Hello and welcome back to Easy English with James. What have you been
up to? Up to? Err..What the heck does that
mean? Stick with me! Let's find out!
Ok, quite simply,
"What have you been up to?". That's What. Have. You. Been.
Up. To....means the same as
"What have you been doing?". Ok. Native
speakers, when we ask each other, "What have you been doing?" We
don't really say, "What have you been doing?" because it sounds like we're
asking if they have been doing something bad. "WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!?".
Instead, we just say, "What have you been up to?". If someone asks
me, "James, what have you been up to?" I might say,
"I've been working all morning, I've been lying in bed, watching TV.
I've been hanging out with my friends."
Ok. The answer begins with, "I've been.." "I've been".
What have you been up to? I've been driving my bike.
I've been travelling for the last 2 weeks. I've
been watching Avengers on TV. I've been watching Star Wars.
I've been reading a book. Ok. What have you
been up to? Ok. Up to,
basically always means, "doing". What have you been
doing? What have you been up to? We can change this also
for when we're talking about the past. For example, "What
did you get up to last night?" "What did you
get up to last night?" It's the same as basically, "What did you
do last night?". "What did you do last night?"
I went to the cinema. I read a book. What did
you do last night? I stayed in bed. I was bored.
I was tired. Ok. What did you get up to last
night? What did you get up to last weekend? What did you get up to
yesterday? Ok. Two different things
1.) What have you been up to? That's for something that you did since
I last saw you. Ok. Since the last time I saw you , what have you been up
to? Ok, tell me some things that I don't know about
what you have done, since I last saw you.
Ok. Since the last time I saw you, ooh, I
got married, I travelled to Italy, I bought a
PlayStation 5. Ok. What have you been up to? I've been playing on
my new PlayStation 5. I've been travelling around Europe.
I've been hanging out with my friends. Or, indeed, not
much at all. What have you been up to? Not much! Not much, really. Err,
Just relaxing at home, working, the same like always.
Ok. 2.) What did you get up to last night? Last
night, I did a little bit of work, I
read some of my favorite book and then I watched a film and then I went
to sleep. Ok. Remember, "What have you been
up to? (Since I last saw you..)" Ok. I have been
working, I've been dancing, I've been singing. Nearly always use the
-ING on the end there. I have been + the verb
ING form. Ok, I have been working
all day. I've been working all the time and now I'm really tired.
(because I have been working all the time.) And the other one,
"What did you get up to?" What did you get up to last weekend?
Arrrhh, this we use in the past simple, ok. What did you get up to
last weekend? I relaxed, I hung out with my friends in a coffee shop.
Ok. I went to have some food with my family and I did
some studying. Ok. I studied some English. What did you get up
to 5 minutes ago? You started watching this video!
What have you been up to since you watched this video?
I've been learning English. I've been learning English. Ok.
Next time you want to ask what somebody is doing or what somebody has been doing
make sure you say, "What have you been up to?" And watch how they'll
say, "Wow, your English is really good!" And the next time what
somebody did do at a time in the past, ask them,
"What did you get up to last weekend?" What did you get up to last night?" Ok.
Ok, Excellent! So....I'm gonna ask you
What did YOU get up to last night? Write that
in the comments below! Make sure you hit LIKE and SUBSCRIBE if you liked this
video and you'll see all of my future videos coming up (soon)! Ok.
Thanks for joining me! See you again soon. Bye Bye!