Morning, how are you?

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

Yeah!

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

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

We need to change this.

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

We say many different things.

For example, we might say "How's it going?" or "Hey, how are you doing?"

Australians will often say a mix of this.

"How are you going?"

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

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

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

"You okay?" "You alright?"

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

But it's very common just to say "You okay?" "You alright?"

This confuses Americans apparently, because in British English this one is very common. It's very casual.

"Alright?"

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

It's very casual. It's normal.

But if you say this to an American, they will be like this: "Am I alright? I'm fine. Do I look sad?"

So for Americans that sounds more serious. You're asking "Oh, are you sad?"

But for British people, no, this is just normal. It's fine.

But remember I said pay close attention to the intonation.

"You okay?" "Alright?"

Sounds happy. But all of these you would ask to this person if that's their expression, if it's a normal day nothing bad happened.

But what if....

If your friend looks sad or if you know something bad happened, there is a different way you can ask these questions.

First, the intonation.

The intonation with these changes. Listen.

"You alright?"

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

See the intonation goes up and down there. "You okay?"

So it really depends on your intonation how you say them.

"You okay?" "You alright?"

These ones may sound very casual, normal, maybe happy.

So if your friend looks like this or maybe something bad happened, let's ask a different question.

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

These two questions show concern for your friend.

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

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

Don't ask that question. It doesn't sound friendly. It doesn't sound like you care.

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

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

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

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

No! No more!

So for British people, it's very common if you're good to normal to start your answer with "Yeah."

For example, this is the more realistic answer.

We don't say "I'm fine thank you, and you?" We say "Yeah, good, you?"

Other ways you can answer if you're happy or just normal: "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."

You'll notice that I haven't included any extreme adjectives, because we're British, we don't do emotions.

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

We don't do that.

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

"I'm AMAAAAAZING!"

You would still say one of these.

But less commonly you might hear, "I'm wonderful!"

You probably won't hear that but you might, "Oh, everything is hunky dory!"

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

It's really not common to hear that.

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

So just keep that in mind.

Also, I often hear "So-so."

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

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

AH! I forgot!

Oh my god, I'm so stupid! I almost forgot probably the most important one.

This might be the most common one.

"Yeah, I'm alright."

You can also say "I'm alright."

But remember again that is a bit more British.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good"

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

But what if you feel not so great, you feel a bit sad maybe or something happened.

Remember I said if you're feeling like this, you probably will start your answer with "Yeah."

For example, "Yeah I'm good."

But if you feel like this, probably you will start your answer with "Well..."

For example.

And remember we are British, we don't have emotions even strong emotions. We suppress them because we're British.

So if you feel bad, you are not really bad, you're only a bit bad.

For example, "Well, I'm a bit tired," "Well, I'm a bit sleepy," "I'm a bit ill."

We're British, we like to repress our emotions.

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

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

These ones they imply that perhaps something bad happened.

Maybe someone died, maybe you just broke up with your partner.

Any combination of this. This looks like a math's problem.

But you can use any combination of this one for your answer.

If you feel bad, for example, the short way "Hmm, not that great" or "I'll be honest. I'm not doing so well."

And again, you can mix them, "I'm not doing so great," "I'm not doing that well."

you can choose any mixture of these words and that means you feel like this.

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

Thanks for watching, you can follow me here @PapaTeachMe, or if you want extra, extra English practice, you can join this channel as a member or join my Patreon page.

And I'll see you in the next class.