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
free stuff for you from the link below
the video
if you are watching on youtube about the
video if you’re watching on facebook
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practice sheets this one i show a lot
this one has lots of business meeting
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i know but
on the back is an introduction phrases
section so you can take a look you can
download all of them
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all right so let’s go to part two
also if you haven’t please please please
please please make sure to hit the like
button
and share this video so other people can
find the lesson
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
that is new york
city time so if you don’t know your
local time please
google it or you can set a notification
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reminder
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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
the
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