Beth
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast we have real conversations in easy English about everyday topics. I’m Beth.
Neil
And I’m Neil. Don’t forget that there is a video version of this podcast on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. You can read along because there’s subtitles on the video.
Beth
Hello, Neil. That is a very bright shirt you’re wearing today. Is it new?
Neil
Yes, it is. Thank you. If that is the right thing to say.
Beth
It is! I like it – nice and red.
Neil
Yes, it’s bright red, isn’t it? And we are talking about colours today.
Beth
We are indeed. We’re going to talk about our favourite colours and why we like them.
Neil
Mmm. So, Beth, what’s your favourite colour?
Beth
My favourite colour is green, but not any shade of green. I like a dark green, I like a light green, but I don’t like lime green. And we call it lime green because it’s that bright green colour of the fruit – the lime.
Neil
Yeah.
Beth
What about you? Do you have a favourite colour?
Neil
Yeah. Well, I’m a bit annoyed now…
Beth
Because your favourite colour’s green too?
Neil
Exactly. My favourite colour is also green and I like those, kind of, forest greens. In fact, Beth, you and I have jumpers that are basically the same as each other. So, I’ve got a green jumper and you’ve got a green jumper.
Beth
Yeah. And they’re both knitted so they’re quite thick. And in the winter, we have to be careful not to wear them on the same day. So, Neil, are there any other colours that suit you – that look good on you?
Neil
Hmm. That’s an interesting word. If something suits you, it means that it looks good on you. I think it depends on the other things you’re wearing.
Beth
Mmm.
Neil
So, you know, any colour’s OK as long as it goes along with the other colours.
Beth
Yeah, that’s true because sometimes if colours are maybe a bit too similar, they can clash. That means that they look bad together.
Neil
Yeah.
Beth
I always think orange and pink clash.
Neil
Mmm.
Beth
But also, we’re probably unfashionable and those colours probably look quite good these days. What about in your house? Do you have painted walls and what colour are they?
Neil
Yeah. So, when we moved into our house about 11, 12 years ago, it was quite fashionable to have grey walls, so there’s lots of grey. We did lots of grey painting, but now it looks a bit boring and some different stronger colours are better, I think.
Beth
You need to get to the DIY shop and start choosing some brighter colours maybe.
Neil
Yeah, I think a nice brightly coloured room is quite… makes you feel good.
Beth
Your office is very brightly coloured though.
Neil
My home office?
Beth
Yeah.
Neil
Yeah, I’ve got a green… Of course, I’ve got a green office.
Beth
Yeah.
Neil
Yeah.
Beth
In my house, quite a lot of the walls are pink, but only on one wall in a room. So, for example, in my dining room, the main… the big wall is pink, but the rest is more of a beige – so, that’s a sort of light brown, cream, yellow, but very, very light colour, which is quite common in UK houses.
Neil
Yeah, it’s a bit like grey because it’s not as strong. If you paint your room beige or grey, it probably won’t clash with other things.
Beth
Exactly. You can put a bright colour with a beige or a grey – or neutral colour, we can call these. And neutral colours are good because they go with anything else.
Beth
Let’s recap the language we heard during the conversation. We used some words to describe different colours, like bright. So, I said that Neil is wearing a bright red shirt. In fact, it’s so bright it reminds me of a London bus or a telephone box.
Neil
And we heard suits. If something suits you, it means it looks good on you. For example, that green jumper really suits you, Beth.
Beth
And we had clash. If colours clash, it means they don’t look good together. So, for example, some people think that orange and pink clash – they don’t look good together.
Neil
We heard the word beige, which is a colour which is very light brown, kind of yellow-brown, a bit like sand.
Beth
That’s it for this episode of Real Easy English. Why not try the worksheet on our website to test what you’ve learnt? That’s bbclearningenglish.com.
Neil
And we’ll be back next week with another easy conversation. Join us again then. Goodbye!
Beth
Goodbye!