What do you do every day? What’s a typical day like for you?

Learning how to talk about your daily routine is super important, and we’ve already learned lots of useful words and phrases with Daily routine 1 and Daily routine 2.

In this lesson, you’ll learn different ways to talk about:
✅ how you work
✅ your free time and hobbies
✅ meals and eating habits
✅ activities and sleep habits

Listen carefully to the pronunciation, and remember — you can slow down the playback speed by clicking the Settings icon if you need to.

Talking About Your Work Routine

🕒 Talking about your work schedule

✅ I start work at [time], and I finish at [time].

✅ I work from [time] to [time].

✅ I usually finish work by [time] at the latest.

✅ I finish at [time] at the earliest.

✅ I’m at the office from [time] till [time].

✅ I work different hours every day. (To freelancers)

🏃‍♂️ Talking about flexible schedules or set routines

✅ I like to get an early start.

✅ I take a long lunch break.
.

✅ I take a short lunch break.

✅ I try to leave on time.

✅ I never stay late or do overtime.

⏰ Talking about working long hours or staying late

✅ I often have to stay late at work.

✅ Sometimes I stay late if there’s something I need to finish.

✅ I work long hours.

🚗 Talking about commuting

✅ My commute takes around [time].

✅ I don’t miss commuting every day.

✅ I have to leave the house at [time] at the latest.

🌟 Bonus expressions to help you sound more natural

✅ It suits me.

✅ It’s not all fun and games.

✅ It sucks!

📚 Vocabulary tip

• at the earliest
• at the latest

Talking About Free Time Habits

🛋️ If you prefer to relax at home

✅ I just crash on the sofa and watch TV.

✅ I don’t have the energy to do much after work.

✅ During the work week, there just isn’t the time to do much.

🏃‍♂️ If you’re more active and like to go out

✅ I like to get out of the house when I can.

✅ I try to arrange something most evenings.

✅ I prefer to stay busy.

🏀 Talking about specific activities

✅ I’ve started going to a boxing class twice a week.
✅ I play tennis on Wednesdays.
✅ I also play basketball every Thursday.
✅ I go out with friends for a coffee or a drink once or twice a week.

🕰️ Adverbs of Frequency

✅ often
✅ generally
✅ sometimes
✅ occasionally

I generally go running around the park after I get home.

Talking About Eating Habits

🍽️ Useful expressions

✅ My meal habits are all over the place.
Sometimes I eat dinner at 7:30, sometimes at 11!

✅ Sometimes I skip meals.
If I’m busy, I might skip lunch.

✅ Me and my boyfriend take turns cooking.*
We take turns cooking dinner during the week.

✅ I’ll cook a big batch of something, then freeze it.
That way I have food ready for several days.

* NOTE:

The sentence “Me and my boyfriend take turns cooking” is commonly used in informal speech, but it’s not grammatically correct in standard English. The correct form would be:

“My boyfriend and I take turns cooking.”

In English, it’s considered more polite and grammatically correct to put yourself last when mentioning others (i.e., “I” after “my boyfriend”).

⏰ Meal times

✅ Do you eat at the same times every day?

✅ I have to eat at the same time every day.
Because that’s the only time I have free.

✅ I might eat dinner at seven-thirty, or I might not eat until eleven.

🥗 Meal prep and lunchboxes

✅ If I’m organised, I’ll cook at the weekends so I can take food with me to work.

✅ Otherwise, I’ll buy a sandwich or something from the bakery.

🍕 Takeaway and delivery

✅ We generally get a takeaway on Friday evening.

✅ I try not to waste money on takeaways and eating out.

🌞🌙 Morning Person or Night Owl?

🌅 Morning Person

✅ I like to get some stuff finished early in the day.

✅ It helps me feel more productive.

✅ I try to go to bed by eleven.

🌙 Night Owl

✅ I’m a total night owl.

✅ I stay up late on weekends.

✅ I often go to bed quite late.

✅ I really struggle to get moving in the morning.

😴 Phrases about sleep and daily routines

✅ Sometimes I take a nap in the afternoon.

✅ If I don’t get seven or eight hours of sleep, I find it hard to focus at work.

✅ I don’t think I sleep that much.

QUIZ:

Test your understanding of the vocabulary and ideas you saw in this lesson by clicking here.