Grammar Talks A1-15 Telling Time

What time do you get up?

Two people talk about their daily schedule related to time.
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Todd: Natalie, let's talk about times.

Natalie: Okay.

Todd: Like, when we do things.

Natalie: Sure.

Todd: First, when do you get up?

Natalie: I get up around 7:30.

Todd: Yeah, I get up early too. I don't get up at 7:30, but I get up at 8:00.

Natalie: Oh, well, sometimes I get up at 8:00. Maybe at the weekend.

Todd: Yeah. Actually, I always wake up at 6:00. I wake up very early, but I don't get out of bed. I wake up. I have some water, and then I sleep some more. I sleep two more hours.

Natalie:Oh, really?

Todd: Yeah. It's a bad habit.

Natalie:Sometimes I wake up at 7:30 and I play on my phone for maybe an hour.

Todd: That's so bad.

Natalie: I know.

Todd: I read that it's not good to check your phone in bed. I never check my phone in bed.

Natalie: Oh, I should try that.

Todd: What about breakfast? When do you eat breakfast?

Natalie: I usually eat breakfast at around 8:30, but sometimes I don't have breakfast.

Todd: Oh, no time.

Natalie: No time. How about you?

Todd: I usually have breakfast right away. I wake up at 8:00 or I get out of bed at 8:00 and then I eat something at 8:15. I eat something as soon as I get up.

Natalie: Oh. No. I usually have to wait before I can eat.

Todd: Well, I always eat and I always have coffee very early.

Natalie: Do you have coffee every day?

Todd: Every day. I have three cups of coffee. I have one cup of coffee around 8:00. I have another cup of coffee around 10:00 and then I have my last cup of coffee around 2:00 or 3:00.

Natalie: Whoa, three coffees?

Todd: Yeah. My office is by a café and the café has really good coffee. I love their café mochas.

Natalie: Oh, I really don't like the taste of coffee, but I do love a hot chocolate.

Todd: Oh, I hear you. When do you start your day at work or school?

Natalie: Well, I work as a teacher, so I start at 9:00 a.m.

Todd: Oh, that's fairly early.

Natalie: Yeah, it's okay. I work for a few hours in the morning and lunch comes by really quickly. How about you? When does your day start?

Todd: Well, I have two jobs. Now, I make websites and I work at an office. I start at 12:00, so noon. I start my day late. I finish working at 8:00 or 9:00 at night.

Natalie: I wish I started work at 12:00, but I don't think I'd enjoy working so late.

Todd: Oh, it's great. I love it, because there's no traffic at noon when I go to work and there's less traffic at night when I come home. I finish at 9:00 and the train is not crowded and it's really nice.

Natalie: How long does it take to get to work?

Todd: It takes 15 minutes by train. If the weather is nice, on nice sunny days I walk to work, it takes one hour and I walk home, it takes another hour.

Natalie: I bet that's really nice.

Todd: It is nice. I like to walk to work and I like to walk home. I work at night, so I eat dinner really late. I eat dinner at 10:00 and that's very late and a little unhealthy. When do you eat dinner?

Natalie: Well, yeah, 10:00 p.m. is really late. I'm usually in bed at that time. I usually have dinner I'd say maybe 7:30 p.m.

Todd: Wow. You have dinner before I finish work.

Natalie: I know, but if I don't eat at that time, I get really cranky.

Todd: You go to bed around 10:00?

Natalie: Yeah, most nights, but at the weekend, I usually go to bed later. I'd say midnight, sometimes 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m.

Todd: Wow. That's interesting, because on workdays, Monday to Friday, I go to bed late, but on the weekend, my days off, I go to bed early.

Natalie: Oh really?

Todd: Yeah. On Saturday night and Sunday night, I go to bed at 10:00, but Monday to Friday I work, I go to bed at 12:00 or 1:00.

Natalie: Why get up early at the weekend?

Todd: I don't know. I actually don't like staying up late, but I do it for my job. It's strange I guess. On the weekends, some people like to sleep in. On the weekends, I like to go to bed early.

Natalie: Oh, my. At the weekend, I love to have a lie in bed. Sometimes I stay in bed all day and watch movies.

Todd: Oh, you know, I'm guilty of that too. I do that also.

Grammar Notes

Point 1: Ordinals are numbers that show the order things appear or occur.
  1. first
  2. second
  3. third
  4. fourth
  5. fifth
  6. sixth
  7. seventh
  8. eight
  9. ninth
  10. tenth
Point 2: Most ordinals are just the number + th
  1. 20th | twentieth
  2. 30th | thirthieth
  3. 40th | fortieth
  4. 50th | fiftieth
Point 3: The numbers 1 - 3 have special ordinals.
  1. 1 | first
  2. 2 | second
  3. 3 | third
  4. 21 | twenty-first
  5. 33 | thirty-third
  6. 82 | eighty-second
Point 4: The numbers 11 and 12 have specials spellings that do not follow the normal rule.
  1. 11 | eleventh
  2. 12 | twelth
  3. 111 | one hundred and eleventh
  4. 512 | five hundred and twelfth
Point 5: Numbers that end in -y change to -ieth.
  1. 20th | twentieth
  2. 30th | thirthieth
  3. 40th | fortieth
  4. 50th | fiftieth
Answer the following questions about the interview.
Begginer A1 Conversations as listening lessons with natural English for ESL students.
Begginer A2 Conversations as listening lessons with natural English for ESL students.
Begginer B1 Conversations as listening lessons with natural English for ESL students.

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