Practical English Greetings and Responses in Everyday life

welcome back to our weekly live stream

my name is Alisha and today we’re going

to talk about quick responses to

everyday greeting so today is going to

be lots of phrases that you can use to

quickly respond to very common questions

so the idea is you don’t have to think

so much about these so today I’m going

to cover very quick greetings very basic

greetings like what’s up how are you

how’s it going then we’re going to talk

about some like greetings where you want

to give details sometimes and then

finally we’ll talk about greetings

asking about your future plans

so please as you join live please make

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so with that then yes I’ve mentioned we

have free stuff for you as always then

we’re going to talk as I said about

quick responses to everyday greetings

so I’m going to share the video and then

I’m going to begin the lesson today I’m

going to talk a lot about some sample

patterns that you can use to reply to

these greetings but if you have a

greeting or sorry if you have a response

that you like to use or if you have a

question about a response you can send

that in the chat and we can talk about

it and see if it’s appropriate or not so

all right I have jarred the video so I

will now begin the lesson okay so let’s

begin today’s lesson by talking about

quick

greetings really quick greetings so the

very first one I want to talk about is

what’s up what’s up so very simple very

common greeting in American English

what’s up what’s up is a little more

casual than how are you so how do you

respond to what’s up respond to what’s

up with one of these usually we respond

with not much you not much you at native

speed sounds like how much you so this

is very very casual not much you sounds

like no much you question mark at the

end if you like just respond with the

same question what’s up what’s up you

can totally do that no problem

hey what’s up hey what’s up totally

natural just reply with the same thing

if you can’t remember not much you just

say the same thing in return to the

other person what’s up hey what’s up

fine totally fine totally natural to do

that

third ask a different question how is it

going how is it going so we’ll talk

about this in just a moment hey what’s

up hey how’s it going hey how’s it going

so this how’s it going this is the

reduced form of how is this house is how

is it going how is it going but we do

not say how is it going it’s very

unnatural so how’s it going how’s it

going is another way to say how are you

so it it in this sentence how is it

going means how is your life going how

like are the things in your life right

now how are you doing this is another

way to ask this question

so do you quickly respond to what’s up

use one of these so what’s up not much

you what’s up what’s up

totally fine or what’s up hey how’s it

going totally good to use all of these

so these are easy to remember just train

like as I said just three of these so

that you can practice them quickly okay

let’s go to the next set of just super

super quick greetings so first let’s

take a look at these greetings they are

how are you how is it going which I just

talked about here and how are things so

how are you I think many of you know how

are you and how is it going as I just

said how’s it going means like how is

your life going how is your life doing

and how are things how are things so

this question this things means like

things in your life how are the like

how’s your family how’s school how’s

work how’s everything so all of those

things how are they how are they how are

things so these all mean how is your

life right now how are you so it but

it’s a very small just greeting question

so at native speed this sounds like hey

how are you how’s it going how are

things so how do we answer these

questions

of course with how are you you can

respond with good great and so on but I

want to talk a little bit about maybe a

few more ways to answer this that maybe

we don’t see so often in textbooks so

let’s take a look first yeah good yeah

good so when you when you say this as a

response don’t use like downward

intonation I would say use upward

intonation to show that you are good so

for example how are you yeah good yeah

good so there’s that pause yeah good not

like yeah good like that gives the wrong

impression so maybe you want to like

sound kind of sad but you want to use

good it’s kind of strange you could do

that but yeah good yeah or yeah I’m good

is also okay to use another so these are

all answers to these questions another

one you can use is I’m all right I’m all

right

so again basically the same level as

yeah good so how are you or how’s it

going I’m all right that’s usually the

intonation we use how’s it going I’m all

right I’m all right so all right is kind

of like fine it’s like saying I’m fine

so it just sounds a little more friendly

like a little more casual

how are you alright that’s and I I feel

like personally I usually do this motion

like I’m alright I’m cool I’m good so

I’m alright point don’t forget this

I’m mmm that I am the I am reduces to

I’m so not I alright I see that in

comments a lot I’m all right I’m all

right I’m all right that’s how we

pronounce it at native speed and in

regular intonation okay

next one is not bad not bad so when we

say not bad we usually say nothing not

bad so kind of huh that’s sort of the

sound of it that’s sort of the rhythm so

how are you not bad again this sort of

I’m not bad so we use not bad to mean

like I’m not great but again I’m not bad

either it’s just sort of so-so but so so

we don’t use that much and everyday

conversation I’ll tell you a little a

couple other ones you can use instead of

so-so okay the next one is pretty good

pretty good when we say when we respond

with pretty good for example how’s it

going and pretty good pretty good so we

usually have this sort of like um yeah

there’s sort of like a an agreement

phrase or something like that yeah

uh-huh uh to show we heard the other

person so how’s it going yeah pretty

good I’m pretty good you could say - I’m

pretty good so again not great not bad

but just alright pretty good so these

all mean about the same thing you can

choose whichever you prefer here this

one same old same old

and yes we repeat it same old same old

two times there so this expression

emphasizes that nothing has changed so

we are doing the same old things or our

life it’s like the same old life the

same old same old kind of thing so

nothing special nothing bad just same

old same old so when we reply we sound

like how’s it going same old same old

that’s really what it sounds like same

old same old same old same old so up and

then down not same old same old sounds

really strange same old same old so make

sure your voice moves down when you

reply with this how’s it going same old

same old

or how are things the same old same old

so this sounds very natural when nothing

is super special you have nothing really

exciting to report just kind of the same

as usual

is the feel here okay next one we’re

getting into these are kind of more

negative responses so right here this

group this group it’s a bit yeah I think

thank you I think we could see all of

these these responses are a little bit

on the negative side they have kind of a

negative feel about them so if you use

these responses you will probably be

asked a question like you might want to

give some more information for example

how are things not so great not so great

so when we say not-so-great it sounds

like hey how are things not so great not

so great

so it has that downward feel to it not

so great or I’m not so great it’s also

okay to use not so great so so great is

a good thing but I’m not so great so the

level is like down here in other words

it’s kind of bad but we don’t say kind

of bad I’m kind of bad we say not so

great I’m not so great I’m not so great

another one this one’s very useful is

it’s hard to see here it is a bit sick a

bit sick or you can change bits so bits

bi t means little little like I said

this today when I came in like our

control just said how are you today and

I said I think I’m a little sick or I

think I’m getting sick maybe I’m getting

sick so if you feel like oh maybe I’m

catching a cold or I’m getting sick you

can say I’m a bit sick I’m a bit sick so

this is kind of like oh I’m not so good

so why in this case I’m a bit sick I’m a

little sick so not so great I’m a bit

sick this one this is maybe the most

interesting response on this

it is hanging in there hanging in there

hanging in there

here it’s maybe hard to see the spelling

this is H ange1 ' here hang in hang in

this is cuz because um this is like the

short form the casual form of hanging in

there hanging in there hanging in there

means I’m doing my best like something

is difficult for me but I’m still trying

my best so this again sounds like you’re

in a challenging period of your life I’m

hanging in there something is difficult

for me but I’m trying a lot I’m hanging

in there so maybe you have lots of work

to do

we’re lots of stress sir you haven’t

been sleeping a lot recently you feel

tired you can say I’m hanging in there

so hey how are you I’m hanging in there

hanging in there

hanging in there someone in the chat

said a bit no this sorry the G the G

connected here this should be a bit sick

a bit sick that’s what it says on the

board yes I see okay the G connected I’m

sorry so these are responses

oh one more you can use this last one

may be hard to see again this last one

is exhausted the pronunciation is

exhausted not X husted but exhausted

like eggs you can think of the

pronunciation like eggs the food so

exhausted exhausted means very very

tired

so you can say I’m tired I’m pretty

tired also I’ve learned that in America

in American English we use the word

quite to mean very so you can say I’m

pretty tired or I’m quite tired if you

really want to emphasize you’re very

very tired you can say exhausted

exhausted I’m exhausted so in response

how’s it going I’m exhausted or how are

things

exhausted so really super super tired

but again if you use one of these like

negative responses you probably should

be prepared to give some more

information okay so these are our quick

greetings after this we’re going to

practice detailed some some like detail

related questions so let’s take one

short break and then we will come back

so I Wow there are lots of people

watching cool excellent I want to share

a couple of the free PDF things that you

can find from the link below the video

on YouTube or above the video on

Facebook so today we’re talking are we

gonna use the webcam today we’re talking

about like quick responses to greetings

so these I picked a couple of PDFs I

thought would be useful the first this

is the back-to-school PDF but I always

like to share the back these are

expressions you can use in class yes but

today’s lesson is something you can

definitely use with your classmates and

with your teachers as well so today’s

lesson you can use at school for sure

the other one that I chose was this one

the family and relatives one so these

are also greetings you can use and some

other phrases here you can use with your

family members with your relatives

people in your neighborhood and so on so

these are just a couple of examples of

the PDFs that we have for free you can

find them from the link below the video

on youtube or above the video on

Facebook if you’re watching on Instagram

please check a YouTube or Facebook also

I cannot see your comments live uh hi

Victor from Guadalajara one of our

members thanks for joining us okay uh

yeah please check out the PDFs I will

try to show a couple more a bit later in

today’s lesson okie dokie so with that

let’s continue on to part two of today’s

topic if you’re just joining today we’re

talking about quick responses to

everyday greetings

we’re going to talk about like more

detail related questions now so if you

have not yet please make sure to like

and share the video so other people can

find it

alrighty let’s go to part two of today’s

lesson I’m trying to check the chat

Kayla on Facebook said Ken yo man be

used when talking to a woman it depends

on it depends on the women for me I

don’t mind like I prefer to speak kind

of more roughly like on this channel I’m

very like maybe polite and proper but

when I’m speaking with my friends I

prefer to be kind of silly and like like

speak more roughly so in my case that’s

fine but you have to kind of know the

person before you use something like yo

man what’s up like giving the really

rough casual ways of speaking so give it

a little time to understand that person

okay thanks for the question I will try

to check your other questions but the

chat is very busy today

let’s try to I’m trying to keep things

going anyway let’s move on to part two

for today part two for today is about

detailed greetings I’ll go to this side

it’s easier to see yes okay I’m

detailing greetings so what I mean by

detailed greetings is that you you need

to think a little bit more about what

you want to say but there are generally

some very common patterns that you can

use to reply to these questions so first

let’s take a look at these two questions

they are very similar very similar first

one is how is your day or how’s your

week this we saw this house in part one

of today’s lesson yeah house is how is

so how’s your day how’s your week this

is a present tense question how is your

day how is your day how is your week

this greeting you can say to your

coworker to your classmate to your

friend how is your day today or how is

your week this

week so this is the present tense

question this question how was your

weekend or maybe how was your day how

was your week whatever this is a past

tense question so how is how was how was

your day how was your weekend and so on

in fast speech though they sound

extremely it’s similar so a native speed

I say how’s your day how’s your week and

this sounds like how’s your weekend

they sound like almost exactly the same

so we know which question it is based on

the point in the week and the point in

the day so you need to use context to

understand is this a like past question

is this a present question so think a

little bit about the context here so to

answer how do we answer you can use

these answers very very quick just

adjective answers to both of these

questions so how’s your day good fine

how’s your day busy so busy I have a lot

to do how was your week slow slow

this word slow I know we practice slow

for like something that travels at like

a not fast pace but slow for a schedule

means I don’t have a lot to do I don’t

have a lot to do how was your week slow

so maybe like you don’t have a lot of

work that week or you don’t have tests

or you don’t have any homework to do or

you’re not seeing many people you can

say it’s slow my week is slow or my week

was slow so this does not mean like pace

length of movement it means you don’t

have a lot to do slow this one

all right the same all right that we had

so how’s your day that’s alright it’s

alright so not bad not great just okay

it’s alright you can use okay so how’s

your name okay how’s your week okay you

can use these two as well these two are

very you

full because depending on your

intonation you can like make a different

impression haenam well thanks very much

for that appreciate it on super chat

awesome um so these two are crazy and

unbelievable crazy and unbelievable so

depending on your intonation you can

create a positive or a negative feeling

with these words so if someone says how

was your day or how was your week how

was your weekend you can say crazy and

it sounds like it was really exciting or

if you say how was your weekend and you

say crazy it sounds negative you can use

just your voice to communicate different

things with the same word same thing

with this one unbelievable unbelievable

so unbelievable this means it’s

something I cannot believe I cannot

believe something that is unbelievable

that was unbelievable so again this word

you can change the meaning with your

voice how was your weekend

unbelievable sounds excited and mildly

like happy or how was your weekend

unbelievable like it’s really like it

was so bad you can’t believe it so these

two can be quite useful of course if you

use a difficult to understand intonation

the other person might not understand so

you can use these in a couple different

ways and of course finish

oops sorry finish with you or how about

you so don’t just wait for the question

ask them the question - so how was your

weekend it was alright how about you how

about yours as well so please make sure

to ask the question in return - how was

your weekend alright how was your day

good my day today how’s your day my day

how’s your day control desk

and my day is alright

warm warm busy black streams are always

busy very busy it is okay good so let’s

continue now to a more detailed pattern

to think about what did you get up to

last weekend longer question yes so

maybe a lot of you know what did you do

last weekend what did you do last

weekend lots of at least American

English speakers will use a pattern like

this what did you get up to last weekend

at native speed this sounds like once

you get up to last weekend what gym

would you get up to last weekend so this

what did you sounds like uh what Jeff

maybe not even that T what Jeff whatcha

let’s make this a deal sounds like it we

cannot spell it like this we can’t spell

it like this so I’ve spelled that WH adj

a we do not use the spelling please do

not use the spelling in writing but this

is the way it’s pronounced kind of so

what did you becomes whatcha whatcha

what you get up to last weekend what did

you do last weekend so to reply to this

you need to use probably a past tense

pattern so I’ve chosen just some very

common verbs that we use to reply to

this one so I went to I went to I went

to the movies I went to the beach I went

to a different city I went to the

symphony I went to a club I went to a

bar I went to a pizza parlor whatever so

any place I went to something something

another verb you can use in past tense

is I ate I ate so this is for food if

you like food if you’re like me and you

want to talk about something you ate use

this pattern I ate pizza

I ate sushi I ate ramen I had Thai food

I

turkish food i eat a kebab whatever I

ate plus your food I ate a

michelin-starred meal at a hotel or like

I ate some bad fish whatever you can

talk about the thing you ate just with

this pattern ih+

your food another common activity I saw

I saw I saw my friends I saw a movie I

saw a baseball game I saw a basketball

game I saw an artist live in concert so

something you saw with your eyes you can

use this past tense pattern to report

that I saw this thing I saw this finally

I had I had this is good for an event so

a party this could be like a wedding it

could be a birthday it could be some

other kind of gathering so like I had a

birthday party for my friends or I had a

big meeting this weekend or I had a

wedding to go to

I had an anniversary event to go to so

something that’s kind of like an event

or a gathering you can use I had to

describe that Anna on YouTube says can I

use I watch yeah you can if you use

watched make sure it’s for something

that like you focused your eyes on so

there’s a difference between see and

watch we have a video about it on the

channel but yes you can use watch you

could say something like I watched my

favorite TV show or I watched ABC TV

show that’s totally fine I watched a

movie yeah someone on facebook says can

I say I saw the movie say I saw a movie

I saw a movie or I saw ABC movie so say

specifically which movie lots of good

examples coming in I ate pizza last week

good I am eating sushi so if you want to

talk about something you’re doing now

it’s a little different than this path

okay someone says I ate crocodile Wow

someone says I saw a ghost last week I

gosh the comments section okay good I

don’t see other examples Cocodrilo says

oh that’s good good so let’s finish this

part with this group of responses so if

you did nothing how do you explain that

like you’ve had no plans this happened

to me like last week I didn’t do

anything it’s not it was not good so if

you didn’t do anything you can reply

with one of these example sentences I

didn’t do much I didn’t do much so that

means maybe like you went to the

supermarket or maybe you watch some TV

but nothing special you can communicate

that with I didn’t do much at native

speed I didn’t do much so what did you

get up to you last weekend no I didn’t

do much that’s how we would say it in a

real conversation second I didn’t do

anything I didn’t do anything you stayed

in the house and maybe stayed in your

pajamas and you ate pizza that’s fine

like no judgment there but you didn’t

have anything planned it was just you

didn’t do anything at all you can say

this literally I didn’t do anything I

didn’t do anything

finally just stayed at home I just

stayed at home so what did you do last

weekend or what you get up to last

weekend I just stayed at home I just

stayed at home so again I did not leave

my house or this that this doesn’t mean

like I never left my house

it just means mainly I was in my home

maybe you went like to the supermarket

or to a coffee shop or something but I

just stayed at home can I use I didn’t

do nothing no you cannot it is not

grammatically correct I didn’t do

anything

didn’t do anything I am NOT we cannot

use ement no I’m not is the reduced form

of I am NOT I am NOT is I’m not I’m not

can you say Coco do you again

someone’s got onto our game control this

Coco three loads and even side joke we

have here in the studio okay let’s go to

the last part of today’s lesson then

that was part two some more detailed

greetings so I’m going to finish today’s

lesson oh my gosh it’s already thirty

with talking about future plans so I

guess I will skip showing some more PDFs

until the end let’s finish today’s

lesson last question for today is just

this future tense question asking about

someone’s future plans as a greeting so

this is very common at the office any

plans for the weekend

any plans for the weekend how do you

answer this you can say nothing much

nothing much like no big plans nothing

much or you can say I’m gonna go to I’m

gonna this is going to so use this to

mean going to in the same way as we

talked about this one a place I went to

past tense for future tense I’m gonna go

to I’m gonna go to a baseball game I’m

gonna go to a club I’m gonna go to a bar

I’m gonna go to my English lesson I’m

gonna go to the yoga studio I’m gonna go

to the dentist so whatever place I’m

gonna go to this one I might see I might

see I might see means you’re not 100%

sure yet you don’t know 100% I might see

so in this case I have the verb see here

you can change the verb so like I might

go I might watch I might do in this case

I have see you can change the verb of

course I might see a friend I might see

a movie I might see a baseball game so

you’re not 100%

sure yet this one I think I’ll check out

I think I’ll check out here notice Isle

this is the reduced form of I will so I

will becomes Isle I think I’ll check out

something we use this one I think I’ll

check out because we’re not 100% sure

this one I’m going I’m going

oh sorry I’m gonna go - I’m gonna go -

it’s like I’ve decided I’m gonna go to

the Art Museum I’m gonna go to the

aquarium this one I think I’ll check out

is less sure like I think I’ll check out

the art museum or I think I’ll check out

the aquarium so the level of certainty

is lower we’re not quite so sure there I

think I’ll check out the Art Museum so

if you’re really sure I’m gonna go -

you’re not sure I think I’ll check out

something like that I wanna I wanna

wanna is the reduced form of want to

want to something you want to do but

maybe you don’t have a plan for it yet

so I want to go to the aquarium or I

want to go listen to some music this

weekend or I want to eat delicious food

but maybe you don’t have a plan you just

want to talk about something you want to

do next I’m planning to I’m planning to

in the progressive form so I’m planning

to plus a verb in the infinitive form

I’m planning to go to a baseball game

I’m planning to meet with my friends for

drinks I’m planning to go to the beach

I’m planning to swim in a lake I’m

planning to whatever so you can make

your plans very clear with this

expression almost done I haven’t decided

yet I have taught this phrase to so many

students over the years this I haven’t

decided yet or I dunno yet so I don’t

know I don’t know I don’t know means I

don’t know I don’t know and this yet yet

so this is like I don’t know at this

time

I will decide later that’s what this

means I haven’t decided yet I haven’t

decided yet more casually I don’t know

yet I don’t know and you can follow this

with the question got any ideas

got any ideas this is the more casual

version of do you have any ideas hmm I

don’t know yet do you have any ideas at

native pace it sounds like that so I

said do you have do you have any ideas

or you can use got any ideas got any

ideas do you have any ideas so when you

don’t have any clues when you don’t have

any ideas for your weekend you can ask

someone I don’t know what are you gonna

do so you can you can ask that question

to what are you gonna do as well

alrighty that is everything for today’s

lesson I will show PDFs on should I use

the webcam again no I don’t think so

okay

so we’ll finish there for today’s lesson

that was a lot that was a lot of good

example sentences from all of you though

now it’s awesome so I have to finish up

but as always lets will finish cool well

Wow we had like records of viewers on

Facebook that’s awesome thank you to

everybody watching today there’s so many

people who join that was super cool

thanks for sending all of your examples

I have to finish unfortunately this was

very fun but please don’t forget to

check out the link below the video on

youtube if you’re watching on youtube or

if you’re watching on facebook you can

download all of these free PDFs these

have vocabulary and on the back I always

like to show in the back it’s harder to

see there are lots of phrases that you

can use for different situations I know

many of you are studying for work this

is the business one so check these out

these aren’t free you need an account

that English class 101.com

you can get it for free though so please

log in there to get your good stuff if

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we have to finish there for today though

so next week we’ll be back next week’s

topic is something I how to learn new

vocabulary yes I forgot how to learn new

English vocabulary I’m going to talk

about some strategies you can use in

your studies to learn new vocabulary and

to help it like stick in your head a bit

so please join us again next week we’ll

be here 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

on Wednesday that is New York City time

please join us August 14th Wednesday

August 14th to look at a lesson about

how to learn new English vocabulary so

thank you so much to everybody for

liking and sharing the video we really

appreciate it

enjoy your week enjoy your weekend and

we will see you again next time bye bye

you