Fala aí

What do you do?

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When talking about a place we work in, we say:

“I work in” + “a” + place of work

  • I work in a restaurant.
  • She works in an office.
  • We work in a shop.

When we are talking about a field of work, we say:

“I work in” + field of work

  • He works in marketing.
  • She works in finance.

However, when we give our job title we use the verb “to be”, so we say:

  • I’m a teacher.
  • You’re a doctor.
  • Are you a designer?
  • We’re students!
  • He’s unemployed.

Dialogue

Oliver: What do you do, Ava?

Ava: I’m a doctor! How about you?

Oliver: I work in a restaurant, but I’m also a student!

Ava: Cool!

Now we are going to introduce the verb “to study”:

Do you work in finance? No, I study French at university.

These three verbs all remain the same, except when they are paired with “he/she”:

I + do / work / study

you + do / work / study

he / she + does / works / studies

we + do / work / study

they + do / work / study

Examples:

Do you work in marketing?

Does he speak Turkish?

I study Chinese at university.

She studies economics at university.

We study medicine at university.

We work in a restaurant.

He works in an office.

Dialogue

Hannah: What do you do?

John: I work in marketing. How about you?

Hannah: I’m a student. I study German.

John: My sister studies German, too!

Hannah: Nice!

John: What does your sister do?

Hannah: She works in a restaurant.

Now let’s finish our lesson introducing or reviewing vocabulary for jobs and occupations with this easy ‘What am I?’ quiz. Each answer is a job.

Wait a minute. Hold on a second.

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What would you say to tell someone to wait?

‘One moment, please.’

That’s okay but first, let’s also learn casual language for the expression ‘one moment, please.’

When we need people to wait, even for a short time, we need to say the right things to let them know about the delay. Here are ways to tell someone to wait in everyday conversations, from the formal to the slang.

Professional, formal, everyday situations

  • One moment, please.
  • Just a moment/minute, please.
  • Bear with me, please. (= please be patient for a moment)
  • I won’t be long. (= the other person will only need to wait for a short time)

Casual – colleagues at work, friends

  • Wait/just a second.
  • Just a sec.
  • Just a moment/minute.
  • Excuse me for just a moment/minute.

Slang – friends, family and when we are in a hurry

  • Hold on (a sec)!
  • Hang on (for a minute/a second/ a sec)!
  • Gimme (= give me) a moment/minute/second.
  • Hold your horses! (Idiom) Where are you going without your jacket! It’s cold outside!
  • Hold your horses! Did you say we have to meet at 5 tomorrow?
  • Hold your horses. Let’s calm down for a moment.

Note: in the UK and Australia, you might hear:

  • Just a tick.
  • Wait a tick.
  • Hold on a tick.

What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

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The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.

Like may be used to ask questions about:

  • Personality or the characteristics of something.
  • Preferences.
  • Hobbies.
  • Physical appearance.

The word like in these questions is used either as a verb or as a preposition.

Talking about personality or the characteristics of something

Like can be used to ask about personality or the characteristics of something. Example:

  • What’s your friend like? → He’s nice.
  • What’s the house like? → It’s huge.
  • What was the weather like? → It was sunny.

Like in the above examples is used as a preposition.

Talking about about preferences

Like can be used to talk about preferences. Examples:

  • What music does Julie like? → She likes rock music.
  • What would you like to eat? → Fish, please.

Like is used in these questions as a verb.

Talking about hobbies

To ask about hobbies, use like in questions as follows:

  • What does he like doing? → He likes singing.
  • What do you like doing? → I like reading.

Like in these examples is used as a verb.

In this video we look at two meanings of like and fix a common mistake. They will compare the verb like with like as a preposition and you’ll learn how to use two useful English questions: Do you like…? and What’s it like? Video script here.

If one thing is like something else, it’s similar. Like is a preposition here, and it is used to talk about things that are similar.

Talking about physical appearance or resemblance

Like may be used in questions to ask about physical appearance. Examples:

  • What does he look like? → He is tall and has got black long hair.
  • What does she look like? → She is beautiful. She has brown eyes and short black hair.
  • Who do you look like? → I look just like my father.
  • Who does she look like? → She looks like her grandmother.

Like in the above questions is used as a preposition.

The next video explains the differences between the three question with the word like: What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that we usually use How?, not What … like?, when we ask about someone’s health or temporary state:

A: How’s your brother today? B: He’s feeling much better.

A: How was your boss today? B: He was very friendly today!

Now, PRACTICE:

LEVEL 1 EXERCISE

LEVEL 2 EXERCISE: Write an appropriate question to the following sentences. You’ll find the correct questions, in order, below the answers. 

  1. Oh, she is very interesting. She is very involved in community activities and loves the outdoors.
  2. He’s fine, thank you.
  3. Just awful, it hasn’t stopped raining for the last three days.
  4. Reading science fiction, watching classic films on late night TV.
  5. Very pretty, she’s got short blond hair, blue eyes and she usually wears jeans and a t-shirt.
  6. He’s quite the entertainer. He loves having people over for dinner.
  7. It can be spicy and sweet. It’s delicious.
  8. It’s a painting of a countryside with lots of flowers in the foreground.
  9. He can be difficult at times.

Questions:

  1. What’s she like?
  2. How is he?
  3. What’s the weather like?
  4. What does she like doing?
  5. What does she look like?
  6. What’s he like? or What does he like doing?
  7. What’s it like?
  8. What does it look like?
  9. What’s he like?

Where are you from? Countries and nationalities

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Where are you from?

Where did you come from?

We say our nationality with “I’m”. We say which country we are from with “I’m from…”

“I’m…” + nationality
“I’m from” + country

I’m Russian. 
I’m from Russia. 

We use “she’s”, “he’s”, and “they’re” to talk about other people’s nationalities.

NationalityCountry
I’m Turkish.I’m from Turkey.
He’s English.He’s from England.

⚠️ Learners of English often confuse the words for nationality and country. ⚠️

We can tell the difference between nationality and country by looking at the ending of words. Many nationalities end in “-ish“, “-an” and “-ese“.

Nationalities ending in “-ish“:

NationalityCountry
EnglishEngland
TurkishTurkey
PolishPoland
SpanishSpain

Nationalities ending in “-an“:

NationalityCountry
Americanthe USA
RussianRussia
BrazilianBrazil
MexicanMexico

Nationalities ending in “-ese”:

NationalityCountry
ChineseChina
JapaneseJapan
PortuguesePortugal

If you haven’t seen your nationality or country this lesson, you can look them up.

Look at a dialogue between two people.

Dialogue

Sofia: Hi, I’m Sofia. You’re Alex, right?

Alex: Hello Sofia, yes I’m Alex. Are you from the USA?

Sofia: Yes, I am! Are you American too?

Alex: No, I’m not American, I’m from Russia!

Now the listening practice:

Next, some more language for those who feel that can go a little further.

Anna interviews tourists on the National Mall in Washington, DC. She learns about where they are from and the languages they speak. Listen carefully and write down what you hear.

“Teacher, I need more five minutes.” Is that right?

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“Teacher, I need more five minutes.”

A lot of English learners say that to me.
I understand that they say the same way they would say in Portuguese, but it’s incorrect.

More is a modifier, a word that gives additional information about another word. It is used in a variety of situations.

In this situation the structure is number + more + noun

Listen carefully to this famous song by Phil Collins (1984) and work on the lyrics by playing this fun game.

Look at some combinations below: