Talking About Family

Welcome to Real easy English from BBC Learning English.

In this programme, we have real conversations in easy English to help you practise listening and learn new words and phrases. I'm Beth.

And I'm Neil. In each episode, we talk in English about a different topic that you need for everyday speaking. If you want to read along, you can visit our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

Hello, Beth.

Hi, Neil. How are you?

I'm very well, thank you. What are we talking about today?

Well, today's episode is all about family. We'll be talking about who is in our families and comparing them.

OK, great. So, what do we mean when we say comparing our families, Beth?

Well, when we compare two things, we look at them and see if they are the same or different and we can compare things in different ways, but we often do it with adjectives.

OK, let's start the conversation.

So, Neil, how big is your family?

It's probably average, really. I have one sister, but she has three kids and I have two kids. So, when we get together with my parents, there... there are a few of us. It's not... It's not tiny. It's not huge.

OK, yeah. I think my family is definitely smaller than yours because I don't have any brothers or sisters. I am an only child. So, when I get together with my family it's very small because I also only have one cousin and she's an only child as well. So my family's tiny!

OK. And what is your family like? It's small, but what's it like?

It is small, but we're very close. So, we see each other quite often. We are a bit silly. We like to go out and have food and play games and we can be quite loud, even though there aren't many of us.

OK, it sounds like you get on well with your family. Is that right?

Yeah, definitely. I love spending time with my cousin and she has two children.

What about you? Do you get on well with your sister?

Yes, I get on well with my sister. We don't see each other very often because we don't live in the same place. But when we see each other, we have a nice time. We catch up and chat.

So, Beth, we have used the expression get on well with someone. What does that mean?

Well, that means that you have a good relationship with them. So, if you get on well with your sister, it means when you're together you're happy, you're not fighting. It's easy to have good conversation. You don't really have any arguments. Maybe when you were a child, you didn't get on well with your sister. I don't know.

Yes, I think now that we're grown-ups it's easier to get on well with your siblings. When... When... When I was a kid, maybe I was a bit mean to her.

Oh dear!

So, Neil, your sister has three children.

Yeah.

What are the ages of them?

Well, for a start, they're all boys!

OK. Oh, my gosh. That sounds very difficult!

And the oldest one is 17 and he has just done his driving test. It's difficult to believe because, he's the oldest, he's always been the oldest, but now he's almost an adult.

And is he the oldest including your children?

Yeah.

So out of all the kids he's the oldest?

He is, yeah.

So, in my family, my cousin has two children and they are five and two.

Ah! Little ones.

Yeah. They are the youngest in the family. But I was the youngest in my family until they came along and I am 32! So, I was used to being the youngest, but I'm not the youngest anymore, now we've got little ones.

Oh well! Are you sad?

No, I'm OK.

OK, let's quickly recap the vocabulary we learned in this conversation.

We learnt compare which means to look at two things to see if they are the same or different.

Bigger and smaller, which are ways to compare the size of something.

Youngest and oldest which are ways to talk about the age of someone or something.

And we looked at get on well with someone, which means to have a good relationship with them.

Thanks for listening to Real Easy English. Visit our website for more activities and courses to help you with your English: bbclearningenglish.com.

Next time, we'll talk about food and some of our favourite meals to eat.

Mmm, delicious! See you, then. Bye!

Goodbye!