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How to greet someone you haven't seen for ages

Learn some phrases for talking with someone you haven't seen in a long time.

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the task. You can read the transcript at any time.

Preparation

Exercise

Transcript

Woman: Hey! Hello there! Haven't seen you in ages!

Man: Oh … all right, yeah.

Woman: Great to see you again! You're looking really well!

Man: Oh! You think so? Thanks ...

Woman: So, how are you?

Man: Well, you know, mustn't grumble.

Woman: What've you been up to? Still working in that coffee shop?

Man: Yeah ... same one ...

Woman: Still trying to be an actor?

Man: Well, yeah, you know ...

Woman: So Hollywood hasn't called then yet?

Man: Not yet ...

Woman: Still living in … that … er … little flat?

Man: Yeah. Same one.

Woman: Well, great.

Man: How about you? You still … er … working in the fast-food place?

Woman: No! Stopped that a long time ago! I'm working in the city now. Financial industries!

Man: Oh. Great. Are you still sharing that house with all those other people?

Woman: No way! I bought a big house with … four bedrooms and a garden … the works.

Man: Hmm … good for you.

Woman: Listen! We should get together for a drink sometime! Catch up!

Man: Yeah, I'd love to.

Woman: Let's do it! Keep in touch, yeah?

Task 1

Exercise

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Discussion

What do you say when you are in a similar situation?

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Worksheet68.29 KB
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Language level

Intermediate (B1)

Submitted by mc2bav4 on Sun, 16/05/2021 - 03:53

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Hello, again. I have a doubt about how to express this. I'm looking for the collocations to say this: How are you doing...(about/with/…) (your homework/your activity/your task, etc)? The context is how to ask someone what is the progress of an activity that that person is having so far and you are interested in that. Did I make my point? If not I'll try to explain it better. Thanks.

Hello mc2bav4,

The correct preposition here is with.

How are you doing with... is a common question for, as you say, asking about the progress of an activity or task.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks for clarifying it. Now I feel more confident about asking for that piece of info. Much appreciated as always.

Submitted by mancini2 on Sun, 07/02/2021 - 17:26

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... sorry for the "speaked"

Submitted by mancini2 on Sun, 07/02/2021 - 17:19

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"good to hear from you again" is this sentence correct answering at the phone to a person who we haven't seen or speaked to for a long time?

Hello mancini2,

Yes, that is correct and appropriate in that kind of situation.

Nice to hear from you.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by OlaIELTS on Wed, 17/06/2020 - 23:23

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When in a similar situation, I would say exactly some words like that.

Submitted by M19 on Fri, 05/06/2020 - 17:48

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What's new! Long time no see! How's the going? How's life? Am so Glad to see you! Let's meet up for lunch! Tell you what....How about hanging out together? I would love that! Awesome! Sounds great! How's your new job/home? See you in 30 minutes!

Submitted by Mekdes Wondimu on Thu, 27/02/2020 - 07:27

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interesting Video

Submitted by Suo Kevin on Mon, 09/12/2019 - 16:01

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interesting vedio

Submitted by bawk san aung on Wed, 28/08/2019 - 07:24

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We haven't seen each others for a long time, it is it?Grumble is not a new word for me but the use of it make me alarm to use it again.

Submitted by parisaach on Mon, 19/08/2019 - 05:01

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I can say 'Hello, It's been a long time ago when I saw you last time. 'What are you doing now?' 'Where have you been such a long time you disappeared.' 'I really miss you, I'm really glad to see you again'

Submitted by fknedi on Wed, 17/04/2019 - 18:36

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That's great website and that's great lesson! This is real accent, conversation.....here I can improve my real English! Thanks British Council

Submitted by abbas.azhar25 on Wed, 08/08/2018 - 11:56

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I couldn't understand Task 1 answers, what is logic behind given answers in Transcript ? how answers relates ?

Hello abbas.azhar25,

The sentences in the task describe the questions that the man and woman ask each other. For example, where the task says 'The woman asks about the man's job', this corresponds to the following in the transcript:

Woman: What’ve you been up to? Still working in that coffee shop?
Man: Yeah ... same one ...
Woman: Still trying to be an actor?
Man: Well, yeah, you know ...
Woman: So Hollywood hasn’t called in yet?
Man: Not yet ...

The task is to put the descriptions of the topics in the conversation in the same order as they are in the transcript.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Ville on Thu, 15/03/2018 - 14:58

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interesting conversation

Submitted by Petertin17 on Sun, 03/12/2017 - 02:11

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Thank Mr Kirk and the LearnEnglish Team so much.

Submitted by Petertin17 on Tue, 28/11/2017 - 14:58

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Hi sir, could you tell me about the sentence " catch up!" of woman in the end of conversation, how does it mean in this situation ? I don't understand.

Submitted by Kirk on Wed, 29/11/2017 - 07:54

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Hello Petertin17,

What she means is 'We should get together for a drink in order to catch up!' In this context, 'catch up' means 'talk about what has happened in our lives since we last saw each other'.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Momocompanyman on Wed, 05/07/2017 - 10:44

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Dear Peter M , the context about The work is: Woman: No way! I bought a big house with… four bedrooms, and a garden… the works. Can you expplain me this sentence. Besr wishes

Hello medmomo,

In this context, 'the works' means 'everything that you could want'. For example, if you go to New York and order a hamburger in a restaurant, you could get it 'with the works', which means it would come with lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese, onion, mayonnaise ... Here it means the house had everything she wanted, and perhaps even more.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Momocompanyman on Tue, 04/07/2017 - 18:05

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Dear Sir Kirk , I need to know what is the meaning of the word works: The Works is this course ? Best Wishes

Hello medmomo,

'Works' can refer to pieces of writing by authors. For example, you might see a book entitled 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare' which would contain everything Shakespeare ever wrote. That may be the meaning here but without knowing the context I cannot say for sure. Unless 'The Works' is a title (of a play, a film or a book, for example) then it would not have a capital letter but would be 'The works...'

 

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by rreza on Mon, 12/06/2017 - 13:15

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I haven't see you for a long time= haven't see you for ages

Submitted by GAGAN JEET SIN… on Sun, 19/02/2017 - 07:00

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Haven’t seen you in ages! sir pls explain this sentence.

Hello GAGAN JEET SINGH WALIA,

The meaning of the sentence is

I haven't seen you for a long time.

 

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team