Housework and Chores
Learn 20 easy A1 English words for housework and chores - clean, tidy, wash the dishes, do the laundry - with examples, a story and a quiz.
Nobody loves housework, but everybody talks about it. These 20 words let you say who does what at home, ask somebody for help, and explain why the kitchen looks like that. They are also very common in speaking exams, because “Do you help at home?” is an easy question to ask and a hard one to answer without the right words.
20 words to learn
The 20 words
/ˈhaʊswɜːk/
All the work you do to keep a home clean. Uncountable – never houseworks.
I do the housework on Saturday morning.
/tʃɔː(r)/
One small job you have to do at home, again and again.
Washing the dishes is my least favourite chore.
/kliːn/
To take the dirt away from something.
I clean my room every Friday.
/ˈtaɪdi/
Everything is in the right place. The opposite of messy.
Her desk is always very tidy.
/ˈmesi/
Not tidy. Things are everywhere.
Sorry, my room is a bit messy today.
/ˈdɜːti/
Not clean.
Put your dirty clothes in the basket.
/wɒʃ/
To clean something with water.
Can you wash the plates, please?
/draɪ/
To take the water off or out of something.
I dry the cups with a cloth.
/ˈaɪən/
To make clothes flat and smooth with a hot iron. Say EYE-un.
My father can iron a shirt in two minutes.
/swiːp/
To clean the floor with a brush or broom.
Please sweep the kitchen floor.
/dʌst/
The very fine dry dirt on shelves and tables. Also a verb: to dust.
There is a lot of dust on this shelf.
/ˈrʌbɪʃ/
The things you throw away. Americans say garbage or trash.
Take the rubbish outside, please.
/bɪn/
The container for rubbish.
The bin is full again.
/ˈdɪʃɪz/
The plates, cups and bowls after a meal. Do the dishes = wash them.
I will do the dishes after dinner.
/ˈlɔːndri/
The dirty clothes, and the job of washing them.
She does the laundry on Wednesdays.
/meɪk ðə bed/
To put the blanket and pillows in order after you get up.
Make your bed before you leave the room.
/ˈwɔːtə(r)/
To give water to plants.
Do not forget to water the plants.
/help/
To do something for somebody so their work is easier.
Can you help me with the shopping?
/təˈɡeðə(r)/
With other people, not alone.
We clean the house together on Saturday.
/teɪk tɜːnz/
I do it this time, you do it next time.
My brother and I take turns with the rubbish.
Now read the story
Story · all 20 words
The List on the Fridge
In our house there is a piece of paper on the fridge. My mother wrote it in red pen. At the top there is one word – housework – and under it there are five names, and next to every name there is a chore for each day of the week.
Before the list, our flat was always messy. Nobody wanted to clean anything, the rubbish stayed in the kitchen until you could smell it from the door, and the bin was always full. My mother did everything alone and said nothing about it. Then one Friday she sat down and said: “From today we do this together, and we take turns.”
Now Monday is my day. I wash the dishes after dinner and dry them with the blue cloth. On Tuesday my brother has to sweep the kitchen floor and take the rubbish outside. On Wednesday my sister does the laundry, and she is the only person in this family who can iron a shirt properly.
There are small jobs as well. Every morning we all make the bed – it takes one minute, and the room looks tidy immediately. Once a week somebody has to move the books and take the dust off the shelves, because it always comes back after four days. My father likes to water the plants on Sunday morning with a very small green bottle. My little brother is six, so his job is easy: he brings the dirty cups from the living room to the kitchen, and he is extremely proud of it.
Does the system work? Mostly. Sometimes somebody forgets, and then two of us help that person on Saturday and complain about it for an hour. But the flat is clean now, and in the evening my mother sits down with a book. That is the real change.
iron is the word that catches everybody. The r is silent: say EYE-un, not eye-ron. The same word is the metal and the machine.
Do or make? This is the rule for housework:
We do the housework, do the dishes, do the laundry, do the cleaning.
But we make the bed, and we make a mess.
Two more notes: housework is uncountable, so say a lot of housework, never houseworks. And British English says rubbish and bin where American English says trash and trash can.
The jobs: clean, wash, dry, sweep, iron, dust, water the plants, make the bed, do the dishes, do the laundry, take the rubbish out.
How the room looks: tidy, messy, dirty, clean.
The people: help, together, take turns.
Try answering this out loud: What chores do you do at home, and which one do you hate? Use at least four words from this lesson.
Now practise with the questions below.
Check your understanding
Answer the questions below. You will see instantly if you are right.
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