How goes it to you?

[fannycgr]

I just recently listened to this phrase on a cd that teaches how to speak german.... I have never listened to this before, could this be because is an expression used in British English????

[Anglika]

Welcome to the forums, Fannycgr.

The accepted term is "How goes it for you?"

Are you sure you heard it correctly?

nb "heard", not listened.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by fannycgr

I just recently listened to this phrase on a cd that teaches how to speak german....

Aha. 'How goes it?' is acceptable, though not - I think - very common. It is syntactically quite unusual (normally a question takes the form 'how does it V?, but it is impossible to ask 'how does it go?' without meaning something else ['what is it that makes it function?' - the sort of thing you'd say when looking under the wheels of a strange toy, for example!]). And although I have heard - and used - 'How goes it?' I don't believe I've ever heard 'How goes it for you?' (except, perhaps, in a jocular context). (Anglika's right though: 'How does it go for [or sometimes "with"] you?' is infinitely better than 'to you' - which is just wrong.

I suspect the person who wrote the CD script was influenced by the German Wie geht es dir?.

b