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Real Easy English

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Talking about housework

Episode 260828 / 28 Aug 2026

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Georgie and Phil have a real conversation in easy English about housework – the jobs we need to do around the house to keep things clean and tidy. Learn how to talk about hoovering, sweeping and mopping the floor, and find out which chore Phil is most likely to put off.

Vocabulary

housework
general term for any jobs around the house

chores
specific jobs we have to do in the house

laundry
washing clothes, bed sheets, towels etc

hoover/vacuum
use a machine to suck up dust and small pieces of dirt from the floor

sweep
use a brush or a broom to push dust and dirt into one place

mop
get the floor wet and then scrub it clean it with a long-handled tool 

put (something) off
delay something until later

Topic places

Transcript

Georgie
Hi, Phil. How are you doing?
 
Phil
I'm good, I'm good. A little bit tired, but yeah. I'm good.
 
Georgie
Oh no. Why?
 
Phil
Lots of housework this weekend. We had to get the house ready so, yeah, a lot to do.
 
Georgie
You said ready? Ready for what?
 
Phil
Oh, we've got some people coming to visit, so we had to... we had to get ready for that.
 
Georgie
Well, Phil, we are talking about housework today in Real Easy English. So, housework is all of those jobs you do in the house. So, cleaning, washing, cooking – things like that.
 
Phil
Yep. All really important things. Just before we start, I just wanted to remind everyone that they can go to our website to get a worksheet to get even more practice, and that is bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Georgie
So, Phil, you said at the weekend you did a lot of housework. What did you do?
 
Phil
Well, I mean we share out the housework, but I was... I had to make sure I was cleaning the kitchen. I also did... We say do the hoovering or do the vacuuming, around all the carpets to make sure that's nice and clean, under all the furniture. So, Georgie, do you do a lot of housework?
 
Georgie
Well, I live in a shared flat, so I have two housemates, who are not super clean, so I have a bit of a routine with them. Every weekend, one person will clean the communal areas. So, those are the areas that are shared – so the kitchen and the living room. One person will clean those properly. So, wipe the surfaces, wipe away the crumbs. So, the crumbs are little bits of food. Then hoover or sweep the floor. So, that removes the crumbs from the floor so that the floor is ready to be mopped. So, when you mop, that's when you make the floor wet and properly clean.
 
Phil
That's a really impressive system. I like the way you've got it so organised. We always find we run out of time to get a lot of housework done, or we're doing stuff at the weekend or we're working during the week, and so some of those jobs, they get put off and put off and put off, which isn't good. But yeah, it happens sometimes.
 
Georgie
Well, there's also just so many other things we would rather be doing. So, yeah, it's easy to put off – to delay.
 
Phil
Georgie, we're talking about household chores. Is there one that you really hate doing?
 
Georgie
Yes, Phil, there is one job that comes to mind immediately, which is cleaning the bathroom – specifically cleaning the toilet.
 
Phil
Oh yes.
 
Georgie
Not very nice!
 
Phil
Yeah. No, not at all.
 
Georgie
Do you have one that you hate the most?
 
Phil
I think what I really dislike is trying to clean things – the bits on the cooker where everything gets stuck on, and you have to really rub it and scrub it really hard. I hate those jobs.
 
Georgie
So, do you... You said that you share... you share the chores. Do you get your kids to do chores?
 
Phil
Now, that's a really good question. We ask the kids to do chores and sometimes they do something.
 
Georgie
OK.
 
Phil
But not a lot. I'd really like them to be able to keep their rooms tidy. That's never going to happen, it feels. I'd really like it if they could, you know, help out cleaning the living room and putting things away. But, yeah, we haven't taught them very well.
 
Georgie
Oh, maybe one day!
 
Phil
Maybe.
 
Georgie
It's when you become an adult, I think, that you really appreciate a clean space, so hopefully that will come.
 
Phil
I was terrible as a teenager. I didn't do much as a teenager at all, so this is just coming back to me now.

Georgie
Yeah. Well, me too! So, we've talked about chores that we hate doing, but are there any jobs that you enjoy doing?
 
Phil
Well, you know what? Laundry or washing – that's washing your clothes. That can sometimes be really satisfying when you get a lot of it done. And actually, I've just got a new washing machine and it's much bigger than the one I had before, so I can do so much in one load.
 
Georgie
Phil, that is so exciting.
 
Phil
Even better – because it's summer at the moment, I can get it dry so quick. It's amazing!
 
Georgie
I love that! Putting a... putting a load of washing in the washing machine and then having it dry by the end of the day. That is so good.
 
Phil
It's the best thing.
 
Georgie
Teenage Georgie would be so disappointed that I'm excited by laundry, but here we go...! OK. Phil, let's recap the vocabulary we used in this conversation, starting with housework. So, this is the general term for jobs that we have to do in the house. And then we had chores, which are the specific jobs that you have to do – for example, laundry.
 
Phil
Yes. So, laundry is washing your clothes. We say do the laundry, or just do the washing.
 
Georgie
Yes. And we had some other chores – for example, hoovering and sweeping the floor, which is what you do when there are crumbs on the floor. After you've swept the crumbs, you can mop the floor, which is when you make the floor wet and clean it like that.
 
Phil
Yes. We also talked about jobs that you hate, and sometimes when you really hate a job, you end up putting it off – that means to delay it. If you put something off, you delay something, sometimes because you just don't want to do it.
 
Georgie
So, that is the end of this episode of Real Easy English, but we'll be back next week, won't we?
 
Phil
Yes, we'll be back with another episode. Also, don't forget about that worksheet that's on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Georgie
Goodbye for now.
 
Phil
Bye!

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