| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this video, I'm going to talk about 12 creative ways to respond to "How are you?" Of course, we practice basic responses to "How are you?" all the time. Like, "Fine," "Good," "All right," and "Not bad." But these responses are a little more creative. Even if you don't use these responses, you may hear responses like these. And so, you can think about how you want to respond to them. Let's get started. |
| Okay. The first one is "Good enough." "Good enough." So, when someone says, "How are you?" and you say "Good enough," it sounds a little bit funny. Like you're good enough for life right now, or "It's okay." Your life is okay, it's enough right now. So, this is kind of a bitterly funny response. "How are you?" "Good enough." It's generally said with that kind of feeling. "How are you?" "Good enough." Something that expresses a little bit of humor, but also a little bit of a dark feeling, too. So, you can use good enough to express this. |
| The next response is, "I haven't had my morning coffee yet." "I haven't had my morning coffee yet." At native speed, this conversation would sound like, "How are you? "I haven't had my morning coffee yet." So, it's a very quick response. This means "I'm tired." It's another way to say, "I'm tired." And we typically use something like this in the morning or maybe in the early afternoon even. So, this expresses that someone is probably tired and maybe busy as well. So, the idea here with this response saying, "I haven't had my morning coffee yet," is like saying, "After I have my coffee, I'm going to improve" or "I'll be better after I drink a cup of coffee." It's like saying, "I'm tired now, but I'll be better in the future." So, you can use this to express the same idea. We don't really use this with tea and we don't use a variation of this at the end of the day, we tend to use it just with coffee in the beginning of the day. So, sometime in the morning or maybe the early afternoon, perhaps around lunch, too. You might also hear people say, "I haven't had enough coffee today." So, that sounds like they're low on energy. That's a creative way to say, "I'm tired," or "My energy is low." So, you can use this, "I haven't had my morning coffee yet" or "I haven't had enough coffee today" to express this feeling. |
| Okay. Let's go on to the next one. The next one is "Can't complain." "Can't complain." So, the conversation would be, "How are you?" "Can't complain." So, "Can't complain" means "I can't complain." So, in other words, "My life is pretty good. I cannot complain about my life." That's what this means. "How are you?" "Can't complain." So, that means nothing is super great, but nothing is super bad either. It's just kind of neutral, and it shows you have no real problems at this point. So, it's like another way of saying "Not bad." "Not bad." So, generally, we say "Can't complain," we drop "I." So, we drop the "I" because we understand the "I" is at the beginning. So, of course, "How are you?" "I can't complain." You could use that, but we tend to drop the "I" at the beginning because it's clear from the context we are talking about ourselves. "How are you?" "Can't complain." |
| Okay. Let's go to the next one. The next one is "It's too early to tell." "It's too early to tell." So, the conversation, "How are you?" "It's too early to tell," we would probably say it with that voice. What does this mean? This is another way to say, "I'm very tired." So, the key here is this "early," early. "It's too early to tell." So, if you meet someone very early in the morning for work or meeting or project or something, they might use something like this, "It's too early to tell." This "tell" means understand or know. We sometimes use the verb "tell" to express this feeling. So, another way to say this is like saying, "It is too early for me to know the answer to 'How are you?'." So, "It's too early for me," in other words. This is a creative and kind of funny way to say "I'm very tired." But we typically use a kind of exhausted or unhappy voice when we express this. "How are you?" "It's too early to tell." You might follow it up with this, "I haven't had my morning coffee yet." So, that's a funny way to express that you're tired, and it's early, and you don't really even know how you are because you're so tired and it's so early. So, this is a little bit funny and it also shows that you have kind of this really hard time getting started in the morning. So, maybe many people can use this one. |
| Okay. Let's go to the next one. The next one is just, "I don't know." "I don't know." This one can be used in a funny voice. This one can be used in a serious voice. So, be careful with your intonation when you use this one. This could be "How are you?" "I don't know." So, you could use that if you're very busy, "I don't know how I am. I'm so busy." Or, "How are you?" "I don't know." That could express that you're feeling sad or you're feeling down, and you feel confused or unsure of yourself. If you say it in kind of a funny voice it could also express that you're experiencing some confusion, but you're not in a bad place. For example, "How are you?" "I don't know." So, that kind of expresses that you are maybe busy, but you feel upbeat about things. So, if you want to express some confusion, like even you, you don't even know how you are right now. "Am I good? Am I bad? Am I tired? I don't know." You can use this and the tone of your voice to express a lot of different things. But, generally, this one expresses some kind of confusion. So, it's up to you to decide the tone of your confusion with this one. "How are you?" "I don't know." |
| Okay. Let's go to the next one. The next one is, "Much better now that you're here." "Much better now that you're here." So, the conversation would be like, "How are you?" "Much better now that you're here." So, this one is a little bit flirtatious. This one is a little bit kind of romantic maybe sounding. So, if you meet somebody that you're really excited about, like you are romantically interested in them or maybe you're going on a date with that person, you might use this, "Much better now that you're here." It sounds kind of cheesy, kind of corny. So, that means it sounds like a little too sincere. But maybe, if you like that style of humor, you can use that. You might use this I suppose with a good friend if you want to show that you're very, very happy to see them. Or maybe you could use it with a family member that you haven't seen in a long time. So, this is a fairly sincere and a well-meaning expression, a well-meaning way to respond to "How are you?" But just be careful. If you use this with someone you are romantically interested in, or if you use it with like a co-worker that you are maybe like trying to be romantically interested in, it might be a little bit too much. But you may hear something like this. Someone is trying to sincerely greet you. They're saying my condition is better, or my condition has improved because now you are here. That's what this means. "I was okay. But now, I'm better. I'm doing great because you're here." So, that's the idea. This other person has improved our condition somehow. So, this is an interesting one, but just be careful about the situations in which you use this. |
| Okay. Let's continue to the next one. The next one is a funny one, "It's secret." "It's a secret." "How are you?" "It's a secret." So, if you want to be a little bit funny and show maybe that you don't want to talk about how you are, or you don't feel like sharing your condition, or even if you feel okay but you just want to be a little funny, you can say, "It's a secret." So, "How are you?" "It's a secret." It shows it's a little bit of a funny response. You can, of course, just use this as a fun way to start the conversation. So, maybe you share a few small details later or something like that. But this can just be a really funny response to "How are you?" I would suggest you use this in situations where you're close to the person. We would not use this one in polite conversation, but this is a really funny way to respond to "How are you?" |
| Okay. On to the next one. The next one is a pattern that you can use. So, "How are you?" "I'm warm," or "I'm hot," "I'm cold," "I'm sweaty," "I'm nervous." So, in this pattern, you can replace this part here with a body or mental condition adjective. So, these words refer to temperature, right? Your body temperature. For example, if you come in somewhere and you meet someone, and they say, "How are you?" and it's a summer day, you could say, "I'm warm," or "I'm hot." Like this leads to a conversation about the weather that day. Or in winter, "Oh, I'm so cold," or "Oh, I'm freezing." So, again, this leads to a conversation about the weather. So, rather than just saying, "Oh, I'm good," or "I'm okay," you're starting the conversation about another topic, right? Something you both have just experienced, the weather. If you use one of these words like, "Oh, I'm sweaty," or "I'm nervous," or something, you also show your current condition and you open the conversation to that other thing. Like it shows that you want to talk about that other thing or some other experience. So, you can use a body or a mental condition adjective in response to "How are you?" to kind of start the conversation in another way just from your response. So, "How are you?" "Oh, I'm nervous. I have this presentation I have to do today." So, just choosing a simple adjective like this can start the conversation in another direction immediately. So, this can be very useful if you know there's something you want to talk to that other person about. |
| Okay, great. Let's go on to the next one. The next one is a funny one. "Why? What have you heard?" "Why? What have you heard?" Or you might also hear a simple past tense question, too. "Why? What did you hear?" So, this one is a little bit funny and it also sounds suspicious. So, most of the time, we would use something like this to be funny. Like someone asks, "How are you?" and you go, "Why? What have you heard?" Like you would say that just to make a funny joke, just to suggest that other people are talking about you or spreading rumors about you. But if you're in maybe a dangerous situation, or there's some kind of suspicious situation in your life, you might use this to ask sincerely, "Why? What have you heard?" But that's probably, I hope, pretty rare. You don't need to use that one. In most cases, when we use this kind of thing we're doing it to be funny, to suggest that there's something suspicious about us. So, "Hi. How are you?" "Why? What have you heard?" Like, "What have you heard about my condition?" is what this question asks. "Why? Why do you want to know how I am? What did you hear about me?" So, it's kind of suggesting that you're a very like suspicious or strange person. Again, we usually use this as a joke, so don't use this in polite conversation. But you can use this with people you're close to. |
| Okay. On to the next one. The next one. I have two here that are very common. They are "Couldn't be better." "Couldn't be better." And, "Never been better." So, it "Couldn't be better" and "Never been better." So, "How are you?" "Couldn't be better." So, this is "Could not be better," which means "It is not possible for my condition to be better than it is now. I'm at 100%. Life is great for me. I couldn't be better." Or another very common one is "Never been better." "Never been better." "How are you?" "Never been better." So, "Never been better" means "Never in my life until this point have I been better than I am now. I'm at the high point of my life right now." So, these are both very, very positive expressions. They're kind of more creative ways of saying "I'm doing great." So, they sound very positive. "How are you?" "Never been better." You might also just hear "Never better," as well. That's another way that people sometimes respond with this kind of expression. So, these are very, very positive ways to express that you're doing great. But they sound more interesting than just "Great." |
| Okay. All right. The next one, "I'm alive," or just "Alive." "I'm alive." So, "How are you?" "I'm alive." So, this one is a very kind of neutral one. So, it depends on your intonation. This is an answer that depends on your intonation a lot. So, if you have nothing special to report, like you're not great but you're not bad. There's no big news in your life and you're just kind of feeling flat maybe, you can use this one. So, "How are you?" "I'm alive." It just shows there's nothing special going on. There may be some cases where you want to use this with different intonation to express a different feeling. Like for example, if you were recently in the hospital and the person you're speaking to knows that, you might say very cheerfully, "I'm alive!" So, that shows that you feel very grateful. So, you could use something like that if you were maybe in an accident, or had maybe a serious injury, something like that. You could use this in in a very cheerful voice to express you're very happy to be alive. If you're feeling really down, you could also use this, too. "How are you?" "I'm alive." So, that shows that maybe you're experiencing some challenges or some life struggles. But be careful. If you use that kind of intonation with this response, you should probably be expecting to share some details. Like, "What are you going through? Is there something you want to talk about?" So, showing you're alive is kind of a dark way to respond to this. But some people just like to use it to respond in a very neutral way. Like, "I'm alive. I have nothing special to report." In most cases, that's the way that this one gets used. But, of course, there are some other situations where people will use this response to communicate other ideas, too. |
| Okay. Let's go to the last one for this lesson. "I'm hangin' in there!" "I'm hangin' in there!" Or just "Hangin' in there!" Note that this spelling here. I have "hangin'" with this apostrophe at the end. So, yes, the word is "hanging." "Hanging." But, we typically say "hangin'," "hangin'." This apostrophe marks where that G would usually go. "Hangin' in there!" So, that means "I have some struggles. I have some challenges in my life, but I'm doing okay." So, to "hang in there" means to continue trying to move forward even though you have some struggles, or even though you have some challenges. "I'm doing my best" is what this sounds like. But it's a very casual way to say, "I'm doing my best." "I'm hangin' in there." So, the conversation would sound like, "How are you?" "Hangin' in there!" So, it just kind of sounds light and like, "Yep! I have some stuff I have to take care of, some things. But I'm doing my best and I'm moving forward." So, this is like another very, very common response, very popular I feel, response to "How are you?" So, this is one that lots and lots of people can use. If you want to continue talking about things, you can also use this expression. Like, "I'm hangin' in there. I have this and that I have to take care of, but it's okay." So, you can give a little bit more detail if you use this response, too. So, you can use this one it's just a neutral way to say that you have some things going on, but you're working on taking care of them and it's going okay. |
| All right. So, those are 12 creative ways to respond to the question "How are you?" Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye. |
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