How to Answer English Questions that Start With, "What are you up to..."

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O8GbPwwSzg"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In this English lesson, I'm going to help you learn how to respond to three very common English questions. Those questions are, "What are you up to these days," "What are you up to," and, "What are you up to today?" Even though these questionsnlook very similar, you need to answer each of these in a slightly different way, and in this lesson, I'llnshow you how to do just that. (cheerful music) Well hello and welcomento this English lesson. If this is your first time here, don't forget to click that rednsubscribe button over there, and for everyone watching, if this video helps you learn just a little bit more English, please give me a thumbs up. So the first question, "Whatnare you up to these days?" This question is actuallynasking about the past. It's asking about the period of time from the past right up until this moment. So when you answer this question, you need to use answers like this. You would say, "I havenbeen reading a lot lately." "I have been working a lot lately." Now, English speakersnare usually in a hurry, so I would actually say, "I'venbeen reading a lot lately." I would use a contraction. Or, "I've been working a lot lately." But you'll notice I'm talking about things that have already happened. If you want your answers tonsound a little bit more natural, you can start with the phrase, "Not much." For some reason, English speakers, even if they've been really busy, sometimes start by saying, "Not much," and you can add the word "just"ninto the sentence as well. So let's look at my original answer. "I have been reading a lot lately." If I was to answer this at full speed with my normal informal English speech, I would say, "Not much, "I've just been reading a lot lately." So notice I added the phrase "not much." Who knows why? It just sounds good. And I've added the word "just" which means, you know,nI've simply been reading. So the long, slow version, "I have been reading a lot lately." The version I would use, "Not much, "I've just been reading a lot lately." Let's look at the second question. "What are you up to?" This question is asking aboutnwhat you are doing right now. What are you doing in the present? So if someone says tonyou, "What are you up to," usually they'll ask this whennthey give you a phone call or maybe when they walknup to you in public. They'll say, "What are you up to?" And you would answernusing phrases like this. "I am doing the dishes,n"I am watching TV." But of course we would speed it up. I would say, "I'm doing the dishes" or, "I'm watching TV." And if you want, you cannthrow "not much" and "just" into these answers as well. I might say something like this. "Not much, I'm just doing the dishes." "Not much, I'm just watching TV." So again, I'm not sure why wenput not much at the beginning. I think it's just a waynto start responding, because even if we'renbusy doing something, we might say "not much." It's kind of funny hownEnglish speakers do that. So again, the slow version,n"What are you up to?" I would answer by saying, "I am doing the dishes"nor, "I am watching TV," but as a native speaker,nI would probably say "Not much, I'm just doing the dishes" or, "Not much, I'm just watching TV." Let's look at the third question. "What are you up to today?" You could even say, "Whatnare you up to this week?" This question is askingnactually about the future. It's asking about thingsnthat you are going to do later that day or later that week, and so when you respond, younneed to talk about the future. You might answer by saying,n"I am going to go shopping." Or of course, as a nativenspeaker, I would say, "I'm going to go shopping." I would say it very, very quickly. Or you might even talk aboutnthings that you have to do, things that you arenrequired to do that day. You might say something like, "Today, I have to get my car fixed." "Today I have to get my car fixed." That's how I would say it. And then of course youncan again add "not much," and you can add "just" toneach of these sentences. I could say, if someone said,n"What are you up to today?" I could say, "Not much, I'mnjust going to go shopping," or, "Not much, I justnhave to get my car fixed." So again, when you throw "not much" and "just" into these responses, it sounds a lot more natural. You'll sound a lot more likena native English speaker. I do wanna mention as well,nwith each of these questions, you can actually answernand broaden the time period that you are talking about. So if someone says, "What are you up to," you don't simply have to talk about what you're doing right now. You can tell them a story. You could talk about the past,nthe present, and the future. So if you said to me, "Whatnare you up to these days, or, "What are you up to," or,n"What are you up to today," I could actually answer like this. I could start by talking about the past. I could say, "Yesterday,nmy car broke down. "Right now, I'm looking at the engine, "but I don't know what's wrong. "Later today, I'm going tontake my car to the garage." So in spite of which question was asked, you do have the freedom to talk about different periods of timenwhen you're answering it. So don't feel too limited. If you want to answernin a more complex way, talk about what happened yesterday, talk about what's happening right now, and talk about what'sngoing to happen tomorrow. Well, thank you so muchnfor taking the time to watch this little English lesson. I hope it was helpful. Remember, if this is your first time here, don't forget to clicknthat red subscribe button and give me a thumbsnup if this video helped any of you learn anlittle bit more English. And if you have the time, why don't you stick around andnwatch another English lesson?<br><!-- wp:image {"id":1776,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} -->rn<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-1776" src="https://en.videoencontexto.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/How_to_Answer_English_Questions_that_Start_With_What_are_you_up_to_4O8GbPwwSzg.jpg" /></figure>rn<!-- /wp:image -->[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]