Full video

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Welcome to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English.

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In this programme, we have real conversations in easy English

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to help you practise listening and learn new words and phrases.

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I'm Beth.

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And, I'm Neil.

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In each episode, we talk in English about

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a different topic that you need for everyday speaking.

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If you want to read along, you can visit our website. BBC Learning English dot com.

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— Hello, Beth. — Hi, Neil. How are you?

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

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Well, today's episode is all about family.

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We’ll be talking about who is in our families and comparing them.

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

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Well, when we 'compare' two things,

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we 'look at them and see if they are the same or different'

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and we can compare things in different ways, but we often do it with adjectives.

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OK, let's start the conversation.

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So, Neil, how big is your family?

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It’s probably average, really.

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I have one sister, but she has three kids and I have two kids.

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So, when we get together with my parents, there, there are a few of us.

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It's not... It's not tiny. It's not huge.

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OK, yeah.

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I think my family is definitely smaller than yours,

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because I don't have any brothers or sisters.

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I am an only child.

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So, when I get together with my family, it's very small,

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because I also only have one cousin and she's an only child as well.

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So my family's tiny!

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OK. And what is your family like?

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It's small, but what's it like?

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Erm, it is small, but we're very close.

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So, we see each other quite often.

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We are a bit silly.

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We like to go out and have food and play games and we can be quite loud,

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even though there aren't many of us.

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

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Yeah, definitely, yeah.

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

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

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Yes, I get on well with my sister.

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We don't see each other very often, because we don't live in the same place.

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But when we see each other, we have a nice time.

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We catch up and chat.

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Mm.

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So, Beth, we have used the expression 'get on well with' someone.

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What does that mean?

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Well, that means that you 'have a good relationship' with them.

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So, if you get on well with your sister,

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it means when you're together you're happy, you're not fighting.

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It's easy to have good conversation.

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You don't really have any arguments.

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Maybe when you were a child, you didn't get on well with your sister.

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I don't know.

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Yes, I think now that we are grown-ups,

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it's easier to get on well with your siblings!

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When... When... When I was a kid, maybe I was a bit mean to her.

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Oh, dear!

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So, Neil, your sister has three children.

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— Yeah. — What are the ages of them?

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Well, for a start, they’re all boys!

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

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And the oldest one is 17

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and he has just done his driving test.

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It’s difficult to believe,

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because he's the oldest, he's always been the oldest, but now he’s almost an adult.

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And is he the oldest including your children?

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— So out of all the kids he’s the oldest? — Yeah.

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He is, yeah.

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So, in my family, my cousin has two children.

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— Mm. — And they are five and two.

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— So... — Ah! Little ones.

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Yeah. They are the youngest in the family.

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But I was the youngest in my family until they came along and I am 32!

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So, I was used to being the youngest,

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but I'm not the youngest any more, now we've got little ones.

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Oh, well! Are you sad?

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No, I’m OK!

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

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We learnt 'compare'

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

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

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'Youngest' and 'oldest'

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which are 'ways to talk about the age of someone or something'.

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And we looked at 'get on well with' someone,

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which means 'to have a good relationship with them'.

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Thanks for listening to Real Easy English. Visit our website for

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more activities and courses to help you with your English. BBC Learning English dot com.

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

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— Mm. — Mm, delicious!

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See you then! Bye.

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Goodbye!