Talking about routines: 🍽️ Real Easy English
Beth:
Welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I’m Beth.
Neil:
And I’m Neil. If you want to read along with this podcast, you can find a full transcript on our website – BBC Learning English dot com.
Neil:
How are you today, Neil?
Neil:
I’m very well, thank you, Beth. How about you?
Beth:
I’m very good. So what topic are we talking about in this episode?
Neil:
OK, well, today’s episode is all about habits and routines. Now we talked about our favourite foods a few weeks ago. But today we’ll talk about our meal times and routines for eating.
Beth:
Mm, sounds good! What do we mean by a routine, Beth? Is it different to a habit?
Beth:
Well, they are similar, but a habit is something we do regularly. So, for example, I eat an apple and a banana most days.
Neil:
Ooh, very healthy
Beth:
Yeah. A routine, though, is slightly different. It’s usually more about the time that we do something and the way we do something. So, I have my breakfast at 6am every day.
Neil:
OK. You said you have your breakfast at 6am every day. What do you usually have to eat?
Beth:
Well, usually I have something simple. A bowl of cereal, some toast with marmalade. How about you, Beth?
Neil:
I usually have porridge.
Neil:
And what about lunch? What time do you have lunch, usually?
Beth:
Mm, I normally have lunch at about one o’clock. What about you?
Neil:
The same. I don’t like it at 12. That’s too early. But by two, I’m getting a little bit hungry and angry at the same time!
Beth:
There’s a word for that, Neil. So, if you’re hungry and angry, we can combine them and say ‘hangry’.
Neil:
Yeah. So, it’s important to have regular meal times, so you don’t get hangry.
Beth:
That’s true. Now you’ve just reminded me of another word which is ‘brunch’. Now, that’s a combination of the words ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’. Do you ever have brunch, Neil?
Neil:
I love brunch, especially at weekends.
Beth:
Yeah, When I was at university, I used to have brunch pretty much every day. So, I would meet up with my friends and we would go to a café and we would have brunch.
Neil:
Beth, you said that you used to have brunch at university. Used to, what’s that mean?
Beth:
Well, ‘used to’ is used to talk about a habit in the past, so something you did regularly in the past and don’t do now.
Neil:
Now, another way of talking about past habits is to use would. So, if you remember, I said I would message my friends and we would have brunch. So ‘used to’ and ‘would’ are both used to talk about past habits.
Neil:
Do you ever miss a meal?
Beth:
No. I think when I was at school, many years ago, I used to miss breakfast, because I wanted to stay in bed. What about you?
Neil:
I don’t like to miss meals, because, like I said, I get hangry. But I guess I also used to miss breakfast when I was a teenager and I needed to sleep for a huge amount of time every night and get up really late.
Beth:
Yeah, I think it’s quite normal and quite interesting how your habits change as you get older. For example, missing meals and that sort of thing.
Neil:
Mm.
📌 Let’s recap the vocabulary we learned:
routine – the time and way we usually do something.
used to – to talk about a habit in the past.
would – another way to talk about past habits.
brunch – eating breakfast and lunch at the same time.
hangry – when you’re hungry and angry at the same time.
Beth & Neil:
Thanks for joining us on Real Easy English. Visit our website for more activities and courses to help you with your English.
In the next episode we’ll be talking more about our hobbies.
See you then! Bye.
In the next episode we’ll be talking more about our hobbies.
See you then! Bye.
Neil:
Goodbye!