Beginner English Phrases For Conversation Part 4

Hi everyone and welcome to part four of this beginner English phrases for conversation series. If you haven’t seen the first three parts, you can find the playlist up here or you can find the link in the description below. Alright, let’s talk about today’s phrase.

Today’s phrase is ‘Where are you from?’ Where are you from? This is the most basic way to ask someone what their country is or what their city is. Please note that ‘Where are you from’ does not mean ‘Where did you come from today’.

‘Where are you from’ is asking about your country or your city. Now when native speakers say ‘Where are you from’ very quickly in more informal situations, normally they don’t say ‘are’. They just ‘Where yuh from?’ Where yuh from?

And also please note that a different way to ask ‘Where are you from’ is ‘Where do you come from?’ Where do you come from? Most native speakers don’t say ‘Where do you come from’. They say ‘Where are you from’ because it’s shorter and quicker.

If someone asks you ‘Where are you from’, how can you answer this question? Well there are two main ways to answer. The first way is by saying ‘I’m from’ plus your country. For example, ‘I’m from England.’ I’m from Germany. I’m from Thailand.

Now the second way to answer this is by saying ‘I’m’ plus your nationality. For example, ‘I’m English.’ I’m German. I’m Thai.

Now let’s talk about some common mistakes with this phrase. The most common mistake is when students answer the question ‘Where are you from’ by saying ‘I came from’ plus their country. For example, ‘I came from England.’ But this is not correct. ‘I came from’ is talking about just one time. But if you are talking about your country, you need to say ‘I come from’. Why? Because ‘I come from’ is talking about something that is always true. And it’s always true that you come from your country. It’s not just one time.

The second most common mistake is when students say ‘I am come from’ plus their country. For example, ‘I am come from England.’ This is incorrect because after ‘am’, we don’t use verb 1. To correct this, we need to say ‘I come from England.’ No ‘am’. And please note that most native speakers, when they answer the question ‘Where are you from’, they don’t say ‘I come from’ plus their country. They just say ‘I’m from’ plus their country. For example, ‘I’m from England.’