Hello! Welcome to your third lesson.
In our last lesson, we learned how to greet people with "Hello" and "Good morning," and how to introduce yourself using "My name is..." or "I'm...". You now have the first part of a conversation.
Today, we will learn the second part: how to ask for someone's name. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to ask the question "What is your name?" and understand the common answers. This will allow you to have a full, basic introductory exchange with someone new.
1. The Key Question: "What is your name?"
To ask for someone's name in English, the most important question is:
What is your name?
In everyday spoken English, we often use contractions (short forms). This makes the language sound more natural and fluid. The contraction for "What is" is "What's".
What's your name?
This is the most common way you will hear this question.
To understand this better, let's look at a short explanation of contractions with the verb 'to be'.
✓ Spell your name ✓ Greet people ✓ Introduce yourself ...
Please read this short section from a textbook called 'Downtown'. It clearly shows how 'What is' becomes 'What's'.
Find the table titled 'be: Contractions'. Just below it, read the 'Check Point' section that explains 'What is = What’s'. This is on page 11.
As you saw, asking What's your name? is very common. You already know the answer from our last lesson:
My name is [name].(orMy name's [name].)I'm [name].
2. Seeing and Hearing the Question in Context
Now, let's watch some examples of people asking and answering this question. You might remember this video from our last lesson. This time, listen carefully for the question "What's your name?".
Hello, what's your name? Easy English Conversations 💬 Episode 1
Let's re-watch the beginning of the BBC video 'Hello, what's your name?'. Focus on how many times you hear the question and the different ways people reply.
Watch from the beginning until 00:43. Pay close attention to the exchanges between the speakers.
Did you notice the simple pattern?
A: Hello, what's your name?
B: My name's Tim.
This is a perfect, simple exchange you can use.
3. A More Realistic Conversation
Sometimes in a conversation, you might not hear or understand the other person's name. This is very normal, even for native speakers! What do you do? Let's look at a dialogue where this happens.
What's Your Name? - Listening Lesson (A1) - OOE
This listening lesson from Oxford Online English presents a dialogue where there is a small misunderstanding about a name. It also brings back a useful skill you learned in your first lesson: spelling.
On the webpage, find the section with the heading 'Read the Text'. Read the dialogue between the man and the woman. Notice how the man asks for the name, and what the woman says when he doesn't understand.
In that dialogue, when the man mishears "Marie" as "Maria," she corrects him. He then asks, "How do you spell it?". This is a very useful question that connects back to our first lesson on the alphabet.
Test your understanding!
Let's practice a full introduction. Look at this short dialogue. Can you fill in the missing parts?
- You: Hello. My name is [Your Name]. What's ________ name?
- Maria: Hi! My ________ is Maria.
- You: Nice to meet you, Maria.
- Maria: Nice to meet you, ________.
Show answer
- You: Hello. My name is [Your Name]. What's your name?
- Maria: Hi! My name is Maria.
- You: Nice to meet you, Maria.
- Maria: Nice to meet you, too.
4. Other Ways to Ask and Answer
"What's your name?" is the most common phrase, but there are other ways to ask for and give a name, some more formal than others.
As you can see, the list is long! Don't worry about memorizing all of them. For now, mastering "What's your name?" and "My name is..." is the most important goal.
A Quick Look Ahead: Asking About Other People
What if you want to ask for the name of a man or a woman who is with your friend? You can change "your" to "his" (for a man) or "her" (for a woman).
- What's his name? (to ask about a man)
- What's her name? (to ask about a woman)
Let's watch a very short clip to see this in use.
Hello, what's your name? Easy English Conversations 💬 Episode 1
This is the second part of the BBC video. Notice how the speaker asks about the names of the other people in the group.
Please watch from 01:04 to 01:28. Listen for the questions 'What's his name?' and 'What's her name?' and their answers.
We will study possessive adjectives like his and her in more detail in a future module, but it's good to start recognizing them now.
Lesson Summary
Excellent work! You can now handle a complete, simple introduction in English.
Key takeaways from today's lesson:
- To ask for someone's name, you say: "What is your name?"
- The common, contracted form is: "What's your name?"
- To respond, you can use what you learned previously: "My name is..." or "I'm...".
- If you don't understand a name, you can ask: "How do you spell it?"
Preview of the Next Lesson
You can now greet someone and exchange names. To make your conversations smoother and more polite, the next lesson will focus on essential expressions like please, thank you, sorry, and excuse me. See you then