How to Describe a Day Off in English!

So I have a day off today.

It's a beautiful winter day, and I have a day off.

In English, when you say you have a day off, it

means you don't have to go to work that day.

So in this English lesson, I'll tell you about some of

the things I do when I have a day off.

So let me explain the difference between to have

a day off and to take day off.

When you have a day off, it means

that the day has been given to you.

Today is family day here in Canada.

So I have the day off because the

government decided that this would be a holiday.

When you take a day off, it means you ask your

boss if you can not be at work for the day.

Sometimes you have important things to do in life.

Maybe you have a surgery or some other thing that needs

to be taken care of, and you might then ask to

take a day off or more than one day off.

So again, when you have a day off,

it means it's been given to you.

When you take a day off, it means you ask for it.

One of the things I like having when I have

a day off is a little bit of family time.

Now, you might be wondering, Bob,

what are you talking about?

You're out making an English lesson on family day.

If you like having family time, why

aren't you spending time with your family?

Well, we decided today that for the morning we would

all spend time doing our own thing, but this afternoon

we're having a little bit of family time.

Jen and I and the kids are going

to go out to eat at a restaurant.

By the way, all three of my kids

got really good grades on their report card.

So we decided for family day, we'd have a

little bit of family time at a restaurant and

celebrate the good job that they did.

So family time is time spent with family.

It can be with your spouse, your kids,

maybe your brothers and sisters, maybe your parents.

Any time that you spend with family is called family

time, and it's very common on a day off.

Another way you might spend time on a day

off is with a little bit of me time.

When you say that you need some me time,

it means you need some time to yourself.

Sometimes I need a little bit of me time.

I just sit on a couch and I read a book.

Sometimes I just play a computer game.

I need some time where I'm not talking to other people.

I need a little bit of me time.

So it's a little different than family time.

Family time is spent with all

kinds of people in your family.

Whereas me time you spend time just

with yourself doing something you enjoy doing.

Another thing you might do on a day off

is you might do some things around the house.

That's literally the phrase we use to talk

about small chores and things we need to

do in our house or in our apartment.

Today I need to do a few things around the house.

I have to put a new doorknob on

one of the doors in our upstairs bathroom.

I have a few other little things I

need to do around the house as well.

So sometimes when you're working every day, you don't

have time to do things around the house.

So when you have a day off, it's nice

to get some things done around the house.

It's nice to do things around the house.

Often when I think about a day off, I like to

put two verbs together and use them at the same time.

And they are the verbs to kick back and relax.

I love to kick back and relax.

On a day off.

Probably later today after we get back from

the restaurant, I will kick back and relax.

I might just have a nap.

I might watch some cooking shows on

TV if I can find some.

That's one of the ways I kick back and relax.

I don't actually learn to cook, but I find

it very pleasing and peaceful to watch cooking shows.

So quite often on a day off, I

will do two things at the same time.

I will kick back and relax.

By the way, both verbs mean the same thing.

You can just say you're going to kick back or you're

going to relax and they mean exactly the same thing.

There's something a lot of people do on a day off

that I'm not very good at and that's to sleep in.

A lot of people on a day off will sleep

in till eight or nine or 10:00 in the morning.

I'm just not very good at that.

I normally get up around 6:30 or seven.

On a day off I get up around 7:30 or eight.

I don't really sleep in very much.

So to sleep in of course means to sleep

longer in the morning than you normally do.

When you have to go to work, the alarm clock

goes off and you get up at a certain time,

but on a day off you can sleep in.

So at work when I know there is a day

off coming up, maybe it's a Friday and I know

the Monday is a day off, I would ask this

question to someone: Are you doing anything special on Monday?

Are you doing anything special for Family day?

And then the same is true tomorrow when I

go back to work, people will probably say: Did

you do anything special yesterday for Family day?

When we use the word special to talk about

doing something on a day off, we're usually talking

about things like going out to eat or maybe

doing something fun like going skiing.

This would be a good day to go skiing.

So again, last Friday, a common question at work would

be, hey, are you doing anything special for Family day?

And tomorrow a really common question will be, hey,

did you do anything special yesterday for Family day?

So interestingly enough, I can say I have a day

off or I can say I have the day off.

Both sentences are correct.

I can use a or the when I'm talking

about a day off or the day off.

So I could say something like this, next

week Wednesday, I have a day off.

Next week, Wednesday, I have the day off.

So when you're talking about a

day off, you can use the.

This is one of the situations where you don't have

to worry about whether you use a or the.

Either you have a day off or you have

the day off and it means the same thing.

So there's another term with the word off

and day in it, and it's off day.

So instead of saying you have a day

off, you say you have an off day.

Now, to me, this has two meanings.

I think in some parts of the English speaking world, to say

you have an off day means that you have a day off.

It means the same thing. Here in Canada, though,

if I say, oh, I had an off day

yesterday, it means that I wasn't feeling well or

working to my best potential or working hard, there

was something different about the day.

It didn't go very well.

If I came home and Jen said, how was your day?

And I said, you know, I just had an off day.

Things didn't go smoothly.

I had trouble getting things done and thinking clearly.

I wasn't myself.

I had an off day.

So it could mean either that you have a day

off if you're in a different English speaking country.

I'm not sure which ones say off day.

But for me, if I have an off day,

it means things didn't go very well at all.

Well, hey, thank you for watching this little English lesson

about how to talk about a day off in English.

I hope the next time you have a

day off you're able to use some of

these English words and phrases to describe it.

Thanks for watching.

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bit more English, leave a comment,

and if you have some extra time,

maybe you have a day off.

Why don't you stick around

and watch another English lesson? Bye.