[Grammar] Why do people stress the "are" in "How are you?"

[th.19]

Hello teachers.

I have a question. Can somebody give me a logical explanation as to why people stress the "are" in "How are you?" when you're starting a conversation with someone you haven't met in a while?

I suppose it shows that they are happy to see the person, but is there any grammatical reasoning behind this?

Thank you for your help in advance!

th.19

 

[MikeNewYork]

It is a normal place to put the emphasis. One could put the emphasis on "you" in response to "How are you?"

How are you?
I'm fine, how are you?

 

[th.19]

Thank you for your response.

Is there any reasoning as to why "are" is emphasized, or is it just the way it is?
(For example, I understand why "you" would be emphasized if your example above, since they are asking in return to the other person.)

 

[Tdol]

I suppose that, as much as anything, it's because there's no reason to emphasise the other words- we're asking the person, so the pronoun is obvious, and we're not emphasising how because it's the standard word for this question.

 

[Raymott]

The verb is routinely emphasized in short questions like this.
"How/Where are you?", "Where/When is it?"; "How/When/When/Who was it?", "Why didn't you?", etc.
In the progressive tenses and the passive - if there's more to the verb - the stress goes onto the participle or main verb.*
"How/Where are you going?", "Where/When is it happening?"; "How/When/Where was it found?", "Why didn't you come?" etc.

* This is not a rule. It's merely an off-the-cuff description of the examples I've given.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Good question!

Sometimes we stress the are when we know that the friend has had difficulties - like job loss, divorce, the death of a loved one, or sickness. It shows that we have some kind of genuine concern: "Juanita, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. How are you?"

But not always! It can also express excitement - especially when we haven't seen someone in a long time: "Henry! It's been years! How are you?"

 

[th.19]

I am terribly sorry for my reply. Thank you to all the teachers that gave me answers to my question!