English Vocabulary Builder: HOUSING (American & British English)

My name is Emma, and in today's video, we're

going to learn some housing vocabulary, so

some words we use when we talk about houses and apartments and rentals.

But in this video, I'm also going to pay careful

attention to some of the differences between

British English and North American English, because when it comes to words about houses

and apartments, we often use very different words.

So, let's get started with our first word here, "flat" or "apartment".

So, a lot of the times when British people are speaking, they talk about a "flat",

and this might be true for other people or other speakers of English.

A "flat" is a small apartment; it's often in a building, like a high-rise,

and so you hear a lot of British people talk about their "flat".

The North American equivalent is "apartment".

We don't use the word "flat" often in North America.

Now, I'm going to add a word here.

So, when people in England talk or in parts of

Britain, when they talk about who they live with,

sometimes they talk about their "flatmate".

This is the person they live with.

In North American English, we use a different word.

We can use "roommate" or we can use "housemate".

So, both of these words are common to use.

So, again, both of these words end in "mate", but in North American English,

we often talk about a "roommate", whereas in

British English, we talk about our "flatmate".

Another difference you might hear when we're talking about houses in North America

and houses in England is how we talk about the outside part of the house.

In North America, we talk about our "yard".

So, a lot of houses have a "front yard".

So, it's a place in the front of the house with trees or flowers.

Sometimes there's a driveway for cars to park.

So, we call that the "front yard", and that is

the garden area that you can see from the road.

And then we also talk about a "backyard".

A "backyard" is behind the house, and, again,

there's usually grass, plants, flowers, trees.

Sometimes if people have a swimming pool, it might be in their backyard,

or if they have a swing set for their children, that might be in the backyard.

So, we use this word "yard" in North American English.

In British English, they use the word "garden".

So, there's a bit of a difference in how we talk about our properties.

Another difference you might find between North American English

and British English are words we use to talk about the bathroom.

Words about the bathroom are very important,

because whenever you go traveling,

one thing that often happens is you need to find a bathroom.

So, it's important to know what words to use when you talk about the bathroom.

In British English and in North American English, we both use the word "bathroom",

but there's a little bit of a difference.

In North American English, a "bathroom" is the word we use for "toilet".

So, it's the room that has the toilet in it.

Some bathrooms don't have a bathtub or a shower.

They might just have a toilet and a sink, and we would still use the word "bathroom".

This is different from British English.

In British English, a "bathroom" has a bathtub in it,

and we use different words for rooms that don't have a bathtub in it.

So, for example, you might use the word "toilet" when you're talking about the room

where you use the toilet.

You might use "wc", which stands for "water closet", or you might use the word "loo".

In North American English, we don't use "wc", we don't use "loo", really,

and we often try to avoid using the word "toilet".

So, it's a word we try not to say in conversation as much.

So, I've put an "x" here.

You would say, "Where's the bathroom?"

You would not say, "Where's the toilet?" in general.

Whereas here, it's okay to say, "Where's the toilet?"

So, there's a bit of a difference there.

In Canadian English, we have another word we use

for "bathroom", and that is the word "washroom".

"Washroom" is a very Canadian word.

Whenever I use that with my British friends or my American friends,

they don't know this word, they don't use it in this way.

So, again, there are different ways to talk about a bathroom,

depending on the English you are talking about.

Now, let's look at some other similarities and differences between

housing words for British English and North American English.

Okay, so what are some other differences when we're talking about British words

and North American words when we're talking about housing?

Well, another difference is how we talk about the machine in the elevator...

Sorry, the machine in the apartment that brings people to different floors.

In North American English, we call that the "elevator".

In British English, we call that the "lift".

So, again, these are different words.

When I go to England, I always have to change some of the words I'm using,

because they do not use the word "elevator",

they use the word "lift" in England.

Now, this is where it gets complicated.

When we are talking about floors, there is a big difference between

North American English and British English.

So, in England, the ground floor means the first floor in North American English.

So, if you say you are on the ground floor in British English,

in American English, you say you are on the first floor of a building.

Now, it gets even more confusing.

In a British building, when you are on the first floor of an apartment or a building,

you're actually on the second floor in North

American English, and it continues like that.

So, we use a different system when it comes to

talking about buildings and the floors we are on.

So, this can be very difficult when you go into an elevator,

if you are from England and you go to North America, you might be confused,

or if you go from North America to England, you may be confused.

Another word that has - actually, in this case, it's the same word,

but different spellings - is the word "story".

So, sometimes we talk about stories, we're talking about books,

but we also have the word "story" to talk about the height of a building.

We talk about how many floors a building has,

so we can use the word "story" to describe that.

For example, if I draw this apartment building,

I think this one has one-story, two-story, three-stories, four-stories, five-stories,

six-stories. So, this building has six stories.

So, both people who speak British English and people who speak North American English

use the same word, but the spelling is different.

So, in the British form, it's "s-t-o-r-e-y-s",

or if we're talking about one,

it just - there's no "s", whereas in the North American spelling,

we have "s-t-o-r-i-e-s" when we're talking about more than one.

If we are talking about one,

we use the word "story" without an "e". Okay,

so that's some of the differences between

British English and North American English when we talk about housing.

Now, let's talk about a couple similarities.

There are three very important housing words

you should know, especially if you don't own a

house. Those words are "landlord", "landlady",

"tenant", and "renter". These are all people,

and we use these words in North American English

and in British English. A "landlord" is the person who owns a property, maybe they own

a house or a building, and they want to make

more money, so they rent out maybe a room or an

apartment to a "tenant". So, if you pay money

every month for your apartment, you are a "tenant".

If you receive money every month from a "tenant", you are a "landlord".

So, these are opposite... Opposite roles.

"Tenant" and "renter" have the same meaning.

You can use either word. A "renter" is a person

who rents a building or... Sorry, an apartment.

It's the same with "tenant". We have here the

word "landlord" and "landlady". These people have

the same job, but the difference is this one is a man and this one is a woman.

Okay, so we've covered quite a few housing words

today. What I'd like to invite you to do is come

check out our website at www.engvid.com, and there

you can take a test on, or I should say a quiz,

on what you just learned in this video. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.

There you can find many different videos on all sorts of topics related to English,

including pronunciation, vocabulary, writing, and so much more.

So, thank you very much for watching, and until next time, take care.