Learn English quickly with Smart Podcast | Episode 7

hello everyone and welcome back to English pod my name is Marco I'm Erica and today we have a great intermediate lesson for you that's right we've got some excellent real English for you all about cleaning the house cleaning the house that's a real life situation so we're going to give you real English exactly so in today's lesson we're going to look at language about cleaning the house we're also going to learn a few phrases that you can use if you want to ask someone for help and maybe if you're a little bit lazy like me

a phrase or two to avoid doing work okay well let's get started then with our vocabulary preview vocabulary preview all right great we have two great words for you today Erica why don't you tell us the first one the first word is such a mess such a mess such a mess so when something is a mess it's dirty yeah or things are everywhere disorganized yeah so you know you have your clothes on the floor and your shoes on okay so that sounds a lot like my desk at work your shoes on your desk yeah I've

seen that I've been wanting to ask you about that okay such a mess really really dirty okay now let's take a look at our second word chores chores chores chores chores is a really common word for things you have to do around the house like for example laundry or making the badge or when you have to take out the garbage those are all examples of chores chores yeah I guess everyone can remember when they were kids they had chores to do yeah when I was a kid it was my chore to chop wood chop wood

yeah that's a great chore playing with an axe maybe if you're a boy but for a girl it was not so great Ah that's why you're so strong and fit all right so let's listen to our dialogue for the first time it's going to be kind of fast but don't worry if you miss something because we'll explain all of the important language [Music] afterwards honey the house is such a mess I need you to help me tidy up a bit my boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be

spotless I'm in the middle of something right now I'll be there in a second this can't wait I need your help now all right all right I'm I'm coming okay here's a list of chores we need to get done I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight you can sweep and mop the floors oh and the furniture needs to be dusted you know what I have to pick something up in the mall so why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries sure that's fine

here's the list of all the things you need to get don't forget anything and can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home hey honey I'm back wow the house looks really good great can you set the table just a sec I'm just going to vacuum this rug real fast wait don't turn it [Music] on oh my God Marco what happened there an explosion we love a good explosion here at English we're going to give you as many explosions as possible okay so let's take a look at our language takeaway language takeaway

so language takeaway is the part of our lesson where we teach you what we think are some really important words that are found in the dialogue exactly and we have three really important words in our dialogue today so let's start with the first one tidy up tidy up tidy up so to tidy up means to put things in their correct spot right so put the shoes on the floor get those shoes off my desk exactly so tidy up organize things a little bit yeah put things away okay let's take a look at our second word

now spotless spotless spotless spotless so when you want something to be spotless you want it to be really clean really clean not a spot of dirt on it like your desk exactly my desk is spotless my desk is not spotless all right great word now let's take a look at our last word for language takeaway Maul Maul maul m a l l Maul Maul yeah it's a strange sounding word it is a little bit funny sounding but it basically means a large building with many shops inside many different stores inside right now in British English

you would say Shopping Center yeah I think that's a little bit more common but in American English we say m great so now it's time in our show to look at putting it together putting it together okay so in putting it together we take a word from the dialogue and we show you how to use this word in real English so we give you a couple of examples of how this particular word can be used exactly so the word that we have for today is groceries groceries groceries groceries Erica why don't you tell us what

groceries are all about so groceries are all of the food items that you need to buy at the supermarket so like your bread and milk and meat and vegetables exactly those are all groceries okay so let's listen to some examples on how how we use this phrase example one there's no milk can you go to the grocery store example two here's the grocery list I need all of these things so that I can cook dinner tonight don't forget anything example three I hate grocery shopping I can never find what I'm looking for okay great examples

we heard some really interesting combinations right yeah we heard grocery store which is where you buy your groceries exactly grocery shopping buying all your groceries and grocery list um where you have all the items that you need to buy a list of everything you need to buy exactly you know grocery store I think this is quite a common word in Canada probably North America yeah do you say grocery store in America well if it's a small one really like a small store in Canada I say grocery store for even like a supermarket really yeah I

guess well I would say Supermarket for a large one and grocery store for a little corner shop all of these little differences in American Canadian English okay I think it's time for us to listen to our dialogue another time this time it'll be be a little bit [Music] slower honey the house is such a mess I need you to help me tidy up a bit my boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless I'm in the middle of something right now I'll be there in a second this

can't wait I need your help now all right all right I'm coming okay here's a list of chores we need to get done I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight you can sweep and mop the floors oh and the furniture needs to be dusted you know what I have to pick something up at the mall so why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries sure that's fine here is the list of all the things you need to get don't forget anything and can

you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home hey honey I'm back wow the house looks really good great can you set the table just a sec I'm just going to vacuum this rug real fast wait don't turn it on okay great stuff love hearing that explosion that vacum just is a bomb yeah in this dialogue there was some really interesting language that you can use if you don't want to do any chores in the house exactly so it's time now for fluency Builder fluency Builder you know fluency Builder is a part of

our show that we use to take a com phrase or a word that you already know and show you how to express that idea more fluently and more naturally exactly so let's take a look at our first idea that we want to explain let's say you're watching TV like the woman in this dialogue and your husband wants you to help him do the chores and you say no I'm busy right or I'm doing something those are two Great Expressions but we heard something a little bit different in the dialogue I'm in the middle of something

right now I'm in the middle of something right now yeah that phrase is great it means she's busy she's doing something yeah I'm in the middle of something yeah and so Marco you can tell us about our next phrase okay well now suppose that you want to say you'll be there soon you might say I'll be there soon or I'm coming exactly but in our dialogue we heard something a little bit different let's listen I'll be there in a second I'll be there in a second so this is a more natural way of saying I'll

be there very soon yeah you know what I think I use this phrase almost every day I'll be there in a second yeah yeah it's really common yeah it means I'll be there really fast yes okay so our final item today in fluency Builder um is a great phrase that helps you say the idea could you or would you right or can you yeah so can you sweep the floor could you sweep the floor but in the dialogue we heard something that's a little bit different why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to

the supermarket why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket great so this is more natural and it's giving a suggestion yeah it's sort of a polite way of asking someone to clean the floors right it's a really good and polite way of saying it yeah I would agree on that this was fluency Builder now we are ready to listen to our dialogue again at its normal speed and this time you'll understand a lot [Music] better honey the house is such a mess I need you to help me tidy up a bit

my boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless I'm in the middle of something right now I'll be there in a second this can't wait I need your help now all right all right I'm I'm coming okay here's a list of chores we need to get done I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight you can sweep and mop the floors oh and the furniture needs to be dusted you know what I have to pick something up in the mall so why don't you clean

the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries sure that's fine here's the list of all the things you need to get don't forget anything and can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home hey honey I'm back wow the house looks really good great can you set the table just a sec I'm just going to vacuum this rug real fast wait don't turn it on [Music] [Music] um has has this ever happened to you has your vacuum cleaner exploded in your house well not a big explosion like

this one not so dramatically not so dramatically but it I've had this happen to me before yeah and dust everywhere and it's just it's a mess you don't want to happen you know this word vacuum um is really a very American word yeah vacuum vacuum the rug vacuum the carpet yeah vacuum cleaner in the UK what did they say Hoover Hoover yeah Hoover Hoover the rug Hoover the rug which is interesting because it's actually a brand yeah so I guess it's kind of like American English you say pass me a Kleenex oh that's true that

would be like a tissue yeah so I guess they say Hoover the rug or Hoover the house yeah wow you know I really love these small differences and meaning that we have between American English and British English yeah it's it's fun okay well another interesting thing about this is that the man was doing the housework I know he's a house husband yeah so he's the one doing all the chores in the house yeah that's well that's the new trend now now it's more popular for men to stay home and take care of the babies and

clean the house yeah like when I was growing up my dad would take out the garbage and that was it my mom had to do everything else but now I think it's becoming a lot more common in especially in North America for the household chores to be divided between the man and the wife equally yeah I think it's fair it's fa me too yeah you'd make a good husband Marco that's what they say but they haven't married me yet okay all right well we're out of time folks be sure to log on to our community

website and you can leave all your comments and maybe the house husbands out there can give us their feedback on what they think about this yeah so check us out at englishpod domcom and thanks for listening today everyone until next time this is Marco and Erica saying bye [Music] goodbye the English pod audio review listen to the meaning then say the vocabulary word very dirty disordered such a mess put things in place organize tidy up perfectly clean spotless busy doing something at the moment in the middle of [Music] something common house Tas masks chores food

that you buy at a store groceries careful thorough house cleaning usually done in the spring perfectly clean having no dirt at all Immaculate wash the dirty clothes do the laundry soap used to wash plates knives Forks bowls Etc dish detergent garbage American English trash garbage British English rubbish let's try that faster perfectly clean spotless careful thorough house cleaning usually done in the spring put things in place organize tidy up garbage British English rubbish common house tasks chores soap used to wash plates knives Forks bowls Etc dish detergent perfectly clean having no dirt at all Immaculate

garbage American English trash wash the dirty clothes do the laundry very dirty disordered such a mess food that you buy at a store groceries busy doing something at the moment in the middle of something now say the word and hear it in a sentence such a mess your room is such a mess you need to clean it such a mess the garage is such a mess I can't find anything in here such a mess when you cook you always make such a mess tidy up I want to tidy up my closet today because my clothes

are all over the floor tidy up since I cooked dinner tonight you can tidy up the kitchen tidy up if you want to go outside and play you need to tidy up your room tidy up every morning I tidy up my room before leaving for work spotless I spent all morning cleaning my car so now it's spotless spotless you did a great job cleaning the kitchen it's spotless spotless we need to make sure that the house is spotless before the guests arrive in the middle of something I'm in the middle of something right now so

I'll call you back in 10 minutes in the middle of [Music] something I can't go to lunch now I'm in the middle of something really important in the middle of [Music] something I hate it when people interrupt me me when I'm in the middle of something chores when I was younger I used to help my mother with the daily chores chores I wish I could go with you guys but I have to finish my chores chores I hate doing chores especially washing the dishes groceries we need to go buy some groceries for this week groceries

I forgot the grocery list at home but don't worry I remember everything that was on it groceries don't forget to buy some milk from the grocery store on your way home [Music]