WHATCHA BEEN UP TO?

WHATCHA BEEN UP TO?

Before talking about this expression, I might say here that it’s also possible to
spell “watcha” instead of “whatcha”. So, you may find both: “whatcha been
up to?” and “whatcha been up to?”.
This word “whatcha” is the informal pronunciation of “what have you”,
“what do you”, “what are you”, “what did you”, etc. Look at the box below:

This word “whatcha” is the informal pronunciation of “what have you”,
“what do you”, “what are you”, “what did you”, etc. Look at the box below:
Formal                       Informal
What are you doing? Whatcha doing?
What have you been doing? Whatcha been doing?
What are you going to do? Whatcha going to* do?
What did you say? Whatcha say?
What do you want? Whatcha want?
*“going to” is pronounced like “gonna” in daily spoken English.
Now that you know about “whatcha”, we can safely talk about “watcha been
up to?”. This expression, in Portuguese, means “que qui cê anda aprontando?”
or “que qui cê anda fazendo?”.
We use it to ask a friend about what they have been doing lately. We want to
know about their life, work, studies, and so on and so forth. It’s much more
common to say “whatcha been up to lately?”. The answers may vary, of
course. Look at the following examples:
- Hey, long time no see, huh? So, whatcha been up to lately?
- Not much! Just the usual stuff as always, you know. How about you?
- Hey you! What a surprise meeting you here. So, whatcha been up to
lately?
- Yeah! Lots of things! I’ve got news for you! Are you up for a coffee
now?
- I can’t believe you’re here! Wow! You haven’t changed a bit; whatcha
been up to?
- Well, you know, working hard as always.