Have you noticed that all conversations among English speakers begin with the phrases “How are you?”, “What’s up?”, “How’s it going?” etc. However, not everyone knows how to answer these questions correctly. In this article, you will find enough information and learn how to easily, almost automatically select the right words and expressions to answer the main greeting phrases-questions of the interlocutor.

How to answer How are you?

Here you have a lot of options, it all depends on the current state of affairs, since this question translates to “How are you (are you)?” or "How are you?" Therefore, answer exactly how you are doing. And in English it might look like this:

Fine. Fine.

The simplest and most direct answer. If you limit yourself to just this word, then the interlocutor may decide that you are not going to continue the conversation with him. In general, now you understand how to respond to show that you are not in the mood to talk to a certain person.

Not bad. Not bad.

This answer already sounds more friendly than "fine".

fine, thanks. Excellent thank you.

This is a formal answer. This way you can respond to someone you don't know. For example, a waiter in a restaurant.

Very well, thanks. Very good thanks.

A person who loves all sorts of grammatical norms and rules is likely to answer that way. From a technical point of view, the question "How ...?" (How ...?) you need to answer with an adverb. However, many English speakers, simply put, do not care. Those who are used to following everything that is written in textbooks insist on the use of grammatically correct constructions.

pretty good. Pretty good.

If grammar is somehow on your drum, you can answer "Good" or "Pretty good". This is the more common and much more natural answer. That is exactly what most ordinary people say.

Great! How are you doing? Amazing! And how are you?

This is such a rather enthusiastic and joyful response. If you want to continue the conversation, it is always better to ask counter questions to the interlocutor.

I'm hanging in there. So-so (neither bad nor good).

So you can answer if you had a hard day.

I've been better. It's been better.

A: How are you? How are you?

B: I've been better . It's been better.

A: What's wrong? What's wrong? (What happened?)

B: I just found out that I'm being laid off. I just found out that I was fired.

How to answer a question How's it going?

This question is similar to "How are you?". The meaning is the same - "How are things going?". All of the answers discussed above also apply to "How's it going?".

And here is another answer to the question “How’s it going?”, Which is no longer suitable for “How are you?”.

It's going well. Things are good. (Verb.: it's going well).

This is a friendly and correct answer, which is suitable for colleagues, clients and acquaintances whom you have not seen for a while.

How to answer What's up?

This is probably one of the most difficult questions for those who study English, because so many people are interested in how to answer it correctly.

It is similar to the question "What's happening in your life?" (What is going on in your life?). But no one is forcing you to be honest. If you don't want to have a long conversation, you can use one of the standard responses:

nothing much . Nothing special.

This is the most common option. You can supplement it with some interesting details that occur (if any). For example, " Nothing much. Just getting ready for Tom's graduation(Nothing special, just getting ready for Tom's graduation).

Not a lot.

This is another very common answer. The meaning is the same, but it's a little fresher than "Nothing much" because it's used a little less frequently.

nothing. Nothing.

As short and specific as possible. You may sound rude or angry when you answer like this.

Oh, just the usual. Everything is as usual.

Answer like this if you do the same thing every day, and nothing, in principle, changes.

Just the same old same old. Everything is the same, everything is the same.

This expression means that you are doing the same thing every day, and you are a little tired of it.

Oh gosh, all kinds of stuff! Yes, a whole lot!

You have been very busy and something interesting has happened in your life recently.

How to answer a question What's happening?

This question means the same as What's up?, so the answers to it can be used the same as discussed above.

Now you know many answers to basic welcome questions in English. You can use any of them according to the situation. Don't forget that you can improvise and come up with your own answers, because no one likes "robots" that communicate in a learned pattern. No one is forcing you to speak using only a certain set of words. We are all human and we talk the way we want.

But still, consider grammatical rules and norms in certain situations, do not overdo it with naturalness. In everyday friendly conversations, all the rules are sometimes forgotten, so don't be surprised to hear another new phrase or word. Just try to grasp the general concept, and then everything will go by itself.

Suitable lift. His movement is interrupted on several floors. He goes downstairs, the doors open and we hurry through the lobby together. An elderly Mexican with a piece of baize rubs the mahogany facing until it begins to shine so that he reflects himself in it. At the end of the vestibule, opposite the door, sits the porter.
"Hi Michael!" I greet him.
"Hi, Mr. van Laak, how are you today?" (“Hello, Mr. van Laak, how are you?”) He raises his hand and bows to me.
"I'm fine, Michael." ("It's all right, Michael.")
“Good, that's very good”, (“Good, very good”) - he answers me and laughs.
I never ask how he's doing.
"You have a nice day!" (“Have a nice day!”) he calls after me as I stand in front of the door.
“You too”, (“You also”) - I say and look back.
I don't exchange a single word with other porters. I only greet them with a rather polite, but at the same time restrained nod of the head. With Michael it's different. He has such an infectious laugh. Sometimes I stop next to him and we exchange a couple of meaningless phrases. I don't even know if he's married. Michael takes me for a Dutchman.
I go outside and walk past the flower beds that have been laid out around the skyscraper as if they were meant to keep the concrete of the sidewalks away from the walls of the building. The gardeners are busy watering the flowers, preparing them for the heat of the coming day. And although they are in a hurry, the work is moving slowly. Taxis stand with their engines running, people get in, taxis leave, new ones take their place. I walk to my office. It's a few blocks from the skyscraper where I live. At the first corner I stop and look at the line of newspaper machines, reading the headlines. "The White Sox won the world tour" or "Chicago is sweltering in the heat." I stop reading headlines, I don't throw any coins into the machine slots, and I don't buy a single newspaper.
It is already very hot, although quite early. The sun is beating down from the sky, and the day is likely to set the record again. Which one, I can find out in the evening from television messages. It will probably be the hottest day in twenty years. Or twenty-one.
A mounted policeman moves towards me. He jumps in the middle of the street and looks like a cowboy abandoned in a big city. The policeman is wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat. Cars go around it on the left and on the right. The animal below him no longer perceives them. I feel sorry for him because he is forced to run on asphalt and breathe exhaust fumes.
I turn a corner and straight ahead I see a small white bus waiting for people to go to the mall. An overweight driver, no longer able to lace up his own boots, stands next to the open door. The engine is running to keep the inside of the bus cool, and the driver smiles and nods at me the way he does every morning. I walk past him and turn around the nearest corner again. I work there.
I enter the bureau located on the fortieth floor. People and cars look tiny from there. It makes my heart feel light and calm.
Michael is no longer visible. At first I don't notice it. It's not unusual for me not to see him for a week. Shift work is arranged in such a way that sometimes when he comes to it, I have already finished mine and am at home. But when our hours again coincide, I see him again, he smiles at me, calls me by name and asks how things are.
Then I imagine that we are both engaged in the same tabloid play, which is not removed from the repertoire, although it does not have a single audience, it is always the same situation, the same dialogue and the same exit from the stage.
This time it's different. I don't see him for a long time and I start to forget him. One time I have to remember him, when one morning I meet a seated porter in the hall, who smiles at me in the way Michael did. He greets me without saying my name. I answer him with the same greeting.
New, I think, and only now do I realize how long I haven't seen Michael. When was the last time? A month ago? Perhaps he will sit somewhere and get more than ten cents an hour. He will find himself a new Mr. van Laak and will be interested in how he is doing. And I hope he will answer Michael.
When I go outside, I immediately forget about him. Taxis are waiting. The gardeners are watering the flowers even though it is about to rain. A welcome change that brings with it another new record. Can't wait to find out which one.
Summer turns into autumn. Life doesn't change. Only the days are gradually getting colder and shorter. In the morning I put on my coat, in the evening I turn off the light when I leave the office. I spend my free time exclusively under artificial lighting. Gardeners dig up dead plants in flowerbeds near houses and cover the ground with evergreen periwinkle. Taxis run more often because it's rainy and people don't want to get wet. I no longer see a mounted policeman, although the traffic on the streets has not changed. Apparently, he became too uncomfortable, since the fields of the hat did not protect from bad weather, and the cars passing by could splash. Perhaps his horse didn't care.
Autumn turns into winter. Gardeners tie garlands of light to bare tree branches to announce Christmas. The first snow is falling. Taxis drive more carefully, as the tire tread pattern is barely visible. Snow is shoveled onto the sidewalks. I swear, as if this would help to dissolve the off-white splendor. Only total wrapping saves against the winter icy wind. Gardeners no longer have to work, flower beds under thick snow and ice. Newspaper machines on the corner dug out of the snow. The headlines are disturbing. Gasoline prices have reached lonely heights.
A small bus is waiting around the corner. The fat driver sits wedged between the back of the seat and the steering wheel. I wonder how he managed to do this, and I wonder if anyone helped him with this. Pleasant warmth in the cabin. Exhaust gases rise from the exhaust pipe into the air. I enter my office and from above I see that Lake Michigan is covered in ice. It would be great to skate on it if it weren't forbidden. It's too dangerous.
I stand in front of the elevator of the house I live in and wait for its doors to open and I can go inside. The air is so saturated with perfume that it seems that people do not wash themselves in winter, but only interrupt unpleasant odors with perfume aromas. I no longer notice the descent. Only when people begin to move, I understand that the elevator has gone down and I follow them. Like everyone else, I hurry through the hall, past a Mexican who is spraying the mahogany parquet and rubbing it with a flannelette rag. He is reflected in the sparkling wood and looks pleased with a job well done.
Hi, Mr. van Laak. How are you today? (“Hello, Mr. van Laak. How are you?”)
It takes me a few seconds to let the voice in. How do I know him. Slowly comes the memory: Michael is here again. I look up and see Michael smiling at me and holding out his hand.
Hi, Mr. van Laak. How are you today? he repeats.
I want to answer, but I can't decide.
“Michael,” I ask instead, “where have you been? It "s been such a long time since I last saw you." ("Michael, where have you been? It's been so long since I last saw you.")
“It’s been a year”, (“Exactly a year”) - he answers me and shakes his head as if he is still waiting for an answer to his question.
“I am fine”, (“I'm fine”) - I answer and continue to stare at him in amazement. I still can't believe I'm seeing him here again.
“Good, that's very good”, (“Good, very good”) - he says in response and laughs at the same time.
"But where were you all that time?" (“But where have you been all this time?”) I ask him.
“In Iraq,” he says, “with the National Guard. It was hell. I can thank my lucky star I "m still alive. You have a nice day." ("In Iraq, in the ranks of the National Guard. It was hot there. I survived thanks to my lucky star. Have a nice day.")
“You too,” I say, and look into his eyes.

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I "m bored today, and everything"s there to be ignored today, scattered everywhere out on the floor today, and I don't care about you. I lost my job today, which used to be the way I could afford to live to hate another day and now I can't afford to even be bored anymore. It "s kind of good to feel bad again, mad again, sad again. I" ll be doing that again. I don't have to tell you I do it really well. You said goodbye today, and I'm just here still asking why today, and not another year, I'm gonna cry today, but I don't care about you . Maybe it wasn "t bad to do, and you did what you had to do. Maybe I" ll believe it too, if I keep saying I don "t care about you, today I don" t know what I "m gonna do today and there "s a lot to get through today, but I don"t care about you, today.

Translation

I'm bored today and everyone's there to be ignored today, scattered all over the floor today and I don't care about you. I lost my job today, what used to be so how could I afford to live hating another day and now I can't even afford to be bored anymore. It's kind of good to feel bad again, crazy again, sad again. I will do it again. I don't have to tell you, I do it very well. You said goodbye today and I'm just here still asking why today, and not another year, I'll cry today, but I don't care about you. Maybe it wasn't bad to do and you did what you had to do. Maybe I'll believe it too if I keep saying I don't care about you today I don't know what I'm going to do today and have a lot to go through today but I don't care about you today.