30 Phrases to Talk about your Free Time in English

- What do you do in your free time?

Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Let's find out.

(bright upbeat music)

Hello, my name is Keith,

from English Speaking Success,

and the website, the Keith Speaking Academy,

here to help you speak better English, give better answers

and get a higher score on the IELTS speaking test.

So, in this lesson,

I'm gonna show you lots of cool phrases

so that you can talk confidently and naturally

about what you do in your free time,

or your leisure time or your leisure time,

as they say across the pond in America.

And also, I'll be showing you

how to use these phrases, right?

So by the end of the video,

you'll be able to talk confidently about your hobbies,

how often you do them, and why you like them.

Great, oh, and it gets better,

'cause I'm gonna show you

how you can use different tenses

to talk about hobbies as well.

Now, if you are an IELTS student, pay attention or wake up.

If you are an IELTS student,

you know that in IELTS speaking,

you need to show a wide range of grammatical structures,

including different tenses.

So this video, ticks all the boxes.

That's a great expression, to tick all the boxes,

meaning to fulfill all the requirements, great.

And it gets better.

Listen up, as a bonus,

at the end of the video,

I'm gonna tell you the most common mistake

that I see students make when talking

about this topic of hobbies and free time.

Now, before we start,

let me tell you the secret to succeeding in IELTS speaking.

Oh, and if you are new here,

if this is the first time you are watching me,

you may not know this.

So listen up, this is important.

The secret to success in IELTS speaking is

to speak natural spoken English,

not formal academic English, no,

no, natural spoken, conversational English, that's it.

And that's exactly what I show you

in all of my videos, right?

Now, once you've learned these phrases today,

of course, you need to practice.

Unfortunately, it's not enough to just sit back

and watch me.

No, you need to be practicing.

And you can practice on your own, but I think one

of the best places you can practice is Cambly.

It's a fantastic online platform

with native English speakers,

where you can practice all the English that you need,

especially, for IELTS speaking.

I'm gonna tell you more about Cambly later,

and I'll tell you how you can get a free lesson

as well as some great discounts on their platform.

So, look out for that,

but right now, let's start

to talk about your free time activities.

Okay, so let's talk first about different types

of free time activities, okay?

Or as I said,

we could call them leisure activities or hobbies,

we can also say pastimes.

I think there are probably four common types of activities,

there may be more, but is where I would put most

of the activities and hobbies people do.

First of all, indoor activities, right?

So, this could include playing games,

board games or video games, reading,

watching TV, or watching films,

or just chilling out, hanging out with friends.

Admittedly, that last one could be outdoors,

and that moves us to the next category

which is outdoor activities.

Now, this can include things like sports,

be it playing football, skiing,

swimming, jogging, gardening,

it's a very pot popular hobby in the UK,

traveling, although I know not so much lately,

but for a lot of people, traveling is a great pastime.

And also, going shopping.

Again, going shopping, right,

could be outdoors, could be indoors.

Next category is collecting things or collections.

The most common collections are stamps, coins,

and nowadays, things like NFTs.

Yes, if you are a modern, newfangled young man like me,

(Keith laughs)

no, seriously, NFTs, right,

non-fungible tokens.

These are all the rage nowadays.

Lots of people are snapping up and buying NFTs.

And NFT, if you don't know is basically,

a unique digital item that you can buy and sell.

It may be a painting, a piece of art, video clip,

all the rage, check them out.

The fourth category is creative activities.

So, I'm thinking about things like,

playing a musical instrument, right?

I play the guitar, for example,

painting, maybe knitting or some similar handcraft work.

And also, I guess, taking photographs,

another popular one.

So, there you have four categories,

and lots of different types of hobbies.

Let's now move on to see how we can talk about your hobby.

So, how do you answer the question?

What do you do in your free time?

Well, here are some nice phrases you can use, right?

You could say, "I get up to a lot of things,"

meaning I do.

I get up to, means I do a lot of things.

Or you could say, "I don't get up to much,"

if you don't do very much.

Most importantly, don't say, nothing,

especially, if you're doing an English test like IELTS,

don't say, I don't have a hobby.

Say something, right?

It's important that you speak out.

So, to get up to means to do.

Now, sometimes, to get up to something can mean

to do something that's maybe bad that you shouldn't do.

But to be honest, we use this,

when you say to people,

what did you get up to at the weekend?

It just means what did you do?

So, in context of hobbies,

it's fine to say,

I get up to a lot of different things.

We can also say more simply, I like to do yoga,

or I like doing yoga.

"Oh, Keith, I've been thinking about that.

What's the difference between I like to do something

and I like doing something?"

Well, it's a very good question.

And thank you for asking, great.

It's very, very simple, right?

You can use both to express your enjoyment

of something, right?

So, I enjoy yoga, I like to do yoga,

I like doing yoga.

However, and I like to do something,

can also be used to show a habit or a choice.

For example, I like to do yoga on Thursdays.

You are focusing on the habit every Thursday

or the choice to do it on Thursdays,

rather than focusing on the enjoyment.

That's it, super simple.

More phrases to show that you love an activity or a hobby.

I'm fond of playing video games.

That's true, what about you?

I'm fond of, great,

or I'm into playing video games.

What about you?

I'm into,

nice or I'm passionate, passionate.

I'm passionate about playing video games.

What about you?

I'm passionate about,

very, very nice.

Now, here is a really good learning tip.

Notice, if a verb follows a preposition,

then that verb must be in the gerund with the ing, right?

I'm fond of playing, of playing,

preposition verb, ing.

I'm into playing games, right?

I'm passionate about painting.

Remember, that important learning tip.

Now, I appreciate sometimes you may not be passionate

or love a hobby, but you do it less seriously just

for a bit of fun, right?

In this case, you can say,

well, I like to dabble in cooking.

I sometimes dabble in painting.

Last week, I dabbled in NFTs.

(Keith laughs)

It's not true, just an example, right?

So notice, I dabble in something

or doing something.

I dabble in painting.

What about you?

I dabble in,

nice.

In addition, we can say,

I play the guitar.

I'm just an aficionado.

An aficionado from the Spanish word,

(speaks in foreign language)

just means you are not professional.

In many cultures, right,

you may like to be quite humble.

You don't say, "I play the guitar and I'm fantastic."

No, I play the guitar.

I'm not very good, but I play,

I'm just an aficionado, or I play for fun.

I just play for fun, or I'm an amateur.

I'm an amateur.

Say that, I'm an amateur.

Again, meaning I'm not professional.

So, it's just for fun, not too serious, lovely.

Now, leave me a comment down below.

Tell me what do you do in your free time.

Now, when talking about your hobbies,

we can not only talk about what you do,

but also how often you do it.

It's great to go into more detail.

So, to talk about how often we use adverbs of frequency

from the simple to the advanced.

Simple, I often paint.

I regularly paint.

I frequently paint.

I regularly, and you?

I regularly,

good, more complex.

I paint whenever I can.

I, whenever I can.

Or I paint as often as I can,

as often as I can.

I, as often as I can.

Yay!

Or I paint whenever I get a chance.

And more complex, I don't paint as much as I would like.

I don't, as much as I would like,

or I don't get round to painting as much as I would like.

I don't get round to, gerund.

I don't get round to painting as much as I would like.

Excellent, now, let's move on.

Okay, so we've talked about adverbs

to make your answer more interesting.

Let's make your answers, right,

even more sophisticated, clever, better.

We can use different tenses, right?

And especially, if you're an IELTS student,

this is important that you show off

or you show your ability to use different tenses in English.

We can start with a simple, and become more complex.

Let's start with the present simple.

So we can say, "I paint.

I recently took up paint."

To take up a hobby means to start doing a hobby.

I recently took up painting.

I'm new to it,

meaning it is new for me.

I'm new to it.

I'm new to it.

Next, simple past.

I started painting a couple of years ago,

or I decided to have a go at painting.

To have a go at something means to try something new.

I decided to have a go at painting.

Or even, I decided to try my hand at painting.

To try my hand at, is to try something new, right?

Especially, a hobby.

I decided to try my hand at painting.

It doesn't have to be a handcraft activity, right?

I decided to try my hand at playing football,

where you don't use your hands.

Well, unless you're a goalkeeper,

or it's American football, right?

And then, more complex,

present perfect continuous.

So, present simple, now,

past simple, in the past,

talking about something that began in the past

and carries on until today, right?

It's a hobby you still do,

present perfect and present perfect continuous.

We can use both.

I've been playing or I've been playing football

for as long as I can remember,

for as long as I can remember.

Can you say that?

Feel the rhythm, for as long as I can remember, good.

I've been (indistinct) in,

I've been painting for as long as I can remember, and you?

Nice, and a nice little idiom.

I've been painting for donkey's years,

meaning for a long time.

Great, so we can put it all together, right?

Present past, present perfect continuous.

I often paint.

I decided to have a go at painting

because my daughter was taking classes.

Yeah, so I've been painting for about two years now, lovely.

You can pause the video and practice for you.

Right now, we're gonna move on.

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Don't go away, don't fall asleep,

because right now, we're gonna talk

about the benefits of hobbies.

Okey-dokey, let's talk about the benefits of hobbies, okay?

I think the three most common benefits of hobbies are,

help you to relax, help you stay healthy,

and to socialize.

There may be other benefits,

but these, I think, are the three most common.

Let me now give you some very good templates you can use

to talk about the benefits.

First of all, it helps me, blank.

Even better, it just helps me, blank.

Okay, it helps me to unwind.

It helps me kick back.

It helps me chill out.

All of those meaning to relax, right?

"Oh, Keith, I've been thinking, right?

Do we say it helps me to relax or it helps me relax?

It's another good question,

and well done for being so proactive.

The simple answer is, they are both the same.

You can use both, it's fine.

Another template, I find that it helps me, blank,

(indistinct) blank.

I find that it helps me, blank.

Okay, we can say,

I find that it helps me get into shape.

I find that it helps me keep fit.

I find that it helps me stay in shape, right?

Especially, talking about sport or eating or cooking,

healthy, staying healthy, lovely.

Next, it allows me to,

or it allows me to just, blank.

It allows me to just, blank.

Yeah, so if we're talking about socializing, right?

it allows me to hang out with friends.

It allows me to just meet up with friends.

It allows me to chill out with friends.

Also, it's a nice way to, blank.

It's a nice way to socialize.

And if you want to sound really British, right?

And this is so natural, it's quite a nice way to, blank.

It's quite a nice way to get close to nature.

Have a go.

It's quite a nice way to.

So natural, brilliant.

Finally, three nice phrases you can use to talk about,

again, relaxing and fighting stress

that we have so much of in the world.

First of all, it has a calming effect.

It's really therapeutic.

It's a great stress buster.

Excellent, some nice phrases and templates,

you can start practicing.

I tell you what, I am so impressed,

that you are still watching, that you are still awake,

and that you are actually practicing as well.

It's great, so listen,

in a moment, I'm gonna tell you the most common mistake,

students make when they talk about free time and hobbies.

First, I'd like to tell you

about a way you can practice even more all of this language.

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I think, it's so important to practice,

so important to get the feedback,

to help you level up your spoken English.

And if you're doing IELTS,

to help you get the score that you need

on the IELTS speaking test.

Okay, let's move on, and let's have a look

at the most common mistake students make.

Okay, so let's talk about the most common mistake.

Now, in IELTS speaking,

talking about hobbies and free time is such a popular topic

that I practice this a lot with students.

And here is the a mistake so many students make.

See if you can spot the mistake.

I'll give you a few examples, right?

My favorite hobby is play the guitar.

My favorite hobby is collect stamps.

Can you see the mistake?

Play the guitar is a verb.

Collect stamps is a verb,

but my favorite hobby is, and a noun.

You need a noun, right?

What it should be is,

my favorite hobby is playing the guitar,

or my favorite hobby is collecting stamps.

Playing the guitar is the noun phrase.

We can take a verb, put it into the gerund,

to make noun phrase.

Playing the guitar is the noun phrase.

My favorite hobby is painting.

My favorite hobby is playing computer games.

It's a simple mistake to make, but such an important one.

Make sure you don't make that mistake.

And you can avoid mistakes like this

by practicing more, right?

Go and click and check on Cambly.

You can practice and get feedback with a teacher

who will help you correct your mistakes as well.

And don't stop watching,

stay with me, go and watch the next video,

which is all about small talk in English.

How to start a conversation in English,

quite tricky, right?

Go and watch the next video,

it'll show you how to do it.

Lovely, and I will see you very soon.

Thanks for watching.

Take care, my friend.

Bye bye.

(upbeat music)