English Vocabulary: Housework – Dishes, Errands, Laundry...

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

going to talk about different English words

related to housework.

Housework is a very important word in English

because all of us in some way do housework.

So today I'm going to explain what housework

is, I'm going to talk about what homework

is, because these words are often confused, and we're going to talk about some common

words and expressions related to housework.

So to get started, let's do a comparison.

I have here two words, "homework", "housework".

For many students or learners of English, they confuse these words, but these words

have very different meanings.

"Homework" is schoolwork that you do at home.

So usually with homework, your teacher will give you homework.

So the teacher will tell you, "Do this math problem at home."

So that's an example of homework.

When I was a child, I hated getting homework.

Now this is very different from the word "housework".

"Housework" actually has to do with cleaning our house.

So there's a lot of different words that are associated with housework.

So for example, "doing the dishes" is a type of housework.

"Doing the laundry" is housework.

"Vacuuming the floors" is housework.

"Dusting" is housework.

So you get my meaning.

"Housework" is the umbrella term that covers

all these different tasks we do when we clean

Every Sunday, I do housework, and I know a lot

of you probably do housework on the weekends

So "housework" is another way to say "clean the house".

Okay, so what verb goes with "housework"?

And what verb goes with "homework"?

I have here underlined the word "do".

I do my homework.

Similarly, we use the verb "do" with "housework".

I do my housework.

Every Sunday, I do housework.

My mom does housework every day.

My father helps my mom with the housework.

So, again, the verb you want to use with "housework"

is not "make", it's not "practice", it's the

So now let's look at some examples of housework

and some very common words we use when talking

about housework.

Okay, so we've been talking about housework,

and again, those are the different types of

activities you do inside the house to clean your house.

For a moment, I just wanted to talk about

another very important word that is related,

but has a bit of a different meaning, and that is the word "errand".

So in English, we often talk about errands.

What are errands?

Errands are small tasks or jobs we do outside

of the house to help us in our daily life.

So I'll give you some examples.

If you go to the bank to pay some bills, that's an example of an errand.

If you go to the gas station and get gas for your car, that's an errand.

If you go to the dry cleaners and get your laundry done at the dry cleaners, that's an

Maybe you ripped your pants and you needed somebody to sew it for you, so, you know,

you go to a tailor.

That's an example of an errand.

Some types of shopping.

The shopping you do that's not fun, that's an example of an errand.

So maybe grocery shopping, or if you have to go to a hardware store to buy something

for the house, those are all examples of errands.

So we use this a lot in English.

When you ask somebody, "Oh, what are you doing today?"

you might hear the response, "I'm running errands."

So the errand is the task or the job you're doing, and the verb that goes with this is

the verb "run".

So I told you, usually on Sundays I do housework.

On Sundays I also run errands.

That's the day I go to the bank, that's the

day I do things outside the house to prepare

my house or to prepare myself for the week ahead.

So another thing I wanted to talk about is a mistake I hear a lot of students making.

So this has to do with housework.

A lot of the times, one thing we do in the home is we cook.

So, you might hear the verb "I cook", "I cook

dinner", "I made dinner", so you might hear

So, "cook" is a verb.

We can also use this to talk about a person.

You might say, "I am a good cook."

This means I'm good at cooking.

So a cook can be a person, it can also be an action.

In English, it's possible to say, "The cook cooks."

Isn't English a fun language?

So one mistake I often hear students make is they add "er" when they're talking about

a person who cooks.

This is incorrect, so the word "cooker" we don't use in this way, okay?

So, a cook can be a person, and it can be an action.

The reason I'm telling you this is because cooking, running errands, and housework are

all very common things that we do on weekends.

We often do these tasks together.

So now let's look at some more words we use

when talking about housework and related topics.

Okay, so we've been talking a lot about housework,

running errands, different things related

to housework, so now what I wanted to do is talk about some very specific activities we

do in the house.

And I'm also going to talk about what verbs we use with these activities.

So, doing the dishes is a type of housework.

Now, I want you to notice the verb I'm using here, "do".

You can say "wash the dishes", that's okay, or you can say "do the dishes".

Both of these are possible.

So you might say, "Every night, I do the dishes.

Every night, I wash the dishes."

You might also hear the word "with laundry".

You might hear the verb "do".

"Every day, I do laundry."

Or maybe, "On the weekend, I do my laundry."

So again, "laundry" is a type of housework.

And again, we use the verb "do" with laundry.

Now this is different from the verb "make".

A lot of the times in different people's languages,

"make" and "do" are actually the same word,

but in English, some activities use the word

"do" and some activities use the word "make".

So here's an example of something we do in the house where we use the verb "make", and

that is "make dinner".

You can also say "cook dinner", but we often say "make dinner".

You might ask somebody, "What are you making for dinner tonight?"

Or maybe you might say, "Every night, I make dinner.

I make breakfast."

So whenever you're talking about meals, we often use the verb "make".

Another thing that we "make" in English is our bed.

So one of the first things I do when I wake up is I get out of bed, and then I make my

What does it mean to make the bed?

Well, it means that I pull the blankets up, I put my pillows in the proper place, and

I make my bed look nice.

So I make the bed.

When I was a child, I always had to make my

bed, otherwise my mother would get very angry.

So this is a verb we often use with "bed", "make the bed".

And again, this is a type of housework.

So the last expression we're going to talk about today is the word "chores".

"Chores" might be a new word for you, or you might have heard it before.

"Chores" is similar to "housework".

A chore is something you have to do; you don't have a choice, you have to do it.

So we often use the verb "do" with the word

"chores", and there's different types of chores.

One chore might be washing the dishes.

Another chore might be vacuuming the house, or maybe feeding the cat.

These are all examples of chores.

So they're not fun activities; a chore is something you have to do.

So somebody asked me the other day, "What's the

difference between 'housework' and 'chores'?"

Because they seem like very similar words, and they are.

One of the main differences is we usually use

the word "chores" when we're talking about

So usually, when an adult tells a child, "You

need to wash the dishes", we say that is the

So usually, the housework children do are their chores.

When I was a kid, I had different chores I had to do.

I had to feed the cat, I had to sometimes do dishes, so these were the chores I had

I didn't want to do chores; I wanted to be outside playing with my friends.

But as a child, sometimes I had to do chores.

So we've covered a lot of different vocabulary related to housework.

Again, one of the main things I want you to remember is housework and homework are very

different things.

There are different types of housework, like

doing the dishes, doing the laundry, making

dinner; these are all examples of housework.

Another thing is I want you to really pay attention to what verbs we use when we talk

about housework.

Do we use "do", or do we use "make", or maybe we use something else?

So these are all very important points, and the

reason this is an important topic is because

we talk about housework all the time.

It's something we do every day, so as a result,

we often use this type of English in our daily

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