Last Weekend
The Monday-morning question. English speakers ask it constantly and expect a short, specific answer — two or three sentences, not a full itinerary.
Vocabulary
- go out
- to leave home for social reasons
- stay in
- to remain at home
- catch up with
- to meet someone after a while
- chill out
- to relax (informal)
- have people over
- to host guests
- get away
- to go somewhere for a break
- pop out
- to go out briefly
- end up
- to finally do something unplanned
- lovely
- very nice
- quiet
- uneventful
- knackered
- exhausted (UK, informal)
- hectic
- very busy
Example Phrases
I went out with friends on Saturday.
A typical answer
I had a quiet one, actually.
A low-key weekend
We ended up staying till two.
Something unplanned happened
How was your weekend?
The standard question
Nothing much, you?
A short answer that returns the question
Grammar note
Phrasal verbs and where the object goes
Many two-part verbs are separable: you can say I picked **up** my sister or I picked my sister **up**. Both work with a noun.
But with a pronoun, the object *must* go in the middle: I picked her up — never I picked up her. This rule catches almost every learner at least once.
Cultural note
"How was your weekend?" is small talk
The expected answer is one or two sentences, then the question returned. A detailed account can overrun the social slot the question opened.
"Nothing much" or "quiet, thanks — you?" is a complete and perfectly friendly reply.