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Views #11 | Low Intermediate 4

New House

Kerri has a new house. She talks about her new living situation.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Kerri	Todd

Todd: Keri, I heard you have a new house.

Keri: Yes, I do.

Todd: Oh, so what's your new house like?

Keri: It's small, it's old. It's mostly wooden in the inside. It has two bedrooms and a balcony off of those rooms. Downstairs, there's like a living room area and a tatami mat room, kitchen, bathroom.

Todd: Wow, so do you live in the tatami mat room?

Keri: No, there's two tatami mat rooms. There's one upstairs and there's one downstairs and I don't live in either. One we use as kind of a spare room and the other one is my roommate's bedroom.

Todd: Oh, OK. So you have a roommate?

Keri: Yes.

Todd: What's it like having a roommate?

Keri: It's good. I like living alone too but sometimes it's nice to come home and have someone there. My roommate gets home before I do and she likes to cook so often she's cooked dinner for me.

Todd: Wow, that's nice.

Keri: I know.

Todd: Well, you do all the cleaning?

Keri: Now that you mention it, I do a lot of the cleaning but not all of it.

Todd: Oh, OK. Well, what kind of things does she make you?

Keri: Last night she made curry. I think it was an Indian curry, tomato-base.

Todd: Spicy?

Keri: Yes.

Todd: Cool. Thanks a lot, Keri.

Keri: You're welcome.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

tatami mat room

We have a tatami mat room upstairs.

A 'tatami mat' is a traditional Japanese floor covering that was originally made from rice straw. Notice the following:

The restaurant has tatami mats in the private rooms.
Do you have tatami mats in your house?

spare room

We use one of the rooms as a spare room.

A 'spare room' is a room that you have available for guests or a room where nobody permanently lives. Notice the following:

We have a spare room for you to stay in.
How many spare rooms do you have?

roommate

I like living alone, but it's nice to have a roommate, too,

A 'roommate' is someone who shares your house or apartment with you who is not family. Notice the following:

My roommate is the cleanest person ever.
Where did you meet your roommate?

what's it like

What's it like to have a roommate?

When you ask 'what's it like' you want the speaker to describe something for you. Notice the following:

What's it like to be married?
What's it like to have a real job?

-based

She made tomato-based Indian curry.

If a food is 'tomato-based' it is made up mostly of tomatoes. We can put the word '-based' after other words to show the composition of something. Notice the following: