Talking About Your Hobbies In English

When you want to get to know someone, ask about their hobbies and interests. Talking about hobbies means you can share details about yourself - and discover shared interests and free-time activities.

Here are some phrases you can use:

Questions you can ask

What do you like doing?
What sort of hobbies do you have?
What do you get up to in your free time?

How to reply

In my free time I...
When I have some spare time I...
When I get the time, I...
I relax by watching TV / listening to music, etc.
My hobbies are bird-watching / playing sport, etc.

I'm interested in (+ noun / gerund)
I'm keen on (+ noun / gerund)
I'm into (+ noun / gerund)
I enjoy (+ noun / gerund)

You can add "really" or "quite" after "I'm..." for emphasis.
"I'm really keen on football."
"I'm really into geneaology."

Talking about hobbies in more detail

You can give more information about your hobbies and interests:

"I like arts and crafts. I'm a creative / practical person, and like doing things with my hands."

"I'm an outgoing person, and like socialising / hanging out with friends."

"I enjoy being physically active, and spend a lot of time playing sports and team games."

Saying why you like your hobby

You can also explain why you spend time on your hobby to make the conversation longer and more interesting.

"I really enjoy going to the gym because..."

...it keeps me fit.
...it gets me out of the house, you know!
...it's sociable. I've met lots of new people.
...it gives me something interesting to do with my time.
...it's not very expensive, and anyone can do it!

"My hobbies are all creative..."

... I've always enjoyed painting and drawing.
... Because my job is technical, it's good to spend time doing something completely different.
... I enjoy spending time making things like clothes.

More words that you can use to describe your hobbies:

creative
fascinating
practical
cheap
enjoyable
relaxing
different
unusual

Like doing vs like to do

We use like + gerund (ing form) to talk about general likes:
I like fishing.

We use like + infinitive to talk about more specific likes:
I like to go fishing at the weekend.

Extra Help

If you want more information for talking about what you like or dislike, check out this page.

Talking About Hobbies Quiz

Level: Elementary and above

1. Someone asks you, ''What do you like doing in your __ time?''

own
spare
Spare time = free time. (''In your own time'' means ''no rush to answer the question''.)

2. You answer, ''When I __ any free time, I like going to the cinema.''

have
make
You ''have the time'' or ''get the time'' to do something. (''Make the time'' = find time to do something special or necessary. For example, ''You'll need to make time to study or you might fail the exam.'')

3. You ask, ''Is there anything in particular you're interested __?''

in
on
Remember: ''interested in'' something.

4. If someone asks you that, you can reply ''I'm really __ sports.''

in
into
If you're into something, you really like it. For example, I'm into sports, skiing, running. We usually say this for active hobbies, rather than activities like watching TV.

5. You want to say a bit more about your hobby. For example, ''I like playing tennis because it keeps me __''

athletic
fit
A sport can keep you active or fit. (Being athletic = able to run fast.)

6. Here's another example to talk more about your hobby. ''I'm quite __ and I like hanging out with my friends at the weekend.''

friendly
sociable
Sociable (pronunciation = soash-a-bul) means a person who likes spending time with friends. Friendly means someone who smiles and is easy to talk to.

7. Here's another example you can use to describe a hobby: ''Painting is quite a __ hobby.''

artistic
creative
People are usually artistic, while lots of hobbies are creative.

8. If you like an activity like fishing, you can say ''You need a lot of __ for this.''

patience
waiting
The noun is ''patience'' and the adjective is ''patient''. (A patient is also someone who is in hospital or who needs to go to the doctor.''

9. You can also ask people about their hobbies. For example, ''Do you have an __ hobby?''

uncommon
unusual
If something is ''unusual'' it is different from other things.

10. Don't forget to make a comment if someone tells you about an interesting hobby. You can say, ''That sounds __!''

fascinating
lovely
If something is fascinating it is very interesting.

62 thoughts on “Talking About Your Hobbies In English”

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