretty overused

they’re very very boring so if you want

to impress an examiner or impress a

native speaker or just your friends and

family take a look at these we can add

pretty

so we’d say I’m pretty good I’m pretty

well you could say pretty fine maybe not

as much in the UK but maybe more in

America pretty in this case means fairly

I’m fairly good I’m fairly well you can

also say quite I’m quite good I’m quite

well but that sounds much more formal

I’m quite well thank you very formal to

me if you want to emphasize how good you

are you can say really I’m really good

really well now those are still pretty

basic so what about some more

interesting ways to respond to how are

you well one I really like is I’ve never

been better

shorten - never been better this means

that you are feeling truly great

you could also say so far so good

this is also commonly used if you’re

doing a task you’re talking about the

progress until now it’s been going well

your life has been going well

another one one that I’m seeing a lot

nowadays is can’t complain and this can

be said in more than one way it depends

on the tone of voice if I say can’t

complain it means my life is amazing but

I don’t want to brag about it so I’m

just gonna say can’t complain if I said

I can’t complain I guess can’t complain

it means could be worse the more common

use is the sort of self-deprecating not

wanting to show off kind of use and

another one is better than I deserve I

like this one it’s quite funny this is

quite a tongue-in-cheek one okay I’m

gonna give you a couple of silly ones as

well if you want to make people laugh or

cringe if someone asks if you’re a dog

lover and someone asks you how you are

you could say if I had a tail I would

wag it

and you can also have a couple of flirty

ones

if someone says how are you you could

reply with word on the street is and I’m

pretty good or I’m great but I’m totally

biased I love those ones I am I’m

standing on my own in my studio laughing

alone at how much I like these words now

what do you say if you’re neither good

nor bad if you are okay I’m okay it’s

really really boring though let’s look

at some other more exciting ones like

I’m alright now I wanted to mention I’m

alright because it’s a unique one in the

sense that it can be both a question and

an answer I might say to someone all

right

and they’ll say all right so it’s like

how are you yeah I’m okay

it’s very very frequently used just be

careful on the pronunciation we don’t

always pronounce the L we don’t say all

right we say all right all right

another one is so so so so I could could

be better the next one not too bad is

again one that depends on tone of voice

if I say not too bad it means good but

in this case not too bad

it means like I mean I’m not great

another one could be better it could be

better but I could also be worse that’s

something you can add on to the end if

everything’s just really boring an

average you can say same-old same-old

really another couple which mean you’re

just this close to being bad is I’m

alive or I’m surviving and the last good

enough good enough they used to be a

teacher at my school could mr. good

enough and I thought what a I don’t want

it so his name but just who named him in

the past he’s not great but he’s good

enough let’s go

mr. good enough a couple of funny ones

especially sarcastic ones they’re quite

useful you could say I’m alright now but

there’s still time for everything to go

horribly wrong or a flirty one better

now that I’m talking to you

that’s quite a charming one now what

should you say if you are bad

if you feel terrible just you’re not

having a good day for whatever reason

well quite a good way to start off a

complaint or a negative phrase is to

start with I’m not going to lie that is

a nice way to prepare someone for the

negativity that is about to escape your

mouth I’m not going to lie

I feel terrible you could also say I’m

not doing so well or I’m struggling a

bit these two imply that you’re

struggling maybe a little bit mentally

or emotionally as well so it’s important

to watch out for somebody who says these

to you because they might need a bit of

support the same way of I’m snowed under

to be snowed under means you’ve just got

too much work you’re completely under

pressure or it’s been a tough day week

or year it’s been a bit of a tough week

another one I’m not having an easy time

at the moment watch out for people who

say those phrases because sometimes

they’re reaching out a little bit and

might need support now what happens if

you feel bad but you don’t necessarily

want to talk about it well I have some

phrases you can use to avoid the

question if someone asks how are you you

could say you don’t want to know or

don’t ask honestly just don’t ask me

another one do I have to answer that

maybe if they know that you’re not

having a good time and they’ve asked how

are you anyway which is a bit annoying

you could say do I really have to answer

that I think you already know or what

happens if somebody asks how are you

really early in the morning you could

say it’s too early to tell and if you

are feeling ill a nice idiom we can use

is I’m a bit under the weather I’m

feeling a bit

under the weather I’m not feeling very

well and finally a couple of funny ones

you could say overworked and underpaid I

remember there was a teacher who would

always say that when I asked him how he

was how are you

overworked and underpaid but I’m doing

ok thank you you could also say slowly

but surely dying actually aren’t we all

if you want to be really sarcastic you

could say somewhere between Blair and or

if you just need a hug you could say

just hug me and leave it at that

right that’s it for today’s lesson I

hope you enjoyed it and I hope you

learned something don’t forget to check

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you soon for another lesson

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you

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