talk about your home in English. Where do you live? What's your home like? What about

your neighbourhood? Talking about where you live is a common conversation topic in English.

So it's good to have some things to say. Part one: introducing where you live and talking

about types of home. Let's start with a simple sentence. "I live in a..." what could you

put there? You could say, "I live in a house," "I live in an apartment." In Britain, people

sometimes say, "Flat." 'Flat' and 'apartment' have the same meaning.

Next, let's add a bit more detail. What kind of house or apartment is it? For example,

"I live in a small, two-stoery house in the suburbs." When we say how many floors a building

has, we usually use the word storey, so you can say a two-storey house, a four-storey

apartment building and so on. "I live in an apartment on the third floor of a four-storey

building." There are many different kinds of house and apartment. For example, do you

live in a terraced house, a semi-detached house, or a detached house? Terraced houses

have other houses on both sides, a semi-detached house has another house just on one side,

and a detached house stands by itself. Detached houses are usually larger and more expensive.

Terraced houses are usually smaller and cheaper.

What kinds of houses are more common in your country? What about apartments? Many apartments

are in apartment buildings. Easy enough, right? If you live in a very tall apartment building

with many floors, you can say you live in a high-rise in American English or a tower

block in British English. Sometimes a house is divided into apartments, these are called

converted apartments. Apartments come in many different sizes, if an apartment just has

one room which is a bedroom and living room together, it's called a studio. Of course,

you can also have bigger apartments, a two-bedroom apartment, a three-bedroom apartment and so

on. Large apartments might be duplex apartments, this means the apartment has more than one

floor.

What about you? Where do you live? Do you live in a house or an apartment? Could you

make a sentence using the vocabulary from this section? For example, "I live in a two-story

terraced house." "I live in an apartment on the 28th floor of a high-rise building." "I

live in a converted studio apartment." Next, let's see how you can describe the inside

of your home in more detail. If you want to describe your home, what can you talk about?

Well, you could start by saying what rooms it has. For example, "My house has two bedrooms,

a kitchen, a living room, and a garden." It's always better to add adjectives or details

to make your speaking more interesting. Let's try: "My house has two small bedrooms, a kitchen

with a dining table, a living room with big windows, and a small garden."

What other rooms might you have in your home? You could have a dining room for people to

eat together. Maybe you have an office or a study where you can work, if you live in

a warmer country, you might have a balcony or a terrace where you can sit outside in

warmer weather. What about your home? What does it have? Does your home have a garden,

a balcony, or another outdoor area? Try to make a sentence describing your home. For

example, "I live in a two-bedroom apartment. The bedrooms are quite small, but there's

a big living room with a dining area, a modern kitchen, and also a small balcony where we

can sit outside in the summer." What can you say about your home?

Okay, next, saying what you like or dislike. So now you can hopefully describe your home

a little bit, but what about your opinion? What do you like about your home, and what

would you change if you could? Positive words you could use to describe your home include

'spacious', meaning large with lots of room; 'cosy' which means comfortable in a warm welcoming

way; 'light' describes a home which gets lot of natural light. You can say your home is

'warm' or 'cool', meaning that it's comfortable in winter or in summer. Finally, you can describe

your home as 'convenient', meaning it's close to your job, it's close to the shops, it's

close to your children's school and so on. You can use 'convenient' plus 'for.' For example,

"it's convenient for the subway," or "it's convenient for my office." Could you use any

of these words to describe your home?

Okay, but what if you don't like your home? Well, here are some words you could use: 'cramped'

means your home is too small, so you don't have enough space. 'Dark' means your home

doesn't get enough light, so that even when it's sunny outside, it's still dark inside.

'Drafty' means cold air comes inside through the windows or through the doors in the winter.

'Stuffy' means there's not enough air so it's very uncomfortable in hot weather. You could

say your home is 'noisy', for example if you live near a main road, your home might be

noisy even at night.

Can you make a sentence about your home using some of these words? For example, "My home

is light and spacious, but it can get very drafty in the winter." "I like my apartment

because it's cosy, although it can be noisy because there's a restaurant just downstairs."

Okay, so now you can talk about your home and what you think of it. What else can you

say on this topic? Let's look, part four: saying who you live with. Who do you live

with? Do live with your parents, your husband or wife, with your family? Do you live by

yourself or do you live with flatmates (people who you share a rented flat with)? Maybe you

live with friends.

Let's look at examples of what you could say here. "I live with my parents." "I live in

a shared house; I have four flatmates." "I live by myself." What about you? Okay, that

was easy. Let's look at one more topic you can talk about. Part five: talking about your

neighbourhood. First, be careful with the word 'neighbourhood'. A neighbourhood is not

a person; it's the area near your home. So where is your home? Is it in the city centre,

the suburbs, or outside the city? If you live outside the city, do you live on the outskirts

of the city, in a village, or in the middle of nowhere?

How could you describe your neighbourhood? Is it quiet or lively? Trendy or boring? Are

there many shops, cafes, bars, restaurants? Are there parks or sports facilities? For

example, you could say, "I live in a very lively area just south of the city center.

There are many cafes, shops, and places to go." Or, "I live in a quiet area in the suburbs,

in the north of the city. It's a nice area and it's quiet, but it's a bit boring. There

isn't really anything to do." What about you? Can you say something about your neighborhood?

Okay, finally let's put everything together. If you can use everything we've looked at

in this lesson, you should be able to speak very clearly and with lots of details about

your home and where you live.

For example, "I live in a two-story terraced house. It has two bedrooms, a living room,

a small kitchen, and a garden. It's cosy and convenient for getting to work, but it's a

bit cramped, especially when we have guests. I live with my wife and daughter. Our house

is near the city centre in a quiet neighborhood. There isn't much to do, but there are some

small shops and a park where we go if the weather's nice."

Here's one more sample answer: "I live by myself in a studio apartment. It just has

one main room with a tiny kitchen. It's very warm in winter, but it can get a bit stuffy

in summer. I live in the city center, very close to everything. It's very lively, with

lots of bars and restaurants. It's a good place for young people to live, but not many

families choose to live here."

What about you? Can you make an answer like this talking about where you live? Try to

use as much language from the lesson as you can. Okay, that's the end of the lesson. Thanks

very much for watching. You can see more of our free English lessons on our website, oxfordonlineenglish.com,

but that's all. Thanks again. I'll see you next time. Bye-bye!