How to Respond to \u201cHow are you?\u201d (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_qA0rQCV1kM)<\/a><\/noscript><\/div>\nVideo Transcript:<\/h2>\n
Hey, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNot Much.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThat answer doesn\u2019t actually make sense. \u2018Not much\u2019 is a great answer to the question, \u2018what\u2019s up?\u2019 but not to \u2018how are you?\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nToday we\u2019re going to go over 6 different ways to answer \u2018how are you?\u2019 A typical conversation starter and greeting in American English. We\u2019ll go over a range of answers to reflect that life is going well for you, or terribly.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m Rachel and I\u2019ve been teaching the American accent and English listening skills to non-native speakers for over 15 years. Check out Rachelsenglish.com to learn more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe first thing you need to know about the question \u201cHow are you?\u201d is that sometimes it\u2019s just a greeting. It\u2019s like saying hi, and the person is not actually wanting to know how you are doing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf you run into a friend on the street and they say, How are you? They want to know. They want you to answer. But if you\u2019re starting a meeting at work for example, and someone says \u201chow are you?\u201d they probably don\u2019t want to start a conversation about how you are unless the meeting is not happening for several minutes.\u00a0 They are just using it as a greeting. And the answer you want to give in these situations is \u201cGood, how are you?\u201d They will then say \u201cGood\u201d or \u201cfine\u201d and the greeting is over. Then you move on to other things, for example:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey Rachel, how are you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGood, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGood. Did you get the updated agenda for the meeting?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYep, got it. I\u2019m ready to go.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo that is an example of \u2018how are you?\u2019 being used as a greeting. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re at work and someone says How are you? Like this:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey Rachel, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn this case, the person looks like they\u2019re in a hurry, this is a greeting. This person does not want to actually have a conversation about how you are. But let\u2019s say you\u2019re at work, and it\u2019s a more casual situation, like, you\u2019re passing someone in the hallway that you spend quite a bit of time with, and that person doesn\u2019t look like they\u2019re rushing. Then it\u2019s appropriate to assume it\u2019s not just a greeting, they actually want to know how you are. For example:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey Rachel, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGreat, it is such a relief to be heading into the weekend with the Johnson project done!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHeading into is a phrasal verb that means going into something. For example, \u201cI was heading into the kitchen when I saw a mouse run across the floor.\u201d But we also use it for time, when we\u2019re at the beginning of a chunk of time like heading into the weekend or\u00a0 I could say \u201cI\u2019m heading into the summer with no vacation plans.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYeah, totally. You put in so much overtime for that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI did. That was a tight deadline.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA deadline is the date at which you have to have something done. A tight deadline is one where\u00a0 you\u2019re not sure if you have enough time to complete the task. Tight deadlines are stressful!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLet\u2019s recap. If it\u2019s just a greeting and someone says \u201cHow are you?\u201d Then just answer: Good, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf it\u2019s more of a conversation starter, then you can answer how you\u2019re doing. The most neutral quick answers are \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018fine\u2019. But maybe you want to say more about how you\u2019re doing. Things are going well for you. Then you can say \u2018great\u2019. And say a bit about why you\u2019re doing so well. Let\u2019s see that conversation again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey Rachel, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGreat, it is such a relief to be heading into the weekend with the Johnson project done!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYeah, totally. You put in so much overtime for that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI did. That was a tight deadline.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo, how are you? Put your answer in the video comments right now.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLet\u2019s look at the range of answers you can give to \u2018how are you?\u2019:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGreat \u2013 things are going very well for you, you\u2019re in a good mood.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGood or Fine \u2013 neutral, you\u2019re having a regular kind of day. You\u2019ll probably follow this up with something positive, but you\u2019re a little less enthusiastic about it than if you said \u2018great\u2019. Let\u2019s look at a sample conversation where the answer is \u2018good\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh hey! How are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGood! We just got back from visiting my parents in Florida.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh, Where in Florida?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMy parents are in Gainesville, which is where I grew up. So I still have a bunch of childhood friends there and it\u2019s just great to see them and catch up.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCatch up is a phrasal verb, it has lots of meanings. But here it means to find out what\u2019s been going on in someone\u2019s life since you\u2019ve last seen them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh, that\u2019s really nice. And Florida. Talk about a nice place to visit in February!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNo doubt!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf you want to be more comfortable in English conversation, right now go to Rachelsenglish.com\/free. There you can get my free course, The Top 3 ways to Master the American accent. It\u2019s going to teach you how to hear English differently so your listening skills improve along with your understandability. RachelsEnglish.com\/free and I will put that link in the video description. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo we\u2019ve got great. We\u2019ve got \u2018good\u2019 or \u2018fine\u2019. Another neutral way to answer without giving much information is something like I\u2019m doing alright. And remember, if you don\u2019t feel like sharing anything you can always just ask the question back without saying anything more. For example:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey! How are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m doing okay, just gearing up for the holidays. How are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHow are you? The word r, it reduces. Think of it as just an er ending on the end of the word how. How are, how are, how are you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHow are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWe\u2019re good. Keeping busy \u2013 Brian is in soccer and John is the coach.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh fun! Does he enjoy coaching?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s a bunch of 7-year-olds, so sometimes I think he feels like he\u2019s herding cats, but overall I think he\u2019s enjoying it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHerding cats. This is not the same as hurting cats even though it\u2019s pronounced the same. Herding cats. This is an idiom that means trying to organize or manage people or groups of people that are very difficult to organize or manage, like a bunch of 7-year-olds.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHerding cats. Yes! That makes sense.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhat about when things aren\u2019t going well? You could respond with \u201conly okay\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey. How are you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOnly okay. John has been traveling a lot for work a lot this month, and honestly I think we\u2019re all just a little run down because of it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nRun down is a phrasal verb that means low on energy, starting to feel exhausted, and maybe even getting a little bit sick.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSorry to hear that. You know what? I\u2019m baking bread today. Why I don\u2019t I bring it over with a pot of soup? That way you don\u2019t need to worry about dinner.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh, you don\u2019t need to do that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s no extra work for me. I\u2019m already making for dinner and I know I\u2019ll have extra. Let me do this for you. I\u2019ll stop by around 5.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWow, okay, thanks! That would be great!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOr, even worse than \u2018only okay\u2019, we have \u2018not very good.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHi. Honestly, not very good. Last week I was laid off.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWe use the word fired when someone is let go from their job for poor performance ori\u2019 for doing something wrong. But we usually use \u2018laid off\u2019 when it wasn\u2019t the person\u2019s fault but the company was downsizing or something like that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh my gosh, I\u2019m so sorry to hear that.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYeah, it\u2019s a huge bummer, my whole team was let go.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh no.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo. Not doing great today.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThat\u2019s hard. I\u2019m really sorry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThanks. I\u2019m just taking a few days just to lay low, and then I\u2019ll start looking for work next week.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGood luck.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhat if life is just terrible? You\u2019re in a really bad mood, life seems really hard?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHey, how are you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m doing terribly. Our contractor is ghosting us and the kitchen is sitting there unfinished.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf someone is ghosting you, this means they\u2019ve stopped communicating with you. They\u2019re not replying to any of your messages but they never told you that they were going to stop communicating with you. They\u2019ve just ghosted you.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOh gosh.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnd, a client at work doesn\u2019t like any of the creative that I\u2019ve sent over, so I have to start over for that. It\u2019s back to the drawing board after two weeks of working full-tilt.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBack to the drawing board means she\u2019s saving nothing from what\u2019s she\u2019s already done to work on this project, she has to start over from the beginning with totally new ideas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf you\u2019re working full tilt on something, that means you\u2019re putting in every bit of energy you have on that one thing. All of your focus is going to get that done because you\u2019re working full tilt.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI can\u2019t believe they didn\u2019t like it. I thought it was so fresh and new. Can you reuse any of the ideas?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNo. they want a completely different direction, so I am starting from scratch<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nJust like back to the drawing board, starting from scratch means you\u2019re not using any of your previous ideas or work, you\u2019re completely starting over.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThanks. I just really need a vacation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe question \u2018how are you?\u201d is actually asking for an adverb, because it\u2019s short for \u2018how are you doing?\u2019. If you\u2019re answering how you\u2019re doing, you\u2019re describing DOING, a verb, so that\u2019s an adverb. How are you doing? Terribly. But you can change it to an adjective by describing yourself, a noun, by starting with I am or I\u2019m,. I\u2019m terrible. I\u2019m doing terribly, or more simply, I\u2019m terrible.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNow, we\u2019ve gone over great, good or fine, doing alright, only okay, not very good, and terribly.\u00a0<\/span>