Hi. Bob the Canadian here.
In this English lesson,
I want to help you learn five questions
that native English speakers hear all the time.
I've been listening at work and at home
for the last few months,
and every time I hear a question,
when someone asks me a question, I write it down,
and I've been keeping track
and I've chosen the five questions
that I get asked the most often,
and I'll give you some suggestions
for how you can answer them as well.
All of the questions start with these two words, how was.
So let's get to the first one.
Every day, Jen asks me this question. "How was your day?"
And almost every day, I ask Jen the same question.
This question occurs in my life at the end of my day,
when I come home from work.
When I walk in the door,
Jen will say, "Hi," and I will say, "Hi,"
and either she will ask me, or I will ask her this question,
"How was your day?"
So here are a few ways that you can answer that question.
By the way, this question happens every day.
Every day, Jen and I ask each other this question,
so it's a very common question.
There are five ways that you can answer this question
and I'm gonna rank them here
from the happiest answer to the not-so-happy answer.
So the happiest answer would be to say, "It was great."
The second answer that's a little less happy,
but still really happy, would be to say, "It was good."
The answer in the middle that kind of means it was good,
but maybe there were some bad parts to it,
would be to say, "It wasn't too bad,"
and then if it wasn't that good of a day,
you could say something like, "It wasn't that great,"
and if it was just not a good day at all,
you would say, "It was awful."
So to repeat from happiest to saddest,
you would say, "It was great," "It was good,"
"It wasn't too bad," "It wasn't that great,"
and, "It was awful."
I don't often have awful days, so thank goodness.
The next question that I get asked quite a bit,
almost every Monday, someone at work will say,
"How was your weekend?"
The question they will ask me is, "How was your weekend?"
Again, starting with how was,
and I will ask other people this question as well.
They'll say, "Hey Bob, how was your weekend?"
And again, you can answer
using all of the same phrases that I just gave you.
You could say, "It was great," "It was good,"
"It wasn't too bad," "It wasn't that great,"
or, "It was awful."
You'll want to add a little more to the answer, though.
You'll want to tell them something you did on the weekend.
If I was to say, "It was great.
Jen and I took the kids to Niagara Falls,"
you can see how I added a little bit of information.
So when you come into work on Mondays,
you will often be asked by someone, "How was your weekend?"
The next question that gets asked quite a bit,
but not this year,
but normally gets asked quite a bit would be,
"How was your trip?"
If you went on a vacation, if you went on a small trip,
if you visited somewhere and you come back to work,
or the next time you see your family,
they might say, "Hey, how was your trip?"
Again, starting with how was. "How was your trip?"
And again, all the same answers.
"It was great." "It was good."
I'm forgetting.
"It wasn't too bad," "It wasn't that great,"
and, "It was awful."
And you'll want to add something as well, right?
Like, "It was awful. The flight had lots of turbulence."
Okay?
So how was your trip,
referring to a trip that you just went on.
The fourth question that you get asked once or twice a year
or maybe a little bit more,
would be, "How was your birthday?"
or, "How was Christmas?" or, "How was New Year's Eve?"
So you might be talking about an event that someone went to.
So you might come back to work after a weekend
and someone might know that it was your birthday,
and they might say, "Hey, how was your birthday?"
And again, all the same answers.
"It was great," "It was good," "It wasn't too bad,"
"It wasn't that great," and, "It was awful."
I have to keep looking at my paper,
'cause I'm forgetting the answers.
That's not very good.
As the teacher, I should know all the answers, shouldn't I?
And you'll want to add more.
You could say, "It was great.
My family came over,
we had a campfire, and we had an awesome birthday cake,
and it was just a really fun evening.
It was great."
So that's the fourth one.
The fifth question that you get asked a lot,
especially for me, is,
if you've watched a TV show or a movie,
and someone knows that, they might say,
"How was the movie? or, "How was the TV show?"
So again, using how was,
and they're asking about something that you have watched.
So, "How was the TV show?" "How was the movie?"
They might ask, "How was the concert?"
Maybe they know that you went to a concert
or something like that.
So you could reply again with the same.
I know this is repetitive.
Sorry, I know this is repetitive,
but I think repetition is good
when you're learning a language.
So you would respond with,
"It was great," or, "It was good,"
or, "It wasn't too bad," or, "It wasn't that great,"
or, "It was awful."
Those are all your possible answers.
And then, hey, here is the last one.
If you are talking about anything,
if you mention that you did something,
someone might ask this question.
"How was it?"
So instead of referring to the actual event
or thing that you did, they'll use the word it.
So they'll say, "How was it?"
You could say something like,
"We went on a canoe trip last weekend,"
and they might say, "How was it?"
and you would say, "It was great."
You might say, again,
"We went to a concert this past weekend,"
and they could say, "How was it?"
and you could say, "It was great," "It was good,"
"It wasn't that great," "It wasn't too bad," "It was awful."
I think I mixed two of those up there, but that's okay.
That happens sometimes.
Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.
Five of the very common questions you will hear
when you are having a conversation with someone in English.
People like to ask how something went after you have done it
and they'll do it using those two words,
how was, and then the rest of the question.
Hopefully this lesson was good for you.
Thank you so much for watching it.
Again, I'm Bob the Canadian.
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