Description
Understand and respond to short, two-word questions that native English speakers use all the time. These questions can be confusing for learners because they depend on context, not grammar. I explain how to understand and use expressions like “What for?”, “How come?”, “Say what?”, “What's up?”, “So what?”, “Says who?”, “You in?”, “Get it?”, “Now what?”, “How so?”, “What gives?”, and “You good?” You’ll learn how tone and situation change the meaning, and how to answer quickly and naturally. By the end of this English lesson, you’ll feel more confident when speaking with native speakers and won’t panic the next time someone asks you a short, fast question in English. Get it? https://www.engvid.com/so-what-we-good-what-gives-short-english-questions/
Learn more short English phrases with these videos:
How native speakers describe how someone feels: https://youtu.be/KXHrJrEehhE
"Get over it", "hook up", "blow away": 10 Everyday English Expressions https://youtu.be/soMPqeIqSrU
In this lesson:
0:00 16 Two-Word Questions in English
0:46 What for? How come? Why's that?
1:45 Say what?
2:15 What's up?
2:33 So what? Who cares?
3:31 Says who?
4:16 Get it?
4:31 Now what?
4:47 How so?
5:13 You in? Who's in?
5:50 What gives?
6:21 You good?
6:31 We good?
Transcript:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's video, I want to give you some practical help when you're dealing with native English speakers, okay? And we're going to look at two-word questions because I've found over my... over many years that some people, when they're given these questions, when they hear them, they don't know how to react. They try to build out the question and they get a little bit confused because the questions are very short and very contextual. Now, what does that mean? These questions, you need to understand what is happening in the context, what is happening around the conversation, and not worry too much about specific words or grammar or anything like that, okay?
So, I'll give you an example. When somebody asks you, "What for? What for?" Basically, they're asking you why. You asked... You want to use something or you ask to be given something, and they'll say, "What for?" Or they'll say, "How come?" or "Why's that?" These three basically all work similarly. If you want to change it into a one-word question, it's "Why?" But they're a little bit different. "What for?" means for what purpose? What are you going to do with it? "How come?" is very straightforward, "Why? Why do you need it? What is the reason for it?" And "Why's that?" For example, you said you're very tired. "Oh, why's that?" Basically, it means why are you tired, right? So, that is just bouncing back whatever you just said. You said something, and I'm asking you specifically why did you say what you said, right? So, all of them mean why, but a slightly different use, different context of the reason.
Say what? Say what? Say what? That's how somebody would answer you if you said something that they're not really sure. Say what? So, either that means either please repeat what you said, or they're just not really sure they heard you correctly or they don't believe it. Say what? It all has to do with the tone, how they ask the question. So, don't worry too much about the words. Pay attention to how the person is asking some of these questions, and you'll understand how you should respond to it.
And the same, like, "What's up?" I think most people know. What is up? Oh, there's nothing up, right? It's just a slang expression, means what's going on, what's happening, how are you doing sometimes. Hey, what's up? Hey, how are you? Same idea, right? So, but again, I think most people know this one, so we'll move on.
So what? So, you tell somebody, "Oh, I just got a new job." So what? I just got a new job last week. Or, "Who cares?" These two basically mean the same thing. So what or who cares means not a bit, like, I'm not interested in what you're saying, right? Or it's not important, or I just don't care, right? So what? Now, so what can also mean what's the consequence, right? So, I just got fired. Oh, so what? So, what are you going to do now? A lot of these questions are simply a real question squeezed into two words because it's easier to just say two words than build a whole question. So it's up to you, based on the context, to take those two words and understand the full question. But most commonly, so what, who cares, means I don't care.
Let's go here. Says who, right? So, under whose authority was this, right? So, I say to my colleague at work, "Oh, you have to take out the recycling today." Says who? Like, who said that that I should listen to it? I'm not going to listen to you, there's got to be some authority telling you to tell me that, because I don't... I'm not going to listen to you. […]