English for Conversations about HOBBIES - Questions, Answers, Vocabulary

Do you have a satisfying, exciting or time-consuming hobby? In this post, we will look at common questions, answers and vocabulary you will need to practise speaking English in conversations about hobbies and interests.

Contents

Preparing to talk about hobbies

Common questions about hobbies

Here are some typical hobby question examples. Use these to help you practise talking about hobbies for social situations or for speaking tests such as IELTS:

Do you have any interests or hobbies?
Why do you do your hobby?
Is your hobby difficult?
What skills does your hobby require?
How did you get into your hobby?
What’s the point of having a hobby?
Why do people often give up their hobbies?

Reasons why people do hobbies

To kill time
To unwind / relax
To keep fit
To master a new skill / get good at something
To sharpen the mind
Improve confidence / self esteem

Examples of hobby categories

Arts and crafts – (do + ) knitting, sewing, modelling, drawing and painting, sculpture, baking, photography, creative writing
Outdoor pursuits – (go +) climbing, caving, canoeing, skydiving, biking, hiking, orienteering
Sports – (play + ) football, cricket, rugby, golf
Martial arts – (do +) judo, karate, kung fu, taekwondo, kickboxing
Games and puzzles – (do +) online gaming, (play +) chess, board games, sudoku, crosswords
Home improvement – (do +) interior design, carpentry, furniture restoring, DIY

Talking about your favourite hobby

Introduce your hobby

First of all, say what your hobby or interest is:

My favourite hobby has got to be gaming
I’m really into board games.
Yoga is my thing.
Judo is the hobby that I spend most of my time doing.
Chess is my main hobby.
Skydiving is one of my biggest hobbies.
I’m a huge fan of model making.

Follow up

Explain how (or when) you started doing your hobby:

I first got into …….. when I was a teenager.
I first discovered ………… after I saw someone doing it on TV.
I first fell in love with ……… when my best friend sent me a link to a tutorial.

Say how long

Use present perfect simple or continuous forms to say how long you’ve been doing your hobby:

I’ve been doing / going / playing …………….. for about ……. years / months, now.
Ever since then, I’ve been hooked! (hooked = addicted / can’t stop)

Why you enjoy it

Explain the benefits of doing your hobby

I find….
I think…
I guess…
- ..it takes my mind off things.
- ..it’s a distraction.
- ..it boosts my creativity.
- ..it helps me explore my creative side.
- ..it helps me unwind. (= relax)
- ..it improves my focus / concentration.
- ..it helps me think more clearly.
- ..it’s something to do after work.
- ..it breaks up my daily routine.
- ..adds variety to my daily routine.
- ..it gives me a challenge.
- ..it gets me out of the house.
- ..it helps me connect with others.
- ..it’s a great way to meet new people.
- ..it keeps me fit and healthy.
- ..it makes me stronger / more flexible.
- ..it’s an opportunity to develop new skills.

Explain challenges

Now say why your hobby can be difficult

..Photography can sometimes be very tricky (difficult).
..It has a very steep learning curve. (hard to learn how to do it)
..Modelling can often get a bit fiddly, sometimes (e.g. difficult to manage small parts).
..Knitting can sometimes be very repetitive.
..It can sometimes be exhausting. (makes you tired)
..It’s not always easy to find the time to do it.
..It can be very competitive.
..It can be frustrating at times.

Skills required

Say which skills you need for your hobby

You need to have a lot of patience.
It’s useful to have nimble fingers.
Having good flexibility is a bonus.
You need good concentration skills.
It helps if you’re good at judging distances.
You need to be able to focus for a long time.
You need to be quite strong.
Being able to think creatively is a definite plus. (a plus = an advantage)
I’d say that having good eyesight is an absolute must. (a must = something you really need)

Bring it together

My favourite hobby has got to be gaming. I first got into video games when I was a teenager, when my best friend sent me a link to an online strategy game. Ever since then I’ve been hooked! I think for me, gaming’s a distraction. You know, like a break from real life. It helps me unwind, but at the same time, I find it improves my concentration, and helps me think more clearly. And of course, when I play online, I’m playing with other gamers, so I think it’s also a great way to meet new people. Gaming isn’t easy though – I sometimes get really tired playing – you know, it can be really exhausting sometimes when you’re playing for hours on end. I think if you want to get into gaming properly, you have to have really good concentration, and I’d say you need a lot of patience, too.

Hobbies and interests: Key speaking topic vocabulary

Hobby synonyms

an interest – stamp collecting is one of my oldest interests / i’ve had an interest in stamp collecting for ages.
a pursuit – climbing is an example of an outdoor pursuit (formal)
a leisure activity – people pursue leisure activities to relax and keep fit (formal)
a pastime – drawing is a very relaxing pastime (formal)

Hobby action collocations

take up a (new) hobby / interest (take up = start doing)
get into a hobby become more interested in…
stick at a hobby – keep doing it
make progress with a hobby
develop a hobby
do / have / have got a hobby – I’ve got so many hobbies, i’ve lost count!
give up (or drop) a hobby – I gave up collecting stamps because i got bored of it. (give up = stop doing)

Hobby adjective collocations

an interesting hobby
an absorbing hobby
a satisfying hobby
a rewarding hobby
an expensive hobby
a time-consuming hobby