Stop Saying "I'm Fine" - Ways to Respond to "Hello, how are you?"

-Morning class! -Hello! Hello!

Morning, how are you?

- I'm fine thank you, and you? - I'm fine thank you, and you?

Yeah!

耶

Don't high-five him. Who taught you to say that?

不要拍掌 谁让你们那样说的

Like all of our teachers. All of them. Ever.

所有的老师 几乎所有

所有的 所有

We need to change this

啊啊啊 我们得改变一下

First we don't always say "How are you?"

首先 我们不会一直说how are you

我们有很多不同的表达

We say many different things. For example...

比如

We might say "How's it going?" or

我们也可以用how is it going

"Hey how are you doing?"

或者 how are you doing

Australians will often say a mix of this

澳大利亚人把这两种混合使用

"How are you going?"

how are you going

This one, in the UK, in the U.S. it's not common to say

这一个 在英国 在美国 不是那么常用

But Australian English, yes

但是 澳洲英语 可以使用

and yes you can also say "Oh hi, how are things?"

嗯 对 你还可以说

Hi how are things

These ones here, repeat with me and pay close attention to the intonation

这里的这些 跟着我读

还有 一定要注意声调

"You okay?" "You alright?"

you okay？ you alright？

Of course we miss the "Be" verb here "ARE you okay?" "ARE you alright?"

显然 我们把这里的 be 动词省略了

are you ok？

are you alright？

But it's very common just to say

但是 其实这些说法也很常见

"You okay?" "You alright?"

you okay？ you alright？

This confuses Americans apparently

这显然让美国人很困惑

因为 英国英语里

because in British English this one is very common it's very casual

这些表达很常见

很随意 you alright？

"Alright?"

It's just a "Hello" or a "How are you?"

这些就像Hello 或 How are you

it's very casual it's normal

很随意 很普通 但 你要是

but if you say this to an American they will be like this

跟美国人用这些的话 他们大概会这样回复

"Am I alright? I'm fine do I look sad?"

我好吗？ 嗯 我看起来伤心吗？

So for Americans that sounds more serious. You're asking:

所以 对于美国人 那些

听起来更正式

"Oh are you sad?!"

你问的是 哦 你是不是伤心 但是 对英国人来说

But for British people no this is just normal it's fine

不 这些很平常 可以随便用

But remember I said pay close attention to the intonation

但 记得 我说过 一定要注意声调

you okay alright 听起来很开心

"You okay?" "Alright?"

sounds happy but all of these you would ask to this person

但是 所有这些表达

你都要问这个人

If that's their expression if it's a normal day, nothing bad happened

她的表情 今天是不是平常的一天

没什么坏事发生 但是

But what if...

如果你朋友看起来伤心

if your friend looks sad or if you know something bad happened

如果你知道了她的坏消息

There is a different way you can ask these questions

有一些其他的方式可以询问

First the intonation

首先 声调

The intonation with these changes Listen...

这些表达的声调会变化

"You alright?"

you alright

See it does this up/down thing "You alright?"

听这种上下的感觉

See the intonation goes up and down there "Are you okay?"

听声调上下的感觉

are you okay 所以 这真的由你的声调决定

So it really depends on your intonation how you say them

由你怎么说决定

"You okay?" "Are you alright?"

you okay you alright

These ones may sound very casual, normal, maybe happy

这些听起来很随意 很普通 可能有点开心

So if your friend looks like this or maybe something bad happened,

如果你朋友看起来像这样

也许有些不好的事发生

Let's ask a different question

我们可以问一些不同的问题

what's up 或 what's the matter

"What's up?" or "What's the matter?"

These two questions show concern for your friend

这两个问题可以表达对朋友的担心

You're asking for details you're asking about the problem

你问的是事情的细节

And important to note, don't ask "What's your problem?"

问的是问题本身 而且很重要的是

不要问what's your problem

不要那样问

Don't ask that question it doesn't sound friendly, it doesn't sound like you care

那听起来不友好

听起来不像关心

It sounds like "PFFF! What's your problem!?"

听起来就像 噗——

你什么事？

So if you want to ask "what's your problem?" Don't ask that

如果你想问 你的问题是什么

不要那么问

Ask: "What's the matter?" That is much better

说 what's the matter

这个好很多

Possible answers to: "How are you?" Don't say "I'm fine thank you, and you?"

how are you 可能的回答

不要说 I'm fine, thank you. And you?

No! No more!

别 别再说了

So for British people it's very common if you're good to normal

对英国人而言

如果你挺好 平常

to start your answer with "Yeah"

就用 yeah 开始回应

For example...

例子 如下

This is the more realistic answer we don't say "I'm fine thank you, and you"

这是更加现实的回答

我们不说 I'm fine, thank you. And you?

We say "Yeah, good, you?"

我们说 yeah good, you？

other ways you can answer if you're happy or just normal

其他说法 如果你开心

"Yeah, I'm great"

"Yeah, I'm good"

"I'm pretty good"

"Yeah, doing well"

"Yeah, doing good"

Or if you don't want an adjective: "Yeah, can't complain"

如果你不想用形容词

yeah can't complain

You'll notice that I haven't included any extreme adjectives

你应该发现 我没有用什么极端的形容词

Because we're British, we don't do emotions

因为 我们英国人

我们不那么情绪化

I'm joking but in British English we don't typically talk about how great we are

我在开玩笑 但英国英语里

传统上我们不会说我们有多伟大

We don't do that

我们不会那么做的

So if someone asks you how are you and in fact you're brilliant, you're amazing

如果有人问你how are you

事实上 你特别开心 特别有本事

"I'm AMAAAAAZING!"

I'm amazing

You would still say one of these

你还是会用这些表达

but less commonly you might hear

但是 比较少见的情况 你有机会听到

"I'm wonderful!"

I'm wonderful

You probably won't hear that but you might

你很可能不会听到

"Oh everything is hunky dory!"

Oh everything is Hunky Dory

If you say everything's hunky-dory it means there are no problems everything is happy and lovely

如果你那样说 意味着一切都没问题 都好

一切都开心 一切都很可爱

It's really not common to hear that

这句话真的很不常用

Actually if someone says this they're probably joking or being sarcastic

事实上 如果有人这么说 很可能是在开玩笑

或者是讽刺

so just keep that in mind

所以 记住这点

Also I often hear "so-so"

还有 我经常听到

So-so

Don't say this! Never say this! No! In my life no one has ever said this... I think

不要说这个 再别说这个

我长这么大 没见一个人说过

我想

So it doesn't sound natural, don't say it

所以 这听起来不自然 别说

AH! I forgot!

oh my god I'm so stupid I almost forgot probably the most important one

天 我真傻 我几乎忘了这个

可能是最重要的一个

This might be the most common one

这也许是最常用的一个

"Yeah I'm alright"

You can also say "I'm alright"

你也可以说I'm alright

but remember again that is a bit more British

但是 记住 那个有点偏英国英语

"You alright?"

"Yeah I'm alright, you alright?"

"Yeah I'm good"

这些

So these ones again they're more if you feel happy, you feel good, you feel normal

如果你感到开心 觉得没什么不同

But what if you feel not so great you feel a bit sad maybe well something happened

但 如果你觉得不怎么样

有点伤心 有些事发生

Remember I said if you're feeling like this you probably will start your answer with:

记得我说 如果你觉得这样

你很可能 用yeah开头回答

"Yeah"

举例 yeah I am good

For example

"Yeah I'm good"

But if you feel like this probably you will start your answer with:

但 如果你感觉像这样的话 很可能

你会这样给你的回答开头

"Well..."

well 举例

For example

And remember we are British we don't have emotions

我记得 我是英国人 我没有感情

Even strong emotions, we suppress them because we're British

就算是很强烈的感情

我们也会抑制 因为我们是英国人

So if you feel bad you are not REALLY BAD

如果你感到不好 你不是真的不好

You're only A BIT bad For example

你只是有一点不好

"Well I'm a bit tired"

举例 嗯 有一点累

"Well I'm a bit sleepy"

嗯 我有一点困

"I'm a bit ill"

咳 我有一点生病

We're British, we like to repress our emotions

英国人 我们喜欢压抑感情

Now perhaps something bad happened perhaps you don't feel good at all

也许 有不好的事情发生

也许 你觉得一点也不好

"Well I've been better" or "I've seen better days"

我好很多了

我这几天好了点

These ones they imply that perhaps something bad happened

这些句子 也许暗示 有些不好的事情

Maybe someone died maybe you just broke up with your partner

也许有人死了

也许只是和伴侣分手

Any combination of this This looks like a maths problem

一切像这样的组合

这看起来像一道数学题 哈——

but you can use any combination of this one for your answer

但是你可以用这些组合的任意一种

你的回答 如果你觉得不行

If you feel bad, for example

比如 短一点的

The short way "Hmm not that great" or "I'll be honest I'm not doing so well"

不是很好 或者 老实说

我不是很好 你也可以把他们混在一起

and again you can mix them I'm not doing so great I'm not doing that well

I'm not dong so great

I'm not doing that well

you can choose any mixture of these words

你可以选择这些词语组成的任何混合体

还有 这意味 你的感觉 是这样

and that means you feel like this

所以 请在评论里 告诉我

So in the comments let me know: How are you doing? How is everything?

你怎么样 一切还好吗

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感谢观看 你可以在这里关注我

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如果你想要更多额外的英语练习

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也可以加入我的赞助页 下节课见

and I'll see you in the next class