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What is the correct way to ask

Where are you from?

without changing the meaning of the question. For example, not:

Where did you live before moving here?

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What's wrong with 'Where are you from?'? – JAM Dec 19 '12 at 16:39
From where do you hail? ;) – mplungjan Dec 19 '12 at 16:40
3  
The correct way to ask "Where are you from" is "Where are you from". I can only suspect you have a certain imaginary rule in mind, in which case this question is a duplicate of this one. – RegDwighт♦ Dec 19 '12 at 16:40
The correct way to ask “Where are you from?” is to ask “Where are you from?” and leave it at that. Yes, this may not seem like a real answer, but it seems fitting for the same sort of “question”. Please clarify what you are acutally asking. – tchrist Dec 19 '12 at 16:41
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@mplungjan whence art thou? – jk. Dec 19 '12 at 17:07
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closed as not a real question by JSBձոգչ, MετάEd, FumbleFingers, Andrew Leach, Carlo_R. Dec 19 '12 at 21:39

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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So many meanings behind that. "Where are you from" could mean what country are you from, where do you live right now, where did you live before this, or where is your family originally from.

If you mean grammatically, "where are you from" is fine.

If you want to ask someone what country they are from, then consider political correctness and ask it the best way (I would say, "where is your family from originally").

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But that's not the same question, and certainly not PC to just assume/infer that someone/('s family) is foreign (based on appearance/name/accent/whatever). – DavidR Dec 19 '12 at 18:36
I am an American, but my family is from Germany originally (many, many generations ago). Any non-Native Americans would be foreign in this country. I am not sure about political correctness in other countries where English is spoken, so I cannot speak to that. I will add that my answer is meant to show that the question "where are you from" has many meanings behind it. – Jeff Dec 19 '12 at 19:11

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