how do thank you very much. Hello my old chap how do you do? You look marvellous!
hey Doc what's up? I beg your pardon. Oh what I do is uh I look a woman up and down and I say hey
how you doing?
so how've you been? So were any of those phrases familiar they are of course all
alternatives to saying that very famous phrase how are you however saying how
are you all the time it's a little bit repetitive and in fact native speakers
use lots of other phrases in different occasions we don't always just say how
are you it's probably the same in your own language think now about how many
different ways you can say how are you in your own language so today we're
going to look at 15 alternatives to saying that famous phrase how are you
and we're going to look at formal and informal versions
I'm Sabra your British University English teacher from love English and
remember guys if you haven't already subscribe and hit the bell
so number one this one I say all the time this is how's it going
how's it going nice informal and relaxed phrase you can use it of course with
colleagues if you know them well but normally we use it with friends and
family so we would say hey how is it going how are things with you often we
might use a couple of phrases actually as we begin a conversation hey how's it
going how are things with you we may also begin this with alright especially
if we're for example younger the younger generation so perhaps under 40 perhaps
we might say alright how's it going? you might say alright how's it going very
very common as well and actually alright is very British in American English they
may have some slightly different phrases to us so keep that in mind as we go guys
number two is how's life treating you how's life treating you and this means
is life being good to you how is life behaving towards you so we might say hey
you how you doing? how's life treating you or simply just hey how's life
treating you? how are things with you so like this remember that of course
intonation is important when you say these phrases so try to say them in a
way that expresses interest in the other person's life don't call them or start a
conversation by saying hey how's life treating you in a very flat way we
normally would say hey how's life treating you how are things with you now
that phrase is both formal and informal you can say it to colleagues you could
say it to a superior if you are quite familiar with them it's important to
point out that most of these phrases are used when you already know the person a
little bit already number three nice simple one this is
just how are things how are things so you could call someone and say hey how
are things how are things with you or if you want to extend it to a group of
people you could say how are things with the family or how are things with you
guys any of those would be fine how are
things number five this one is so simple but very commonly used
amongst friends if I see my friend I might be like hey you okay how is
everything with you hey you okay how is everything with you particularly
over the phone you can say this one hey you okay how's everything with you
number six this is certainly going to be popular with younger people and this is
what's up what's up now I would only use this with close friends partners
probably not my parents because it sounds too informal and very much for
young people but with my friends I might write to them saying hey what's up also
when I see them I could say hey what's up how's it going or over the phone it's
important to point out though that this really is for informal situations
I wouldn't recommend using it in the work environment and I wouldn't really
use it with older people I would tend to use it with people who are the same age
group as you you don't want to sound like you're trying to be young so maybe
just use it when you feel comfortable that those people are going to be
friendly towards you back so it's one of those phrases to only use in certain
situations - who's that pick up the phone... whassssupppp. number seven we have actually
borrowed this one from the Chinese way of saying how are you and I haven't
spoken to you for a while because in English technically the grammar isn't
correct but we use it all the time these days
this one is hey how are you long time no speak or a long time no see, super common
now in England and I'm sure in America as well hey how are you long time no see
so nice one to use again with people that you're familiar with mostly again
that this is informal I wouldn't really use it with my boss but I would use it
with my colleagues number eight this is very much a variation of how are things
and this one is hey so what's going on you've been doing okay hey so what's
been going on you've been doing okay again this is informal look at how you
can hardly hear you've been doing like okay have you
been doing okay we actually will cut this in conversation and just simply say
you been doing okay because it's informal and we're lazy to say the whole
phrase so this would be so what's been going on with you you been doing okay
and here we're asking about how they've been up to this point not just now tell
me about what's been happening in your life so what's been going on with you
you've been doing okay try to repeat these with me guys as we go copying my
intonation so that you will say them in a way which is authentic
so copying them with me as we go so probably best to be somewhere a bit
quieter as you watch this video I don't recommend them these allowed on the bus
people might think you're inquiring about how they are it could start
getting into conversation with random strangers that's if they speak English
number nine number nine is hey how are you doing is all good in the hood or all
good in the hood this is very informal and certainly much
more used for younger people in fact I was a little bit hesitant about
including this one if I don't really use it myself
but I do hear younger people saying it and I do hear it said in movies so I
thought why not include it so you guys can at least understand it if you hear
it even if you don't want to use it so all getting the hood or is all good
in the hood the hood is of course short for neighborhood so it means it's all
good in your area it's or isn't really good for you basically is what it really
means this is more American I would say than British but we have adopted it now
because of course we watch a lot of American movies and things like that so
if you want to use it with a friend that you feel comfortable where it's very
familiar you can I'd probably say that that men use it more than women as well
but it does sound cool I guess number 10 this is a more formal one and this is
are you keeping well are you keeping well so here if you wish
to be more formal you could always change that hey - hello I very rarely
will say hello except for on the phone it's just too formal most of the time
when I'm with friends colleagues family are say hey so if you want to you can
say hello if you feel more comfortable with that but just to let you know that
it is more formal but here we would say hello are you keeping well or hey are
you keeping well and this is inquiring really about how they've been but it's
more formal notice how we change how are you - are you well still really where
we're most inquiring about their general well-being are you keeping well number
eleven I thought it would include this one as many of you asked me about this
but I have to be honest and say that I have never used it in my life
as I never had the occasion to and this is how do you do how do you do very old
fashioned midday and extremely formal as I said I've never had the occasion to
use it perhaps if I meet her Majesty the Queen
I certainly will say how do you do mom or if I met somebody very very important
for example a CEO of an important company a politician a famous person
perhaps who commanded quite a lot of respect certainly if I met Michelle
Obama I would say how do you do ma'am this kind of thing but in general life
we just don't use this phrase it's it's so formal number twelve nice simple one
more informal but can be used formally it is how have you been how have you been
nice simple one hey have you been how is everything with you how are things going
how have you been nice easy one to remember how have you been number 13
this is one which we will use when we want to ask how someone is during a time
of difficulties when something not-so-good has happened to them so
perhaps the end of a relationship they've had ill health lost a job then
we will use this phrase because it shows more concern we can say how are you how
are you holding up how are you holding up or are you holding up okay and it
means are you coping okay you are you you know surviving this okay holding up
of course means are you managing to hold yourself up
yourself through this so hey are you okay
how are you holding up number 14 again we use this one much more in informal
situations when we want to sound perhaps a little bit cool a little bit edgy again
it's more for the younger generation this one is hey how's tricks
how's tricks and this means how are things going tricks meaning games jokes
that kind of thing how's tricks number fifteen nice formal one that you
can use at work when you want to show respect to family members and things
like this this is are you well we would probably actually connect this to how
are you we might say hey how are you are you well are you keeping well like the
example I gave you earlier are you well I often would greet my grandmother in
this way I certainly wouldn't say hey grandma what's up or how's tricks I
think she would be a bit surprised although knowing my grandma she would
probably laugh but it's much more polite to say hey how are you are you well are you
keeping well so nice formal one also for the work environment as well okay guys
they were are 15 expression and alternatives to using how are you no
more excuses now for repeating that phrase you have many other options
tell me please in the comments below which are you favourites which do you
like to use have you ever used them before did you feel confident using them
tell me about that below in the comment and if you like this video guys don't
forget to give it a thumbs up we'll see you soon on love English hope you're
all keeping well see you soon bye bye