50 Important Verbs in English for Daily Conversation

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. What's this?  What do you do with this? Let's talk about it. 

Next, you need to whisk the ingredients, and then,  don't forget to brown the meat. "Huh? To whisk? To  

brown? Isn't brown a color?" Well, don't worry.  Today, you are going to learn 50 common action  

verbs that you can use in the kitchen to help you  never forget what you are about to learn. You can  

download this free PDF worksheet that I have  created for you, my lovely students with all of  

today's verbs, definitions, and sample sentences.  Plus, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  

at the bottom of the free worksheet. Click on the  link in the description to download the PDF today.  

Let's get started with our first  category of action verbs in the kitchen. 

The first category are kitchen verbs that  are also nouns. You can learn two things  

for the price of one. I blend ingredients in  

a blender, maybe to make a smoothie. My husband grinds coffee beans in the grinder. 

Are you ready for this one? I toast a piece of toast in the toaster. 

Oh my goodness, I toast a piece of toast in the  toaster. Unfortunately, I don't have any bread  

in my house today, but you can imagine what this  does. I toast a piece of toast in the toaster. 

I peel a carrot with peeler. I grate the cheese with a grater. 

Notice that the T in grater sounds like a  D in American English. This is very common  

that a T between vowel sounds will sound  like a D. I grate the cheese with a grater. 

I strain my food with a strainer. Or you can  say, I strain my food through a strainer. 

I open the can of tomatoes with a can opener. 

I whisk the pancake batter with a whisk. Notice  that the H is silent. It only sounds like whisk. 

I use a mixer to mix the ingredients. I don't  have a mixer, I always mix ingredients by hand. 

I baste the turkey with a baster. I freeze meat in the freezer. 

When I want to grill meat, I use the  grill. In the US, we say to grill  

more often than to barbecue. I don't usually say,  when I want to barbecue meat, usually, I say,  

when I want to grill meat, I use the grill. I chop the carrot. Or you could say,  

I slice the carrot thinly. We also use  to slice for bread. I slice the bread. 

I taste the sauce before I add more spices. I bake cookies in the oven.  

Or, I roast a chicken in the oven. I use the tea kettle to boil some water. 

I let the sauce simmer over low heat. I heat up my food in the microwave. But  

we can also use a fun word, to nuke. I  nuke my food in the microwave, nuke it.  

I nuke my food in the microwave. I fry bacon and eggs for breakfast.  

When you fry, usually, you use a lot of oil. Or  you can say, I saute my vegetables for dinner.  

This usually uses less oil, to saute something. I brown the meat before I add the spaghetti  

sauce. I brown the meat. The word brown can be  an adjective. My hair is brown. But, it can also  

be a verb, to brown meat. This usually means that  you don't completely cook it, but the outside is  

brown, and it's ready to be added to the dish  and cooked a little more, to brown some meat. 

I steam my vegetables for dinner. And what's  this called? This is a steamer basket.  

I use a steamer basket to steam my vegetables. I pour the sauce on the spaghetti. 

I spread butter on the bread. As I said, I  have no bread in my house right now, I'm sorry,  

but here's a picture. I  spread butter on the bread. 

My son likes to sprinkle cheese on his spaghetti.  The word sprinkle is also a noun. "It's this?"  

Hmm, these are sprinkles. Usually, you add  them to a cake, or maybe to cupcakes. These  

are sprinkles. You could sprinkle sprinkles on a  cake, or you could sprinkle cheese on your food. 

I like to add salt and pepper to my food.  But, do you know something strange? Ever since  

I had my first son, I don't like pepper  anymore. If a dish has a lot of pepper,  

usually, I don't like it. But before having  children, I didn't care. Very strange. 

Let's talk about some verbs  for cleaning up the kitchen. 

At the end of dinner, we clear the table. We pile up the dirty dishes in the sink. 

I scrape the leftover food into a bowl to give to  our chickens. They'll be so happy. I scrape the  

leftover food into a bowl to give to our chickens. I scrub the food off of the dish,  

but if I can't clean it well, then I need  to soak the dish. This means I put hot,  

soapy water in the dish, and I let it sit for  one hour, maybe overnight, and it helps me to  

clean the dish better. I let the dish soak. Do you have a dishwasher? If you said no, you  

need to squirt some dish soap onto a rag. And, I'm  sorry, you need to do the dishes by hand. Whoa, I  

had lots of water in it. You need to do the dishes  by hand. Do you do the dishes by hand at home? 

When I'm done washing a dish by hand, I let it  dry. I let it dry on the drying rack. Or we can  

say, I let it air-dry. And in fact, we can say the  same thing for your hair. After you take a shower,  

you can use a hair dryer, or you can let your hair  air-dry. This is generally better for your hair,  

but not everyone does it. You can let your  hair air-dry, or you can let a dish air-dry. 

When the dishes are all done,  I stack them on the shelf. 

Do you have a dishwasher? You're pretty  lucky. You can load the dishwasher,  

and when it's done, you can unload the dishwasher. The dishwasher sterilizes the dishes. If you had  

raw chicken or something that's not  so good on your dishes, don't worry,  

the dishwasher will sterilize your dishes. After I unload the dishes, I need to sort the  

silverware; forks, spoons, knives, and chopsticks. Our final category is generally cleaning  

the kitchen. My mom always told me,  

"You should clean as you go." To clean as you go  means to clean while you're cooking. If you're  

waiting for the water to boil, well, you can  wipe the counter. Great, do you clean as you go? 

When I'm done cooking, I try to tidy up. To tidy  up makes things look neat. I try to tidy up. 

After dinner, I put away the leftovers in a  container. Do you know what this type of container  

is called? Well, I'm going to leave it a mystery.  You should watch this video that I made about  

many, many kitchen words right here in my kitchen. I squeeze the water out of my sponge,  

or my rag so that it doesn't drip. I  squeeze the water out of the sponge. 

I wipe down the sink when I'm done. If my children have made an incredible mess,  

I sweep the floor with a  broom. Notice, you cannot say,  

I broom the floor with a broom. Nope, you  should say, I sweep the floor with a broom.  

Or if we ate spaghetti, and there is sauce  everywhere, I mop the floor with a mop. 

If there is something I can't give my  chickens, I dump it in the trash, and  

my husband takes out the trash. My husband  takes out the trash when it's full. 

And finally, I pump some soap  onto my hay hands and wash them. 

Congratulations on learning 50 common kitchen  verbs. Don't forget to download the free  

PDF worksheet for this lesson. There's  a link in the description so that you  

never forget any of these wonderful verbs. And now, I have a question for you. Would you  

rather cook dinner or clean up? Let me know in the  comments, and I will see you again next Friday for  

a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download the free PDF  

worksheet for this lesson. With this  free PDF, you will master today's lesson  

and never forget what you have learned.  You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.