🎸 Do You Ever Play The Guitar?
More about hobbies! Today you will ask "Do you ever…?", use the frequency scale from always to never, ask short friendly questions ("You good at it? ↗"), talk about other people's interests ("What's she into?" — "She's really into art.") and talk about musical instruments: "Can you play a musical instrument?"
A Guitar In The Music Room
Nora and Leo walk past the school music room. There's a guitar on a chair. Read the little scene below.
🤔 Can you play a musical instrument?
🔁 How Often? Do You Ever…?
Use How often to ask about frequency (Lesson 35). Use Do you ever…? when you don't know if someone does an activity at all.
❓ The questions
- A: How often do you travel? — B: Well, I go to Djerba every summer.
- A: Do you ever go fishing? — B: No, I don't. / Yes, pretty often!
rarely (20%) is new: it means "almost never". And remember the position: adverbs of frequency go before the main verb ("I rarely go fishing") but after be ("She's always happy").
📶 The Frequency Meter
Leo answers "Do you ever…?" questions. Look at the meter and choose the right adverb! 8 questions.
✂️ Reduced Questions
In informal conversations with friends, people sometimes use short forms of yes / no questions. The rising intonation ↗ shows it's a question.
with be
Drop be from the beginning:
Are you good at it? → You good at it? ↗
with other verbs
Drop do / does from the beginning:
Does she like sewing? → She likes sewing? ↗
Reduced questions are for friends and family only. With a teacher, always use the full question: "Are you good at it?"
✂️ The Question Reducer
Choose a full question. The reducer cuts it — then listen to the rising voice!
💡 Asking About Someone's Interests
Use these questions to ask about someone's interests — and to keep the conversation going.
❓ What does she like?
- A: What does she enjoy doing? — B: She enjoys birdwatching.
- A: What's she into? — B: She's really into art.
➕ Ask for more
- For an example: A: I do fun things near home. — B: Like what? — A: Like collecting comic books.
- For other things: A: What else do you like to do? — B: Well, I really like gardening.
💬 The "Into What?" Chat
Choose a person. Leo asks Nora about them — listen to the whole conversation!
🎹 Talking About Musical Instruments
Use Can you play a musical instrument? to ask about musical ability. Click an instrument in the Band Room to hear its name — and a little sound!
📝 a or the?
- a + the general phrase: Many people can play a musical instrument.
- the + a specific instrument: I play the guitar. · She can play the piano.
🎶 Useful phrases
- A: Can you play a musical instrument? — B: Yes, I can play the piano.
- I can't play the guitar, but my sister can.
- Ask for music: Please play a song! · Play us a song!
- After the song: Bravo! 👏
🎼 A Or The?
Choose a, the or nothing. 8 sentences.
Listen And Repeat!
Click 🔊 Listen to hear the phrase, 🐢 Slowly to hear it slower, then 🎙️ My turn and say it out loud into your microphone!
✍️ Practice Time!
Exercise 1 — True Or False?
Exercise 2 — Complete The Dialogue
Fill in the missing word in each line of the conversation.
🎭 Create & Record: Talking About One Of Your Interests
Write a conversation with a friend about one of your interests. Use Do you ever…?, an adverb of frequency, one reduced question, Like what? or What else?, and a musical instrument if you like!
🎙️ Now, Record It!
Read your conversation out loud — make your voice go up ↗ for the short question! Then listen back.
🎯 Final Quiz — Questions & Instruments
Answer 7 questions to test everything you learned in this lesson!