Como Responder IM Fine?

Cuando alguien te pregunta «How are you?», ¿cómo contestas? Si la respuesta es «I’m fine, thank you», estás a punto de aprender por qué está mal contestar siempre así y lo que puedes decir en vez de eso para tener conversaciones más dinámicas e interesantes.

¿Te han enseñado la respuesta «so-so»? Si dices «so-so», todos los nativos te entenderemos, pero muy pocas veces escucharás esta respuesta de los nativos. No es nada común, así que no recomendaría que la uses mucho.

Alternativas a «How are you?»

In general, respond with the same, if there is time. Sometimes the question is simply a formality with little to no expectation of a response (as in passing another person on the street with whom you have no relationship), but otherwise the expectation is to return the question, even though there is a high probablity the response will be positive (e.g., Good, Fine, etc.).

Déjame contarte una historia que me pasó hace años en una de mis clases con unas niñas de 7 años. Un día entraron la clase y les hice la típica pregunta: «How are you?». Me contestaron al unísono «I’m fine, thank you.» Entonces les pregunté en español «¿Y eso qué quiere decir? ¿Qué quiere decir I’m fine, thank you?» Solamente me miraron sin saber contestar. No tenían ni idea de qué quería decir esta frase. Era simplemente la frase que les habían enseñado, la única frase que habían escuchado para contestar esta pregunta.

I particularly liked that you pointed out that you could use ‘do’ to represent feelings. This is a core point in English. I like to think that verbs in English cannot DO much on their own, they have to DO like they are doing. Grammatically DO is at the very core of English and must not be neglected in all its usages by ESL/EFL teachers.

What Is The Meaning Of “I’m Fine”?

Thanks again for a great post. It’s good to spice up students stock answers. I liked that you mentioned not to use a monotone when expressing that they feel great. It could backfire if they do and make it sound like they feel horrible. Playing with irony is a great tool for practice.

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As long as you keep your response quick so they don't have to stop and listen, go ahead and say whatever you like. If you're not sure, "fine" works just as well as anything.

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This is really helpful….. I’m very grateful to you. I hope you will share many others lessons like this… Anyway,,I’m from Bangladesh..whateve,, thank you so much

As for the last three, top of world, cloud nine, and over the moon, they are very special and often used when someone is madly in love or has gotten their dream of a lifetime job or trip.

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Many thanks Leona! I’m very glad that I hit all the right marks. I think it’s a good idea to provide students with stock answers like this from time to time. As long as it is all based on the same idea/concept, I think it can be very useful for them.

Even knowing this, greetings like this rather annoy me. I don't like lying if I'm not fine (even though you are supposed to) and answering them honestly requires more self-reflection than I should really have to go through on the spur of the moment just because I bumped into a casual acquaintance. So, even though it isn't proper etiquette, I like to turn it back around on the questioner and make them have to think.

Practice these phrases!

En las siguientes interacciones que tengas con alguien en inglés, te invito a hacer estas preguntas y usar estas respuestas sin decir el típico «I’m fine, thank you.» Es un cambio fácil que marcará una diferencia importante en tu habilidad de conversar en inglés.

There are certain situations in writing where this would obviously not be soliciting a response (requiring a full stop) but other situations where this would be a declarative question (with the associated raised tone, indicated by the question mark); the latter is clearly what I am asking about.

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El problema con «I’m fine, thank you.»

Rarely does one respond or hear the response of "bad" because, unfortunately, the question being asked isn't really what the other person is interested in. It's a culturally accepted thing to do, but it really doesn't amount to much more than a "Hi" and "Bye".

¿Y la respuesta adecuada a estas preguntas? ¡Es una oportunidad perfecta de hablar de algo reciente de tu vida! Diles acerca de un proyecto que estás haciendo en el trabajo, alguna cosa divertida que has hecho con familia o amigos, una película que has visto últimamente. Aprovecha la oportunidad para comenzar una buena conversación sobre temas interesantes.

In America, sometimes people don't even respond directly to this kind of question at all. For instance, I've often heard the following format involving a radio interviewer and his guest: