English: Housing & Rooms

Level: A2. Being able to describe your home — the rooms, the furniture, and where things are — is one of the most useful things you can do at A2. This lesson gives you the words and the two key structures: there is / there are for saying what a place has, and prepositions of place for saying where.

By the end of this page you can…

…name the rooms and furniture of a home, say what there is in each room, and describe where things are, so you can give someone a quick tour or a floor-plan description.

Homes and rooms

First, the place itself. A house usually has its own front door and often a garden; a flat (British English) or apartment (American English) is one home inside a larger building; a small one-room home is a studio.

Inside, the common rooms are: kitchen, living room (also lounge or sitting room), dining room, bedroom, bathroom, toilet, hall, and sometimes a garage, a garden or a balcony.

Furniture — what goes in each room

• Kitchen: fridge, cooker (BrE) / stove (AmE), oven, sink, cupboard, kettle.
• Living room: sofa, armchair, coffee table, TV, bookshelf, lamp.
• Bedroom: bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, mirror, curtains.
• Bathroom: shower, bath, sink, toilet, towel.

There is / There are

To say what a place contains, English uses there is and there are. Choose by what comes next, not by the subject you are thinking of:

• There is + one thing or an uncountable noun: There is a sofa. There is some space.
• There are + two or more things: There are three bedrooms.

Short answers keep it simple: Is there a lift? — Yes, there is. / No, there isn’t. · Are there any shops nearby? — Yes, there are. / No, there aren’t.

Prepositions of place

To say where something is, use a preposition of place:

• in — inside something: in the kitchen, in the drawer.
• on — touching a surface: on the table, on the wall, on the floor.
• under — below: under the bed.
• next to / beside — at the side of: next to the window.
• between — in the middle of two things: between the sofa and the lamp.
• behind / in front of — at the back / at the front: behind the door, in front of the TV.
• above / below — higher / lower, not touching: a shelf above the desk.

Example sentences

Listen, then describe your own home line by line.

Quick recap before you practise.

A short conversation

Leo: So this is the new flat. There is a living room here, and the kitchen is next to it. Nora: Nice! Are there two bedrooms? Leo: Yes, there are. And there is a small balcony behind the kitchen. Nora: Is there a lift in the building? Leo: No, there isn’t, but we are only on the second floor.

Usage notes

• flat vs apartment: same thing — flat is British, apartment is American. Both are correct; keep one style per piece of writing.
• there is often becomes there’s in speech and informal writing: There’s a table. Keep the full there are for plurals (not there’re in writing).
• some and any: use some in positive sentences (there is some space) and any in questions and negatives (Is there any space? There isn’t any space).
• home vs house: house is the building; home is where you live and feel you belong — you can have a home in a flat.

Practice

How to say it

A few home words are harder to say than to read. Copy the audio.

• kitchen ends in a soft -chen sound, roughly “KIT-chin”, with the stress on the first syllable.
• cupboard hides its spelling: it is said “KUB-erd” — the p is silent and the two words blur into one.
• wardrobe is two beats, “WOR-drohb”, stress on the first.
• furniture has the stress on the first syllable and a weak ending: “FUR-ni-cher”, not “furni-ture”.

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

Next

• Previous lesson: English: Daily Routine
• Next lesson: English: Household Chores
• New here? Start with Start Learning English Here
• Build the sounds: English Pronunciation Overview