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Natural English for Your Ears: Talking about Housing in the UK and USA (Can You Understand?)
Natural English for Your Ears: Talking about Housing in the UK and USA (Can You Understand?)
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22:55 · Mar 11, 2025
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this
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Jack
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this is Jack from to fluency now today's English episode English Lesson is all
0:07
about houses houses now before you think maybe this is a little bit of
0:13
a boring topic or maybe you're not really interested in this topic give it
0:19
a go which means try this episode
0:22
because it's really fun you're gonna get lots of great phrases to learn English
0:29
and also we're gonna look at the difference between houses in the UK
0:34
and houses in the USA
0:36
and starting with this fact okay are you ready for this the average house
0:43
size in the UK is around 76 square meters now in the US you're
0:50
going to hear square feet
0:53
and this is around 800 square feet the average house size in the USA
1:00
is 201 square meters over 2,000 square feet
1:06
so houses in the US are over two times the size
1:12
as houses in the UK
1:15
and this is something I noticed
1:17
when I first came to the USA it was the size of the houses
1:22
and also the way
1:24
that the houses are built
1:25
and where they are built
1:26
which is something we're going to talk about later now you might be thinking
1:32
why are houses in the USA
1:34
so much bigger than houses in the UK?
1:38
well in the UK in England in Scotland etcetera land is limited land is
1:47
limited so this means
1:49
that there isn't as much land available
1:52
and you think about the size of the UK versus the size of the
1:57
USA you'll realise just how big of a difference this is additionally the UK
2:04
has a lot of older houses
2:06
because many were built before modern space expectations
2:11
when people wanted larger houses
2:15
and if you think about the industrial revolution in the UK there were a
2:20
lot of terraced houses built near factories meaning
2:24
that they were very small
2:27
and a big row of houses all together
2:32
so these are called terraced houses now in the US this is a country
2:38
with more land so building bigger houses is easier additionally Americans often prefer open
2:45
plan layouts with large living spaces
2:49
so an open plan layout is where the kitchen the living room
2:53
and usually as well the dining room are all open without walls in between
2:58
them so someone's in the kitchen you can see them from the living room
3:03
whereas in the UK it's more common to have separate rooms for the kitchen
3:09
for the dining room
3:11
and for the living room also in the USA a lot of homes come
3:17
with basements now these are the areas underneath the main living area in the
3:23
UK it's rare from my experience except for in a few terraced houses to
3:29
have a basement where you can spend time in it instead of just a
3:34
basement for storage whereas in the USA they like to build a basement to
3:40
have an extra bedroom storage rooms even bathrooms
3:45
and sometimes family rooms too
3:48
so we can compare the houses
3:49
and say houses in the UK feel a bit cramped compared to the US
3:56
okay sometimes they feel a bit cramped now this might be a new word
4:00
for you and know
4:01
that I'm going to leave all the words
4:03
and phrases in the description
4:05
but cramped means small
4:08
and lacking space and it feels like you don't have enough space to move
4:12
around in this area another difference with this is with houses in the USA
4:19
many of these homes have walk in closets walk in closets where you can
4:24
walk into the closet
4:26
and see all of your clothes everywhere it's not in every house
4:31
but it is more common in newer houses now
4:35
and also closets are built into the walls ready for you whereas in the
4:41
UK people have small
4:43
or big sometimes wardrobes they don't have closets they have wardrobes
4:49
which is a piece of furniture to store all of your clothes according to
4:54
my research the smallest home in the UK is in Wales
4:59
and it's only 1.8 meters wide
5:02
so it's tiny whereas the largest home in the USA is the Biltmore Estate
5:08
and I've been to this Biltmore Estate many times
5:11
and it has 250 rooms now it was built by the Vanderbilts back in
5:18
the 1880s or 1890s
5:22
and they got a lot of money from the railroad boom in the USA
5:28
and they built this massive mansion in North Carolina
5:33
and they based it on a French chateau it's very impressive now there are
5:39
some differences when you are renting
5:42
and buying homes in the UK
5:45
and the US now in the UK many landlords now a landlord is a
5:52
person who owns a house
5:54
and then rents a house
5:56
so many landlords furnish their properties it comes furnished it comes furnished
6:05
and this means to provide furniture
6:08
so they will provide all the beds everything
6:11
that you need TVs sometimes sofas dining room tables etc
6:17
so it comes furnished whereas in the USA apartments
6:22
and homes are usually un furnished
6:27
so the tenants need to buy furniture you need to buy everything you need
6:31
for that house and
6:33
when you move house you need to take all of your things with you
6:37
so you can rent a truck
6:39
and do it yourself
6:41
or a lot of people prefer to hire movers to hire movers
6:46
and the movers are people who come to your house they take out all
6:50
the furniture for you they put it into the truck
6:54
and then they take it to the new house
6:55
and put it in the right place for you now this can be expensive
7:00
but many people think it is worth it
7:03
because moving house can be terrible sometimes now here are some phrases
7:08
that you can use
7:09
when it comes to renting a home you can say something like I'm looking
7:13
for a one bedroom flat near the city centre
7:17
or in the US I'm searching for an apartment with a balcony in New
7:23
York City now here's a question for you do you prefer renting a place
7:28
that is furnished or un furnished
7:32
so would you prefer to rent a place
7:33
that has furniture ready for you
7:35
or would you prefer to take your own furniture?
7:38
let's now talk about home design
7:41
and functionality this is a fun section
7:44
because it's gonna talk about the key differences between the design of UK
7:49
and US homes now one of the biggest differences
7:53
that I believe is true is
7:55
that UK homes have radiators okay they have radiators
8:01
and this is a thing on the wall where hot water goes through
8:07
and it warms up the house
8:08
that way whereas we don't tend to see air conditioning in UK homes mainly
8:16
because the summers are
8:18
so cool compared to other places in Europe
8:21
and a lot of places around the world the temperatures don't get
8:26
that much higher than 20 degrees uh on average in summer
8:32
so air conditioning is not necessary in the UK whereas radiators are
8:38
so everything is built around warming the house not cooling the house US homes
8:45
rarely have radiators it's very rare to see a radiator in a US home
8:52
instead what you're going to see more often than not is air
8:58
so it's called forced air
9:00
and this is where there is a heater
9:03
and also an air conditioning unit
9:05
and it blows warm air
9:08
and it also blows out cold air
9:11
so from the thermostat on the wall you can say what you want the
9:16
mode to be it could be heat
9:19
or it could be cool there are other options to like just a fan
9:23
just to blow regular temperature air through
9:27
but generally speaking you can warm your house with this
9:30
and you can cool your house with one thermostat now the materials made to
9:35
build a house are really different too in the UK you're going to see
9:39
a lot of brick
9:40
and concrete block houses
9:43
and in the US the biggest material used is wood
9:49
so they build wood frames
9:52
and then they have exterior usually wood panels wood siding on the outside
9:58
so that's a big difference you're going to see in terms of the building
10:02
materials now also you're gonna see a difference in the shape of the house
10:07
like we talked about before the size of US houses is much bigger than
10:13
the size of UK houses
10:16
and you're also gonna see a lot of more stand alone houses in the
10:22
UK we call them detached where there's one family house with space around
10:28
that house whereas in the UK you going to see a lot more of
10:32
the terraced houses like we talked about before
10:36
and also semi detached houses where there are two houses together
10:42
and they share a wall in the middle
10:44
and then they are separate in terms of who lives in
10:48
which house but they are joined together with one roof
10:53
and one structure additionally in the UK you're going to see a lot more
10:58
people live closer to the city centre where the city centre is the centre
11:04
of everything and people live close to there
11:09
and it it obviously differs by city
11:11
so London is its own thing
11:14
and then big cities like Manchester have a lot of apartment buildings in the
11:20
centre of the city
11:21
and then as you move away from the city it becomes more countryside whereas
11:26
in the US a lot of living is about the suburbs the suburbs now
11:32
if you've watched American films
11:33
or TV shows I'm sure you've heard this term before the suburbs
11:38
and this is away from the centre usually in a development where a lot
11:45
of people are part of a HOA this is a home owners association
11:51
and it manages the community of properties
11:53
and residents and there are usually some rules for this
11:57
and you have to pay money
11:59
because you pay money to have things done around
12:03
that community but with this a massive difference
12:06
as well is that in the US you're not going to see in most
12:10
cities or a lot of cities
12:12
that I've been to sidewalks where you want sidewalks to be um pavements in
12:19
British English so a lot of people can't walk from the suburbs to a
12:25
coffee shop they can't walk to different places now that's not always the case
12:31
because some neighbourhoods in certain cities are built for walking too
12:37
but a lot of emphasis was put on the car in the USA where
12:42
again instead of going downtown to go to the shops you go to strip
12:47
malls there are bars
12:49
that you can only drive to restaurants
12:52
that you can only drive to you can't walk to these restaurants
12:55
which is very different from a lot of the culture in the UK
12:59
and especially other parts of Europe now going back inside the houses the bathrooms
13:06
are often quite different too
13:09
because the US bathrooms are usually a lot bigger than the British bathrooms
13:15
and also a lot of older houses only have one bathroom for the whole
13:20
family whereas an en suite room in the US is very common where the
13:26
master bedroom has a bathroom attached to it
13:29
and that's just for the parents
13:32
or the person the adults in the house to use another big difference is
13:39
that in the UK from
13:41
when I was growing up it might have changed a little bit now
13:45
but most people didn't have a dryer
13:48
so they had a washing machine
13:49
which is usually smaller than the American washing machine
13:53
but they don't have a dryer
13:55
so they had to hang up their washing outside
13:58
which is quite funny
13:59
because in the UK it rains a lot
14:02
so it's difficult to get this done you could also put your clothes on
14:06
the radiators I remember doing this
14:08
if I needed my school pants to be dry quickly whereas in the US
14:14
there are specific laundry rooms
14:17
or laundry closets that have a washer
14:21
and a dryer and storage to put all of your washing materials
14:25
so a lot of people well nearly everyone in the US has a washer
14:30
and a dryer ceiling heights are usually bigger in the US too especially in
14:36
homes built in the last 30 40 even 50 years where the ceiling height
14:43
especially in the living room in the main rooms is really high up there
14:48
whereas in the UK due to the old style of housing ceiling heights tend
14:53
to be a lot smaller now going outside people in the UK will say
14:59
garden whereas Americans will say yard yard
15:03
and many British homes have small gardens
15:08
but people really take care of their gardens the grass is always looking good
15:13
it's always green there are usually no weeds in houses whereas in the US
15:19
uh in a lot of areas things grow really quickly
15:23
and weeds are a big problem here
15:26
so gardens aren't as nice in my opinion
15:30
as they are in the UK
15:31
but usually there is a larger backyard now have you been in houses in
15:36
the UK and in the United States?
15:39
and if so share your experiences about the difference between the houses in both
15:46
countries now it's important to know
15:48
as well that the experience of going to a suburb in Atlanta is different
15:55
to an apartment in downtown Manhattan New York City there are lots of differences
16:02
there but in general
16:05
if you think about the difference between the suburbs
16:08
and neighbourhoods in America
16:10
and the ones in the UK there are lots of differences let's now look
16:14
at some quotes about houses before talking about some idioms
16:18
which are really useful really useful in terms of um being able to speak
16:24
English well and understand English
16:27
because these are used a lot now the first a quote about houses
16:33
and homes is this home is where the heart is home is where the
16:38
heart is now this is from Pliny the elder
16:41
so we're going back a long time
16:44
but the idea behind this quote home is where the heart is is meaning
16:48
that it's not just a place
16:50
so a home is not just a place it's about the people
16:53
and the feelings inside it
16:56
and you can feel at home even
17:00
if you move to a different country
17:02
or city now the second quote is from The Wizard of Oz
17:07
and it's this there's no place like home there's no place like home
17:12
and this means that no matter where you travel home is the most comfortable
17:17
and familiar place so Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was missing home
17:22
and saying there is no place like home
17:25
and this phrase is often used
17:27
when people return home after a long trip
17:31
and if you've watched the movie you'll know
17:33
that Dorothy says this
17:35
while clicking her red shoes together
17:38
and what's interesting is
17:39
that this movie is from 1939
17:43
so a long long time ago now the first idiom we're going to discuss
17:48
before talking about some phrases you can learn is a roof over your head
17:53
a roof over your head meaning
17:57
that this is a place to live to have a place to live
18:00
and people often use this
18:02
when they want to feel gratitude for having a house
18:07
so you might hear someone say even
18:10
though this apartment is tiny at least I have a roof over my head
18:15
and we should be grateful we have food a warm bed
18:19
and a roof over our heads the next one is to feel at home
18:23
to feel at home now this means to feel comfortable
18:26
and relaxed even in a new place
18:30
so you might say for example
18:32
when you move into a new neighbourhood our new neighbours are
18:35
so friendly they made us feel at home right away they made us feel
18:41
at home right away
18:43
and after just a few weeks in Spain I started to feel at home
18:47
I start to feel at home
18:49
so this means that you feel comfortable
18:50
and relaxed even in your new place now something similar to this is make
18:56
yourself at home make yourself at home
18:59
and this is a polite way to tell guests to relax
19:02
and feel comfortable in your house
19:06
so instead of them saying oh can I can I go to the bathroom?
19:11
or where's your bathroom?
19:12
or can I get a drink of water?
19:15
you say make yourself at home get anything you want just do what you
19:19
want here within reason
19:21
that obviously if someone says this to you don't take it too far
19:25
but the idea here is to feel relaxed
19:28
and comfortable now the last phrase is the walls have ears the walls have
19:34
ears which is really interesting
19:37
because this phrase originated from castles
19:42
and a lot of the castles in medieval times had hidden listing holes
19:48
so people could hear secret conversations
19:52
so that's where this comes from the walls have ears
19:56
and it basically means
19:58
when someone says this be careful what you say
20:01
because someone might be listening you might also say something like we shouldn't gossip
20:08
too much at the office the walls have ears in case you're thinking someone
20:15
might be listening to our conversations
20:17
but I love the fact
20:18
that it comes from the medieval times
20:21
when people used to listen through holes in castle walls now we're gonna end
20:27
on some key housing vocabulary differences between the UK
20:31
and the USA now just stay for this part
20:34
because we're gonna go through it quickly now we talked about before uh apartments
20:39
I always say apartment
20:41
but in the UK you're going to hear flat flat now in the US
20:45
you might also hear the word condo
20:48
and I'm just gonna double check the meaning of this I think it's
20:52
when a condo is an apartment
20:54
that you own yes it's true condos are individually owned
21:00
while apartments are rented typically from a landlord
21:04
or property management company
21:07
so if someone says I live in a condo it means
21:10
that they own this apartment
21:12
if someone says I live in an apartment the probably meaning
21:17
that they rent this apartment we also heard garden versus yard now it's not
21:23
common to have one of these in a house
21:25
but it is in an apartment
21:27
and it's this elevator
21:29
or elevator and lift
21:32
so you can take a lift in the UK you take the elevator in
21:36
the USA and another difference with this is
21:39
that the ground floor in the UK is the one on the bottom
21:44
and in the US you're going to hear first floor this is the first
21:48
floor if you're buying a house you're going to use an estate agent in
21:52
the UK and a realtor realtor in the USA
21:57
if you gonna rent you'll maybe use a rental agency in the USA whereas
22:03
you'll use a letting agency in the UK
22:07
and before we talked about a semi detached house where there is one main
22:12
building but two houses within this building in the UK semi detached in the
22:19
USA is a duplex duplex now the British pronunciation of this would be duplex
22:26
duplex but in the USA is duplex duplex what to do now is to
22:33
check out the phrases in the description
22:35
and then also watch
22:37
or listen to another episode
22:39
so if you're on Spotify
22:40
or apple just go to the podcast
22:42
and and find an episode
22:44
that appeals to you
22:46
if you're on YouTube there will be a video on your screen
22:49
or you can go to the description
22:50
as well thank you for being here
22:52
and I'll speak to you soon bye for now
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