Introduction: Hello, hello and welcome to Fundamentos. This is our new 30-day English course that will help you be more comfortable and more confident in day to day situations in English. Isso aí, seja bem vindo ao Fundamentos. É o nosso novo curso que vai te ensinar como dominar as situações essenciais do dia a dia. We are super excited that you are participating and we're confident that you're going to learn a lot. Então vamos começar!

Foster: Hey Alexia.

Alexia: Hey Foster.

Foster: How are you doing?

Alexia: I'm doing well. What about you?

Foster: I'm doing pretty well, thank you. Actually, let me ask you another question. Hey Alexia.

Alexia: Hey Foster.

Foster: What's up?

Alexia: Not much. What about you?

Foster: Awesome! Good job, that was excellent Alexia.

Alexia: After almost three years practicing, now I can understand. 

Foster: Perfect, yes. It takes time and patience. But today we're going to talk about something that seems very very simple, but in practice, it's quite difficult. 

Alexia: Uh-huh.

Foster: Okay? So yesterday we talked about the very basics of introductions. Like 'hello,' 'hi,' 'good morning,' 'good night,' that kind of thing. And today we're going to focus on… I don't want to say more real English but this is something that they don't really teach you in the textbooks, and it's extremely common.**

Alexia: Yes. 

Foster: Okay. So you know what I'm talking about, Alexia.

Alexia: I do. 

Foster: Okay. So let me explain. In English, when you're meeting someone, or maybe not even meeting someone for the first time, but you're seeing a friend or a colleague or someone in your family. One of the first things that you always say or that they always say to you is, "Hey, how are you?"

Alexia: Yeah. 

Foster: So can you respond to that question? "Hey, how are you?"

Alexia: "I'm good. What about you?"

Foster: Excellent, very good job. "I'm good too, thank you." So we have a lot of different variations of the same question, and essentially, they all mean more or less the same thing. So you could say, "Hey how are you?" Or you could say, "How are you doing?" And Alexia, how would you respond to that question, "How are you doing?"

Alexia: "I'm doing pretty well. Thank you, what about you?" But before you continue, I wanna talk about this question because 'how are you doing?' is so like, íntimo. It sounds like you're with a therapist and, "How are you doing, Alexia? Tell me about your feelings." I always feel like that when people ask me. And I'm like, "Okay, let's sit down, let's talk about life."

Foster: Yeah, it's a little bit strange, isn't it? Because when I'm in therapy with my real therapist, she says, "Hey Foster, how are you doing?" And in normal conversations I say, "Pretty good, how are you?" But in therapy, I know she's really saying like, "How are you doing with your life and your soul?" Yeah, so it's complicated because most of the time, when people say 'how are you?' or 'how are you doing?', they're not really asking like…

Alexia: Your deep feelings. They just want to hear like, "Fine, great. What about you?" And that's it. Let's move on.

Foster: Uh-huh. Can I give you a fast correction?

Alexia: Yes, please.

Foster: When you say 'deep feelings', what are you trying to say? 

Alexia: Like a therapy session. They don't wanna know the reality or like, how is your life. They just wanna know like, "Fine, great. Ah… Not so good because I caught some rain coming here."

Foster: Yeah. So can you translate deep feelings to Portuguese?

Alexia: Sentimentos profundos.

Foster: Exactly. So we have the word 'deep' in English and I was almost listening to you say 'dip.'

Alexia: Ah dip… the cheese dip.

Foster: Yeah. Like chips and salsa. So in this case Alexia, you want to say 'deep.'

Alexia: 'Deep.'

Foster: So this is the exact same sound that exists in Portuguese. For example...

Alexia: Por exemple…

Foster: I said 'for example.'

Alexia: I think that you said 'por example,' but that's fine.

Foster: Okay. So for example, "E… e mais alguma coisa?" That's the same sound. 'Deep,' okay?

Alexia: Deep.

Foster: Uh-huh.

Alexia: And dip.

Foster: Yes

Alexia: Okay.

Foster: So just a quick note, we also have the word 'profound' in English. 'Profundo.' But that is a little bit more formal, and I think it's much more common to say 'deep.'

Alexia: Okay.

Foster: Okay. So we have 'hey, how are you? 'how are you doing.' We also have 'how is it going?' Can you give me a response to the question 'how is it going?'

Alexia: "Not bad. What about you?"

Foster: Exactly. "Pretty good, thanks." So you see here Alexia, you're giving me essentially the same answer to all of these questions. So my default answer, if someone says, "How are you?" "How are you doing?" Or any other question that is similar, any question that starts with 'how' really, I almost always say, "Pretty good." "Pretty good, thanks. How are you? What about you?"**

The bride was wearing a pretty dress.
A noiva estava usando um vestido bonito.

The present is wrapped and decorated with a pretty ribbon.
O presente está embrulhado e decorado com um laço bonito.

The witness's testimony was pretty convincing.
O depoimento da testemunha foi bastante convincente.

Pretty good!
Muito bom!

Alexia: I don't know. I think that sometimes I get nervous depending on the person who's asking me. For example, if those people are your parents, friends, but with your friends it's always like, "Great, what about you?"

Foster: Yeah, yeah. So you have different options. But can I ask, how would you translate the phrase 'pretty good.'

Alexia: 'Nada mal' seria 'not too bad.' But 'pretty good' would be 'muito bem.'

Foster: É, "eu estou bem."

Alexia: "Sim, to bem. Muito bem"

Foster: Ou é tipo, "Ah, tudo bem?" "Tudo."

Alexia: "Tudo ótimo."

Foster: Yeah. "Pretty good. I'm doing good."

Alexia: Yeah.

Foster: You can also say, "Pretty well." Or you can say, "I'm fine."

Alexia: Eu to bem. 

Foster: These are all essentially the same. 

Alexia: Uh-huh.

Foster: But exactly what Alexia was doing, this is perfect. So someone asks you the question, you give some variation of 'pretty good' and then you say 'thanks' and then you ask them more or less the same question, okay? 

Alexia: Yeah. I think that it doesn't matter how they ask you if you answer like, "Good. What about you?" That's it. If you say 'what about you?' everything will be fine.

Foster: Yes. So you kind of have two options here. You can say, "I'm good. What about you?" Or "How about you?" Or simply, "I'm good. And you?" 

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: Or you can say, "I'm good, thanks." And then repeat the same question that they asked you. **

Can I ask you a question?
Posso te perguntar uma coisa?

The tourist asked the guide about the monument.
A turista perguntou ao guia sobre o monumento.

The student asked permission to leave earlier.
O aluno pediu permissão para sair mais cedo.

Alexia: Uh-huh.

Foster: So for example, "Hey Alexia, how are you?

Alexia: "I'm fine. And Foster, how are you?"

Foster: "I'm good, thank you." And that's how it works.

Alexia: Yeah.

Foster: Okay. So those are questions that begin with 'how.' Pretty simple right? 

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: Okay. Things get a little bit more complicated when we use questions that begin with 'what.'

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: Okay. So one of the most common phrases in English, something that I say everyday, many many times each day, "What's up?"

Alexia: Yes. I don't like that.

Foster: So Alexia has a very difficult time responding to this question. 

Alexia: I used to. 

Foster: Uh-huh. But it's not only Alexia. Almost all of our students, when I'm having a class with a Brazilian and I say, "Hey, what's up?" Everyone freezes like, "I don't know how to respond to that question." So Alexia, if I say, "What's up?" How do you respond to that question? 

Alexia: "Not much, what about you?"

Foster: Perfect.

Alexia: That's it. 

Foster: Perfect. So a really important thing when you're having these first conversations or you're meeting someone for the first time, it's to always have what I call 'a default answer.' Do you understand that?

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: How would you translate 'a default answer.' Eu acho que eu falaria 'uma resposta automática.'

Alexia: 'Uma resposta automática.' Sim, você tem toda razão. É isso. Muito bem!

Foster: Perfect. Obrigado. So for me, the default answer is, "Not much," que quer dizer 'nada demais.' So "What's up? Nada demais." So you could also say, "Hey Alexia, what's going on?"

Alexia: "Not much, what about you?"

Foster: Perfect. "Hey Alexia, what's happening?

Alexia: "Not much, what about you?"

Foster: "Hey Alexia, what's good?"

Alexia: What's what?

Foster: "What's good?"

Alexia: "Not much, what about you?"

Foster: Yeah. The phrase 'what's good?' I think this is more informal. Honestly, I don't think it's as common as 'what's up?', 'what's going on?' but it's something that I say from time to time. 

Alexia: I never heard you saying it. 

Foster: Yeah, "What's good?" I say it with my bro friends. Yeah, or you could say even, "What's new?"

Alexia: 'What's new,' I already heard that. Yes.

Foster: Yes. So for all of these questions that begin with 'what,' you can always say, "Not much." Or you could say, "Not too much."

Alexia: Uh-huh.

Foster: Which means the exact same thing, 'nada demais.'

Alexia: Uh-huh

Foster: You could even say, "Nothing much." Right?

Alexia: Right. If you think about in Rio... I'm speaking about Rio because I know that a lot, we have a lot of ways of saying, "Como é que tá? Qual é cara, beleza? Como é que tão as coisas? Como é que você tá? There you go. So it's almost the same thing in English, but of course that the language changes and the slang, gíria…

Foster: Uh-huh.

Alexia: Also changes as well

Foster: Exactly, yeah. Yeah, I think most languages have this tendency to have a lot of different ways to say the same thing, especially with introductions. But it's very important because if you say, for example, if someone says, "How are you? And you say, "Not much." That doesn't really make sense. 

Alexia: Yes. And for me, the most important thing about saying and knowing how to respond these answers is that it can be really basic, but you need to know to respond to each person. So if it's your boss, if it's your boyfriend's family, if it's your friends, or people that you're meeting the first time, or a new office. So there are different ways of doing that, and that's why it's not that basic. Because if you say, "What's up?" in a very formal event, everyone will look at you and say, "That's not cool."

Foster: Yeah, yeah. These things change depending on the context and the situation, but I think that's kind of the point of today's lesson, is,  even the very basics, "Hey, how are you? What's up?"

Alexia: Can be difficult.

Foster: Can be very very complicated. Okay, so just two more things to finish today, Alexia. When someone asks you, 'what's up?' 'what's going on?' All questions that begin with 'what,' you can always say 'not much,' 'not too much.' And that means you're good, right? If you are not doing well, I think the most common way to respond if someone says, "What's up?" You can say, "I'm having a really bad day because it's raining and my car is not working."

Alexia: Or you can just say like, "Not too well, but I'll be fine."

Foster: Interesting. Because if someone says, "What's up? " You cannot say, "Not too well."

Alexia: I can start ranting.

Foster: Huh?

Alexia: 'To rant' is to 'desabafar,' right?

Foster: To rant. 

Alexia: 'Rant.' I can start ranting.**

I stopped running.
Eu parei de correr.

I started eating.
Eu comecei a comer.

Foster: Okay, so this is a topic probably for another episode but 'to rant, rant' é 'desabafar.' 

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: 'To rent, rent' é 'alugar.'

Alexia: 'To rant,' 'desabafar.' 'To rent,' 'alugar.'

Foster: Yes.

Alexia: Okay.

Foster: I imagine a lot of our students are not going to understand the difference between those two right now, and that's totally okay. 

Alexia: That's more than okay, because it's the first time that I'm hearing the difference as well. 

Foster: Yeah. Okay, and last but not least, that's a great phrase Alexia, can you translate that for me? 

Alexia: Wait, sorry, but you were saying that I couldn't say 'not too well' with 'what's up?'

Foster: Ah yeah. Yeah, so "What's up?" If you say, "Not too well," that doesn't make sense in English. If someone says, "How are you doing? And you say, "I'm not doing very well," that makes sense. But, "What's up?" You have to… You can say, "Not much." "Not too much." "Nothing much." Or you can explain why things are not good. 

Alexia: Okay.

Foster: Okay? Because when someone asks ''how,' they're talking more about emotions. When they say 'what,' they're talking more about situations. 

Alexia: Okay.

Foster: Cool. Last but not least. Alexia, can you translate that phrase to me? 

Alexia: Which phrase?

Foster: 'Last but not least.' 

Alexia: Ah… I'm very bad at translations today. One second… O último, mas não menos importante.

Foster: Exatamente.

Alexia: Oh goodness. 

Foster: A phrase that I love to say.

Alexia: Pera aí. Por último e não menos importante.

Foster: Por último, mas…

Alexia: Não menos importante.

Foster: Isso. Okay, last but not least, if someone says, "What's up?" A phrase I really love is, "Can't complain."

Alexia: Uh-huh. "Não posso reclamar."

Foster: So you can say, "I can't complain," but most of the time, in English conversations we simply say, "Can't complain."

Alexia: "Can't complain. What about you?"

Foster: Exactly, perfect. So Alexia, I think that's a good place to end for today. I can't complain. As always, keep up the good fight...

Alexia: Lose well. Bye. 

awesome - impressionante

essentially - essencialmente

(to) mean - significar

deep - profundo

giving me - me dando

simply - simplesmente

only - só

freezes - congela

heard - ouviu

offices - escritórios

bad day - dia ruim

well - bem

between - entre

most of the time - a maior parte do tempo

as always - como sempre