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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