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  • Imagine you're on a plane, your seatmate

  • wants to know where you're from. What do you say?

  • Hi! Alisha here. There's no need

  • to worry, in this lesson, you'll learn how

  • easy it is to tell somebody where you're

  • from. Gustavo and Anna are having just

  • this kind of conversation as their plane

  • lands in New York City. Let's watch!

  • Excuse me, but is that the Statue of Liberty?

  • Yes, that's right.

  • So are you from New York?

  • Yes, I am. And you, where are you from?

  • I'm from Brazil.

  • Really? So are you from Rio?

  • No, I'm not, I'm from Sao Paulo.

  • Oh! Sal Paulo.

  • Now the lesson focus. Here's how to talk

  • about where you're from. Ready?

  • Do you remember how Gustavo explained

  • where he was from? I'm from Sao Paulo.

  • First, is a contraction meaning "I am" - I'm.

  • Next is the word "from"

  • and last is a place named "Sao Paulo"

  • Together, it's I'm from Sao Paulo.

  • The structure is "I'm from"

  • plus the place name. You can use it with

  • cities, countries, or even with regions.

  • Imagine your hometown is Shanghai, what would you say?

  • I'm from Shanghai.

  • now imagine you're from Egypt, what would you say?

  • I'm from Egypt.

  • Do you remember how Anna

  • asked Gustavo if he was from Rio de Janeiro?

  • Are you from Rio?

  • First, is the second person singular form of the verb "to be" - are.

  • Next, is the word "you"

  • after this is the word "from"

  • and last is a city named Rio.

  • Together it's "are you from Rio?"

  • The structure is "are you from" plus a

  • place name. it's similar to the above

  • expression "I'm from Sao Paulo" except

  • that the verb to be which has been

  • contracted with the word "I" to make "I'm"

  • has been moved to the beginning of the

  • sentence, and put in the second person

  • along with the subject. Are you from Rio?

  • Now imagine you meet someone on the

  • plane, ask him or her if he or she is

  • from Los Angeles.

  • Are you from Los Angeles?

  • now imagine you meet someone with an Australian accent,

  • ask him or her if he or she is from Australia.

  • Are you from Australia?

  • Now, if you have no idea where someone's from you can ask

  • "where are you from?"

  • In this case, the

  • place name has been removed and the

  • sentence starts with "where"

  • it's also said with a different intonation.

  • Together it's "where are you from?"

  • Imagine you meet someone new but have no idea

  • where they're from, ask them where

  • they're from.

  • Where are you from?

  • Like this quick lesson?

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  • to understand the whole

  • dialogue. While you're there, learn all

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  • EnglishClass101.com. See you next time!

Imagine you're on a plane, your seatmate

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