How to talk naturally about your hobbies in English

yeah i think it’s rolling hi everybody

and welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is alicia and in

this week’s lesson

we are going to talk about how to talk

naturally

about your hobbies so i know this is a

topic

most people uh know how to talk about at

least

a little bit but today i want to focus

on

how to do this a little more naturally a

little more

fluently give some more uh information

about yourself

and be able to ask better questions

about other people’s hobbies so i hope

that everybody

can find something in today’s lesson uh

all right

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everybody okay everything is good

today’s topic is how to talk

about your hobbies more naturally

how to talk naturally so uh i’m going to

show you the lesson information now the

lesson flow

i’m going to share the video but um if

you have not please make sure to like

and share the video too it helps other

people

find today’s lesson okay so i’ve shared

it i will now go to

the lesson boards for today if you want

to take a screenshot

get ready so this is what we are going

to talk about

today first we are going to talk about

how to ask questions so how do we make

this

more conversational how do we ask better

questions in our conversations to make

them more exciting

second we are going to talk about the

difference between

two verb and verb in so gerund vs

infinitive when you explain

your hobbies third we’re going to talk

about

expressing frequency so how often

do you do your hobbies how often do you

do those things

okay so the goal is to

kind of level up this conversation topic

for you

okay let’s get started uh let’s begin

with this asking questions topic asking

questions so

when we start a conversation or when we

are

in a conversation and someone shares

about their hobbies or we want to talk

about their hobbies

how do we do that naturally oh hey i bet

hello thanks very much on youtube for

the support

okay so how do we ask this

more naturally or how do we level this

up this question is

very common among learners lots of

learners say this question

what’s your hobby what’s your hobby now

this question it’s not bad

it’s not it’s not wrong you know

but it is a bit unnatural i know lots of

learners

learn this uh it’s effective

communication

but we don’t really say what’s your

hobby

so often in everyday speech instead

we say something like this what do you

like to do in your free time

what do you like to do in your time

at native speed this sounds like what do

you like to do in your free time

it’s really fast yeah what do you like

to do in your free time

this is much more natural and sounds

much more fluent

then what’s your hobby so please i would

recommend

i recommend level up this one what do

you like to do

in your free time okay

then this question

is another one i hear a lot of learners

use this

do you like activity pattern

do you like cooking do you like hiking

and sometimes i hear learners just say

a list of do you like questions like do

you like cooking do you like this do you

like that do you like this

oh cool do you like that so try

to make that conversation

bigger how do you do this for example

with a follow up statement say this is

a plus so do you like cooking

plus a follow-up statement or do you

like this activity

plus a follow-up statement what’s a

follow-up statement

that means you give some information

about

you so for example do you like

going to museums okay here’s my activity

question do you like this activity

do you like going to museums i

visit a local museum about once a month

so do you like this activity this is

what i do

so we try to find a connection with the

other person

yeah we don’t just ask questions ask

questions ask questions and make

and try to create a friendship that way

right we need to make a connection

so share about yourself do you like this

activity

i do this activity sometimes how about

you

that’s the idea with the conversation

so try these kinds of follow-up

questions

okay so you can send a few examples in

the chat i will try

to check it out okay all right so

uh another one i want to talk about is

this

one uh when you maybe you talk about

this activity like movies or music or

something like that

to ask a specific question

about the other person’s likes and

dislikes you can use this what kind

of category are you into this

are you into is a casual way to say

do you like for example what kind

of movies plural what kind of

movies are you into what kind of

food do you like what kind of music

are you into so ask these specific

questions again to learn more about the

other

person so you need to equally

participate

in the conversation okay so

what kind of thing do you like so again

these are questions for you so not just

answering questions please remember to

practice making

questions uh in your language studies

also like it’s

two people’s job to have a conversation

so

please make sure you practice your

questions also

okay so sushi says so when you ask

something you should talk about yourself

to make the conversation bigger

yes so depending on your culture this

might feel a little bit unnatural

right to say something about yourself

so it’s you don’t have to tell your life

story

but just a tiny comment to show

you can relate to the other person you

can try to make a connection

that way you don’t have to talk about

like

everything you know about that topic

that’s not a good conversation skill you

will meet people

that talk too much about their own lives

try to find a little comment uh

something small

that you can connect with the other

person about okay

all right let’s take a quick break and

then we’ll go to

part two so if you missed it there is

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all right so let’s go to part two

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okie part two part two we are going to

answer

the very common infinitive or

gerund question so many of you

ask me this question let’s talk about it

again so

the question i get a lot is should i use

two verb or verb ing

for example which is correct i like to

hike or i like hiking

what should i do so the answer the short

answer

is both are okay in this case let’s look

at some

examples and then let’s talk about

why okay so i like to hike

100 correct great and i like hiking

also okay another example i like to take

pictures

and i like taking pictures again 100

correct no problem i love to cook

great okay i love cooking good okay also

fine with the verb

love one more example then let’s talk

about

why she hates to sing she hates to sing

and she hates singing so

all of these examples are 100 correct

they’re fine there’s not a difference in

meaning here

let’s talk about why so

a lot of people ask about this gerund

this is called the gerund form when we

have the base verb

with ing used as a noun that’s called a

gerund

this kind right here where we see tu

plus the base form of the verb this is

called the

infinitive form so lots of people

say gerund infinitive what should i use

using here in this grammar note let’s

talk about this grammar now and you can

send your examples in the chat too i’ll

try to check live

this one using two verb

infinitive form or verb in the gerund

depends on the main verb in the sentence

it depends on the main verb in the

sentence so what does

main verb mean in these examples

we have i like i like i love she hates

and so on

these verbs like love and hate

in these example sentences they are the

main verb

yeah we are those are the verbs those

are the verbs we

are focusing on right so i’m expressing

something i like something i hate

so we choose this form or this form

the gerund or the infinitive depending

on

this verb that is used okay

so how do i know which one to use

for these verbs i have here when you’re

talking about your hobbies

like love hate in the negative form too

don’t like for these verbs we can use

either to verb or verb

in we can use either infinitive or

the gerund form with these verbs so

there for those of you who say well how

do i know

in other situations in other situations

this may not be the rule because

depending on the verb this part

changes so some verbs only infinitive or

some verbs are only gerund and

unfortunately there’s not an easy rule

we can use

for all verbs unfortunately it’s just a

weird part of english

but for you who are talking about

hobbies

you don’t have to worry you can use

either form

here both are totally fine okay

so i’m going to look at your questions

now remember

with these verbs you can use either

gerund

or infinitive okay nohora says i hate

waking up early on sundays perfect

very nice sorry we diante i like

listening

music make sure i like listening to

music i like listening to music and your

second one i like to listen to music

perfect

perfect kid okay kanwajit says i love

reading

nonfiction nonfiction books okay

um other ones yes some people are saying

i like

listen to the music hl please note

i like too i like to

i love too she hates too don’t forget

that tu in the infinitive form you must

have two okay on facebook uh

cesar says i hate eating fried chicken

really is it true

okay great nice sentence someone oh i

can’t read your name it’s in arabic i

like being a good person all right it’s

great

that’s great that’s great uh iman ganem

says i love to play piano

great very nice okay travel man says i

like to travel okay

great travel man okay i also like to

travel

um muhammad says i like you is that

right

yes but that’s not a hobby yeah so

the sentence is grammatically correct

but we are i want to focus on

these patterns right now okay

uh good as saddam hussein ansari says i

like to ride

bike make sure to use plural i like to

ride

bikes i like to ride bikes or i like

riding

bikes i like riding bikes okay uh

ferreira says i like watching formula

one good

uh ramen pandy says i don’t like

sleeping really

i love sleeping okay abdullah says i

like hanging out with friends

great okay lots of good examples uh

andrea says i like to play violin or i

like playing violin

vishal and muhammad say i like to play

cricket

very nice okay uh on facebook over here

uh john bermio says i like cooking good

okay

uh you myoza says i love learning from

online i love learning online

online i love learning online no from

there

and it’s perfect okay all right phew

someone writes i don’t hate you yay

okay but again not a hobby not a hobby

okay good so very nice example so i hope

this part helps you understand you can

use

either gerund or infinitive in these

patterns when you’re talking about your

hobbies yay now you don’t have to worry

about

the about that anymore yeah okay cool

let’s take one more super short break

and then we’ll go to part

three where we talk about frequency so

very quickly if you missed it earlier if

you missed it earlier

i talked again about the free stuff

you can find from the link below the

video or above the video

they are pdf vocabulary and phrase

practice sheets depending on your hobby

you can choose the one you’re interested

in i showed you this earlier but

if you want to download these there is

a one two three four step process you

just need your name

and an email address to get these so

check it out

all of these and more are here there are

bugs there’s so many here

you can download all of these so please

check the link

below the video if you’re watching on

youtube or above the video

if you’re watching on facebook okay

let’s go

to the last part for today’s lesson the

last part for today’s lesson

is about frequency adverbs of frequency

we love adverbs of frequency right

so what is an adverb of frequency an

adverb of frequency

is a word like always sometimes or

never they tell us how often

we do something so let’s talk

about how you can use adverbs of

frequency

to share more about yourself and to ask

questions about the other people yeah

so how often do we do something

if you’ve seen my lessons about this

topic maybe you recognize this

let’s imagine we are on a scale

we have a line here down here this is

zero

so never is it zero

over here is 100 100 always so imagine

this is how often you do something

i always i’m sorry i never i never

do this i always do this

maybe you’ve studied this before like i

always

brush my teeth in the morning or i

always

take a shower in the morning so things

we always do

so how do we do this more naturally how

do we use

these frequency expressions to sound

more fluent first let’s talk about

some more leveled up frequency

expressions

first maybe you’ve learned this

expression

before every once in a while

every once in a while this is like

about the 50 mark on the scale it’s

about the same as

sometimes sometimes but we use this one

at least american english speakers use

this one a lot

in speech instead of sometimes

for example i go to the movies

every once in a while i go to the movies

every once in a while we could say i go

to the movies sometimes

but this sounds more natural more fluent

i go to the movies every once in a while

oh i’ll say on

youtube thanks very much for the support

that’s awesome okay

so at native speed this sounds very fast

this part in particular this part

especially

it sounds very fast because we know it’s

a set

phrase so at native speed this sentence

sounds like

i go to the movies every once in a while

i go to the movies every once in a while

okay so next one

is this one when i have the

energy when i have the energy

so this one is down here so maybe 25

or so on the scale so not a lot

not never but then

some sometimes when i have the energy

what does this mean when i have the

energy means when my body

has energy when i want to do something i

have the energy i have the motivation

to do something so for example i go

jogging when i have the energy

i go jogging when i have the energy at

native speed this sentence sounds like

i go jogging when i have the energy so

again

these are very fast right okay

one more uh let’s talk about this one

every week so i have this every week

here but of course you can change week

to day or month or whatever

the point is this every week every day

every month part

shows you do something regularly yeah

you have like a regular schedule

something you do

uh each uh each week or each month

for example we make time to take

pictures

every week we make time to take pictures

every week so you and someone else your

maybe partner boyfriend girlfriend

husband wife

friend whatever you make time to take

pictures

every week okay um

the next one here is when i can when i

can so this is the same same level

as when i have the energy when i can

so that means when it’s possible or

another way to say this is

when i have time when i have time

or when i can for example

when i can i try to go to the gym when i

can

i try to go to the gym okay

then the last two i want to talk about

are these these down here oops i

accidentally erased

one of them i must have touched it with

my hand they are

expressions with almost almost

never and almost always almost never

and almost always on this scale i have

it here

almost never and almost always so

let’s talk about almost never first

i said never is at zero on the scale

right never something i never do

is something i do zero percent of the

time

for example i never eat

steak for breakfast i don’t think okay

i never eat steak for breakfast so what

does

almost how does almost change it almost

never means very very close

to never super close but not never

so for example i almost never

cook for myself so maybe one percent

of the time or two percent of the time i

cook for myself

but it’s very very rare very very

strange or

i almost never eat steak for breakfast

means maybe

once every three years i don’t know

so it’s very very rare to do that

almost never you can send some examples

in the chat i will check them

i’m looking for your examples okay oh

cesar says i go to the art museum

once oh sorry every year very nice and

libra we celebrate a party at we have a

party we have a party yeah

we have a party with my colleagues check

the spelling of colleagues yeah

colleagues

every week uh okay

let’s do nohorah says i never cook

on sunday it’s good uh gonzalo says can

it be hardly ever instead of

um almost never um grammatically

for grammar if you say hardly ever it is

correct

however that changes the frequency level

so almost never down here

is like one or two on the scale

hardly ever is like here

maybe eight or ten so yes

in for grammar in terms of grammar

that’s correct hardly ever

however it changes the frequency

i almost never skip my classes very nice

okay

uh nuria says i wear makeup every once

in a while very nice

okay iman says i always woke up late ah

careful

i always wake up uh so i don’t have

this grammar point here but uh no change

to the verb we use uh the same present

tense

so uh he wakes up late or i wake

up late don’t use past tense there

okay uh oh my gosh time okay let’s go to

the last one

with always so we talked about how

almost

never means like one or two percent

of the time the opposite let’s talk

about

almost always so always means 100

of the time like every day i always

brush my teeth when i wake up

almost always then means very very very

very close

to always so like 99

of the time or 98 of the time for

example

i almost always exercise

on the weekend i almost always

exercise on the weekend

so that means maybe 99

of weekends or 98 of weekends i exercise

i almost always do this so

how does this help us to talk about our

hobbies

when we want to make a connection with

another person

it’s often a really good and helpful

thing to do

to talk about how often you do something

for example if you say i like going to

museums

the other person might say well how

often do you go maybe we can go together

if you say i go once a year and the

other person says oh really i try to

visit a museum once a week

it’s like oh maybe there’s a mismatch

there this person likes them a lot you

like

they’re okay so these are good ways

to check like the level of interest with

the other

person asking how often you do

that hobby how often you like to do that

okay uh what is the meaning of almost so

almost means very very close to

but not exactly so very very close

to never very very near to never but not

exactly okay uh

all right phew that was a lot uh some

people are sending examples now

ex-boy says i almost always do my

homework very nice

someone said who was that uh siobhan

says i almost always go to the gym

very nice i almost always go to the gym

like

when so i almost always go to the gym at

night or in the afternoon yeah

all right everyone’s saying what is the

noise in the background i think it’s my

computer fan maybe it’s noisy today

i don’t know okay i have to finish i am

late all right so we’ll end

there for today uh thanks for your

awesome questions and example sentences

that’s super super cool

i’ll show you today’s lesson board so

you can take a picture

we talked about how to ask questions how

to ask natural questions

about someone’s hobbies we talked about

the difference between gerund and

infinitives here

and we talked about frequency adverbs of

frequency

and how to make sure you keep the

conversation

going keep the other person interested

in the conversation

by sharing a little bit about yourself

okay so we’ll finish there for today but

i’ll be back

next week i will of course be here again

next week’s lesson that will be july 14

wednesday 10 p.m eastern standard time

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city time so if you don’t know your

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description next week i’m going to talk

about

how to talk about your current work and

studies current means now

so what are you doing now at work or

at school we’re going to practice

talking about this

next week so please join me all right i

will say goodbye now

uh for today so thanks as always for

joining me thank you so so much for

liking and sharing the video we had lots

of people

joining us today um make sure to find

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free stuff from the link below or above

the video to get

all of that and of course come follow me

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updates as well i will say goodbye so

enjoy the rest of your day

enjoy the rest of your week and i will

see you again