Everyone has opinions about how they spend their free time, which makes this topic great for conversation practice. These questions range from simple hobby preferences to deeper discussions about work-life balance and how different cultures value leisure.
Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.
Beginner (A1-A2)
- What are some things you like to do in your free time?
- What do you usually do on the weekends? Tell me about it.
- How much free time do you have during the week? How many hours?
- Do you like playing games in your free time? What kind of games?
- What are three things you like to do when the weather is nice?
- What is your favorite hobby? How often do you do it?
- Do you like to listen to music or watch videos in your free time? What do you like to listen to or watch?
- Who do you spend your free time with? Why do you like spending time with them?
- Do you like cooking or making things in your free time? Tell me about it.
- Where is your favorite place to go in your free time? What do you do there?
Elementary (A2)
- Do you have more free time now than when you were a kid?
- Who do you spend your free time with? Why?
- Where is a good place to relax in your city? Why do you like it?
- Do you watch TV or use your phone more in your free time? Why?
- Do you have a hobby? How did you start it?
- What’s the best thing about having a day with nothing to do?
- Have you ever tried a hobby and then quit? What happened?
- What hobbies don’t you like? Why?
- What do you prefer to do when the weather is bad? Why?
- What do your friends like to do in their free time? Is it similar to what you do?
Intermediate (B1)
- What would you do if you had more free time?
- Is there such a thing as too much free time? Why or why not?
- Do you think people had more or less free time in the past? What makes you think so?
- What is the most worthwhile thing a person can do with their free time? Why do you think so?
- What does the idiom “Time is money.” mean? Do you agree with it?
- Is there something you wish you could do with your free time but can’t? What is it, and what’s stopping you?
- Do you think a four day work week would be a good idea? Why or why not?
- Do you prefer indoor hobbies or outdoor hobbies? What’s good about each?
- Have you ever spent money on a hobby you stopped doing? What did you think of it?
- What do people in your country usually do in their free time? Why do you think that is?
- What’s the worst way to spend your free time? Why?
- What do you like to do in your free time that you didn’t do as a child? Why?
- Do you think hobbies should be relaxing or challenging? Why or why not?
- Do you think people spend too much time on their phones during free time? How so?
- Do you think expensive hobbies are worth the money? When are they worth it?
- Is it better to have many hobbies or focus on just one? Why do you think so?
- What’s the most relaxing thing you do in your free time? What makes it so relaxing?
- Do you think spending free time alone is as important as spending it with others? Why or why not?
- Some people feel guilty when they relax and do nothing. Do you ever feel that way? What do you think causes it?
- Should parents decide how their children spend their free time, or should kids choose for themselves? Why or why not?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- How do free time activities differ now compared with the past? What caused those changes?
- What is the difference between free time that feels wasted and free time that feels well spent? Give me some examples.
- How often have you tried a new hobby and given up quickly? What makes people stick with hobbies long-term?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of scheduling your free time versus being spontaneous?
- How does having regular hobbies affect your mental health and stress levels? How much do they affect you?
- What role does free time play in a healthy work-life balance? How often have you struggled with that balance?
- What are the implications of the rise of passive entertainment like streaming versus active hobbies like sports or crafts?
- How has the meaning of ‘productivity’ changed the way people view their free time? What do you think about that shift?
- In some cultures, free time is mostly spent with family, while in others people focus more on personal hobbies. How is it in your culture, and how is it different from others you know about?
- Some people say hobbies should stay hobbies and never become jobs. Others try to turn their passion into a career. What are the risks and rewards of each approach?
- What happens to a community when most people spend their free time indoors and online rather than in shared public spaces?
Advanced (C1)
- Many people say they are busier than ever, yet studies show people actually have more free time than in the past. Why do you think there is such a gap between how busy people feel and how busy they actually are?
- Why have hobbies and leisure activities become so tied to personal identity in modern society?
- How do modern work cultures create the paradox of having more leisure technology but feeling like we have less free time?
- How does the pressure to monetize hobbies through side hustles change the nature of free time itself?
- How do algorithm-driven recommendations for leisure activities both expand choice and create new forms of control over our free time?
- In many countries, people are working longer hours but also spending more money on entertainment and leisure. How do you explain that contradiction?
- Free time used to mean doing nothing or spending time with neighbors. Now it often means consuming content, scrolling, or buying experiences. What does that shift say about how our values have changed?
- Some people feel pressure to make their free time look impressive on social media: traveling, cooking fancy meals, doing extreme sports. How does the need to perform your leisure time change the experience of actually enjoying it?
- Children today have far more structured activities and less unstructured free time than previous generations. How might that shift affect the kind of adults they become?
- Many people say their happiest moments happen during free time, yet most spend the majority of their free time on activities they later describe as unsatisfying, like scrolling their phones. What keeps people stuck in that pattern?
- Some of the world’s most creative people, artists, scientists, inventors, have said that boredom was essential to their best work. In a world designed to eliminate boredom, what are we losing?