Introduction
Beth and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about the weather. Learn to talk about how the weather changes your plans
Vocabulary
boiling
very hot
freezing
very cold
showers
rain for short amounts of time
Grammar tip:
Use if + present simple and will + infinitive to talk about possibilities
- If it’s sunny then I will go for a walk.
- If it rains, then he won’t play cricket.
Transcript
Neil
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English. In this podcast, we talk in easy English about a different topic each week to help you learn. I’m Neil.
Beth
And I’m Beth. If you want to read along with this episode, visit our website for a text version and all the vocabulary: bbclearningenglish.com.
Neil
Hi, Beth. How are you today?
Beth
I’m very well, thank you, Neil. How are you?
Neil
Well, the sun is shining today, Beth, so I’m very happy. What are we talking about in today’s episode?
Beth
Well, funnily enough, we are talking about the weather.
Neil
Excellent! In the UK, we love to talk about the weather because it changes a lot.
Beth
It does, it can be raining and then sunny, all sorts of temperatures, in just one day.
Neil
But what’s the weather like today?
Beth
Well, today, it’s sunny. There are blue skies. It’s really nice. But later on, it’s supposed to get very hot, boiling.
Neil
Boiling? Boiling is water that’s one hundred degrees. It has those bubbles in it. But we use boiling also to talk about very hot weather.
Beth
Do you like it when it’s boiling, Neil?
Neil
No, I don’t like it when it’s boiling. I like it when it’s warm and sunny. But if it’s boiling, that’s too hot for me.
Beth
I would agree. What sort of weather do you like?
Neil
I like it when it’s sunny. I don’t mind if it it’s cold on a sunny day. It’s fine for me.
Beth
Yeah, we have that in the winter quite a lot here. It might be blue sky, sunshine, but freezing, really cold.
Neil
Freezing. Freezing is literally zero degrees, when the water turns into ice. But also we use freezing just to mean that something is very cold.
Beth
Yeah. So, for example, if you forget your coat, then you might be very cold. You’d say ‘Oh, it’s freezing’. But, actually, maybe it’s ten degrees outside.
Neil
Yeah, I went camping at the weekend, Beth.
Beth
Ooh, very nice!
Neil
The weather is very important when you’re camping.
Beth
It is. How was it?
Neil
It was warm and sunny in the daytime and at night time, the temperature dropped. It felt freezing. It wasn’t freezing, but it felt very, very cold.
Beth
Yeah, that happens when you go camping in the UK. Did it rain?
Neil
It didn’t rain. I was very lucky. There was only one short shower.
Beth
You had a shower?
Neil
No, I was camping!
Beth
You were dirty!
Neil
But we can use the word shower to mean a short time of rain.
Beth
Yeah. We often hear about showers on the weather forecast. They say there will be showers today, which means rain on and off.
Neil
In the UK, the weather is very important for our plans, especially in the summer. So, Beth, do you have any plans? What are you doing this weekend?
Beth
Well, I am meeting some friends and the weather will be important because if it is sunny and warm, then we will go for a walk. But if it’s raining, we might stay inside. What about you?
Neil
Well, my son plays cricket and he has a match at the weekend. But if it’s raining, he won’t play cricket because you can’t play cricket in the rain.
Well, hopefully, it won’t be too hot later because we don’t like boiling weather. Do we, Beth?
Beth
No, definitely not.
Neil
Let’s look at the vocabulary we learned during the conversation.
We had boiling which we use to say that it’s very hot.
Beth
Freezing, which we use to say that it’s very cold.
Neil
Showers – rain for short amounts of time.
Beth
And we learnt a way to talk about possibilities using if. For example, if it’s sunny this weekend, I’ll go for a walk.
Neil
That’s it for this episode of Real Easy English.
If you want more programmes from BBC Learning English try our learning English stories podcast, where we tell classic stories and dramas in English to help you learn. Search Learning English Stories on your podcast app or visit our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
Beth
And next time, we’ll talk about cooking.
Neil
Mmm! See you then.
Beth
Bye!