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  • Que?

  • Mah?

  • Ta?

  • Qua?

  • Cosa?

  • What?

  • Doesn't matter what language you say it in, the word: "what" means you want more information.

  • Hey, everyone. I'm Alex.

  • Thanks for clicking,

  • and welcome to this lesson on: "Common 'What' Questions" in English.

  • So, we are going to look at a bunch of questions that use the word "what".

  • Now, again, "what" means you're usually looking for more information.

  • It's one of the most common question words, which is why this lesson is important for

  • you guys.

  • Just like the other question lessons, we are going to focus on pronunciation, fluency,

  • and...

  • What was that thing?

  • Pronunciation, fluency, structure.

  • Definitely the structure.

  • Very important to make sure the words are in the correct order.

  • Whew, I'm out of breath, guys.

  • Okay, let's go.

  • Here we go.

  • Number one: "What is your name/email/number/address?"

  • So, you can ask a person for their name, for their email, for their address, for their

  • phone number.

  • You can also say: "What's her name?", "What's his name?", "What's their address?" for example.

  • Okay?

  • So, repeat after me and try to focus on quickness and fluency:

  • "What's your name?",

  • "What's her email?",

  • "What's his number?",

  • "What's their address?"

  • You can even ask yourself, for example, if you forget something, like: "What's my password?"

  • Okay?

  • Like for your bank account, or your Facebook, or something you signed up for like many years

  • ago or you've had the password automatically set, you can say: "What's my password.

  • Wait. What's my login again?"

  • Okay?

  • So, next, very common: "What's this?", "What's that?"

  • Okay?

  • Many contexts.

  • I'm thinking of a restaurant, for example, your friend gets something that you have never

  • seen before and you're like: "Oh. What's that?

  • That looks delicious."

  • Okay?

  • Or you get a meal and you didn't order it, you'll say: "What's this?"

  • Okay?

  • So please repeat after me, and again, focus on quickness:

  • "What's this?",

  • "What's that?"

  • Very good.

  • And next, similar to: "What is this?", "What is that?": "What is it?"

  • Okay?

  • Now, this question can be used in many different contexts.

  • It could be similar to: "What's this?", "What's that?", "What is it?"

  • It can also be a question you can ask someone if you think something is bothering, like,

  • your partner or your friend or somebody in your life who you care about,

  • and you can say: "What's wrong?"

  • Like: "What is it?"

  • Okay?

  • So, this is a very common question if you want to ask a person you care about, you know,

  • if something is wrong and what you can do to help.

  • Like: "What is it?

  • What's wrong?" Okay?

  • Next, very common: "What are you doing?"

  • Now: "What are you doing?" present continuous question can mean:

  • "What are you doing now?"

  • Like, you're talking on the phone:

  • "Hey. What are you doing?

  • Oh, you're busy?

  • Okay. Can I call you later?

  • Yeah, sure? Okay."

  • You can also use this to talk about the future, like: "What are you doing later?",

  • "What are you doing tonight?",

  • "Hey. What are you doing tomorrow?",

  • "What are you doing this weekend?" for example.

  • Okay?

  • So, it just asking...

  • You know, it is just asking a person what they are doing in the moment or their plans

  • for later as well.

  • All right?

  • So repeat after me: "What are you doing?"

  • Very good.

  • All right, the next three, I'm going to talk about these in the context of asking a person,

  • you know, like what is new in their life or what is going on, what's happening, what's up.

  • Those three questions precisely.

  • So: "What's going on?" or: "What's happening?", "What's up?"

  • The context I'm thinking of, you're seeing a friend you haven't seen for a while

  • and you can say: "Hey. What's up?"

  • or: "Hey. What's happening?",

  • "Hey. What's going on?"

  • These questions just ask and they mean, like: "What is new in your life?"

  • Now, a very common mistake that people make with: "What's up?" specifically new English

  • speakers is they think that: "What's up?" means: "How are you?"

  • "What's up?" is not: "How are you?"

  • So sometimes I hear...

  • I say: "Hey. What's up?" and a student will say: "Good. You?"

  • That's not how you answer: "What's up?"

  • The most common answers for: "What's up?" are: "Not much."

  • or "Nothing new."

  • Okay?

  • "Nothing much.", "Not much.", "Nothing new is happening."

  • So, same with: "What's going on?", "What's happening?"

  • you can say: "Ah, not much.

  • The same old thing.

  • You know?"

  • So: "What's going on?", "What's happening?", "What's up?" you can use these like a greeting.

  • Now: "What's going on?" and "What's happening?" can also be used when you enter a situation

  • and you see people everywhere or something has just happened, and you want to know, like:

  • "What is the situation here?"

  • So you enter a room and you say: "What's happening?

  • Why is she crying?

  • Why is that guy on the floor?

  • What's going on?"

  • Okay?

  • So you just want to know and be informed of the new situation.

  • "What's going on?", "What's happening?"

  • Okay, so repeat after me:

  • "What's going on?",

  • "What's happening?",

  • "What's up?"

  • Okay, very good.

  • And the next two: "What are you going to do?" and "What do you do?"

  • "What do you do?"

  • a little more common because it asks about your profession, your job, what you do in life.

  • So: -"What do you do?"

  • -"I'm a student.", "I'm a teacher.", "I'm a housewife/househusband."

  • Whatever your job is or whatever you do in life.

  • So, before that we had: "What are you going to do?"

  • Now, this could be a friend who is wondering, you know: "What are you going to do now?"

  • Now, a context for this could be you just lost your job, or you broke up with your boyfriend

  • or girlfriend, and your friend is very worried and says:

  • "Oh my god. What...? What are you going to do?

  • What are you...? What are you going to do now?"

  • Like: "What is next for you?"

  • Okay?

  • Now, this can also be if you're a bully, maybe if you push someone or you say something rude

  • to them and you want to act tough, and you say: "What are you going to do?"

  • Okay? Because you think that they're smaller, not as strong, and you're being very rude, like:

  • "Hey. What are you going to do?"

  • And this question usually ends with: "What are you going to do about it?"

  • Okay?

  • "What are you going to do about it?" Okay?

  • All right, so repeat after me:

  • "What are you going to do?"

  • and other context, the first one:

  • "What are you going to do now?"

  • And this very common question: "What do you do?"

  • Or the intonation can also be: "What do you do?"

  • All right, excellent.

  • Let's go to the other part of the board.

  • We have first: "What do you...?"

  • Now, this can be followed by a number of verbs.

  • So: "What do you think?", "What do you want?", "What do you need?", "What do you have?"

  • Okay?

  • So think of an action, think of a state, think of a base verb when you have:

  • "What do you _______?"

  • Just like here we have: "What do you do?"

  • very...

  • Exactly the same construction.

  • "Very exactly the same", that's not really, like, good English.

  • I'm sorry, but that is exactly the same structure.

  • "What do you think?" for example.

  • Like, if you're sharing an opinion about a movie or something, you can say:

  • "Hey. What did you think?

  • Did you like it?"

  • Okay?

  • "What do you want?", "What do you need?", "What do you have?"

  • Okay?

  • Next, if you're in a situation and you want to know: "What is the next step?

  • What are...?

  • What are our options, our choices?": "What can we do?", "What should we do?"

  • Okay?

  • So: "What...? What can we do in this tough situation?",

  • "What should we do in this situation?"

  • Next...

  • Before next, please repeat after me:

  • "What can we do?",

  • "What should we do?"

  • All right, good.

  • Next: "What did you do?"

  • Not: "What do you do?"

  • but: "What did you do?"

  • So your friend is telling you a story, and they say:

  • "All right, I went to the store and someone took my wallet."

  • And you say: "Oh. What did you do?

  • Did you run after them?

  • Did you just stand there?

  • What did you do?"

  • Okay?

  • Or you come into a room, your friend just killed someone: "What did you do?"

  • It's a very extreme example, but you know, it's hope...

  • No, hopefully not possible for you guys.

  • Never mind.

  • All right, so you can also say, you know, like just now, that situation when you walk

  • into a room, like: "What did you do?"

  • Like just recently, just now.

  • I'm...

  • I'm in shock.

  • I'm surprised.

  • Okay?

  • Or: "What did you do last night?", "What did you do yesterday?"

  • And next we have: "What's the point?"

  • So: "What's the point?" is a question you ask when you don't know the reason or the

  • purpose of something.

  • It's like asking: "Why?

  • Why should we do this?

  • What's the point?

  • What is the reason for it?

  • What will be the outcome, the result?"

  • I don't see the point of doing it.

  • Okay?

  • I don't see a good reason for doing this.

  • All right, finally we have four questions that have something in common, which is why

  • I blocked them off, put a star, and you'll notice they all have the word "like", so:

  • "What do you like?", "What would you like?",

  • "What is he like or she like?", and:

  • "What does he or she look like?"

  • Okay?

  • Now, if you want a fuller understanding of these question types and what they mean, you

  • can actually check out a video I did on this topic back in 2011 on: "Questions with 'Like'".

  • Yeah, 2011.

  • I've been doing this for that long.

  • All right, so first: "What do you like?"

  • means, you know: What is your preference in general?

  • Or... In general.

  • Right? So: "What do you like to eat?

  • What do you like to do?"

  • Next: "What would you like?"

  • What is your preference in the moment or in the future?

  • "What would you like to do this weekend?",

  • "What would you like to have from the menu?"

  • Okay?

  • Next: "What is she like?", "What is he like?"

  • This means: "Describe this person to me.

  • What are the characteristics of the person?"

  • So, you know: "What is she like?

  • Is she nice?

  • Is she funny?

  • Is she friendly?"

  • And you can also say, you know: "What is it like here?"

  • to talk about a city, for example,

  • like: "What is Toronto like?",

  • "What is Seoul like?", "What is Sao Paulo like?"

  • All right?

  • And finally: "What does he look like?" this refers to physical appearance.

  • All right?

  • So: "What does he look like?

  • Is he tall?

  • Is he blonde?

  • What's his eye colour?"

  • That kind of thing.

  • Whew.

  • So, for a fuller understanding of these, you can check out the video I did in 2011.

  • Now, to end off

  • I just want to say thank you guys, as always, for making it to the end

  • of the video.

  • And those of you who are going to do the quiz now, I just have one piece of advice:

  • Sometimes in the comments on engVid I see: "I got 10 out of 10."

  • And I might respond to a person who says: "I got 10 out of 10" with: "Fantastic.

  • Now use it in a conversation.

  • Take it to that next level."

  • The learning shouldn't stop, guys, after the quiz.

  • The quiz is a way to test that you understand the structure.

  • And remember the quiz is multiple choice, too, so it's easier than producing language spontaneously.

  • So make sure after doing the quiz, step away, and say:

  • "What do I remember?

  • Can I use that in a conversation?"

  • Okay?

  • So if you enjoyed the video, take that quiz.

  • After you take that quiz, like the video, comment on it.

  • Let me know your thoughts, whether, you know, you like this style of video or if you like

  • other types of videos, or you have other things you wish I would cover in future videos.

  • I'm very open to that kind of stuff.

  • And don't forget to subscribe.

  • Til next time, thanks for clicking.

  • Bye.

  • Bye-bye.

Que?

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