– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Hello, I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth.

And you're listening to Real Easy  English, the podcast where we have  

real conversations in easy  English to help you learn.

To read along with this podcast,  you can find a text version on  

our website. Visit BBC Learning English dot com.

How are things, Beth?

I'm very well, thank you, Neil. How are you?

Oh, I'm a little tired. I didn't sleep very well last night.

And today's episode is all about sleep.

We'll be talking about our sleep habits, and also our dreams.

Lovely.

So, Neil, you said that you didn't sleep well last night.

So that's not so lovely. Does that happen very often?

It happens all the time, Beth! I don't sleep very well.

Oh, dear. How many hours do you sleep at night, Neil?

I think probably six and a half hours.

— Really? — Mmm. How about you?

Well, if I sleep less than eight hours, then I'm exhausted.

I really like to sleep quite a lot!

Ah, you are exhausted. What does 'exhausted' mean, Beth?

— It means that you are 'really tired'. — Mm, yes.

Like you after last night because you didn't sleep very well. Are you exhausted?

I am, Beth. I am absolutely exhausted.

What time do you usually go to bed, Neil?

About 11. I go to bed about 11.

I usually go earlier, but about ten o'clock.

And do you have dreams? Do you dream often?

Yeah, I do, but I find it quite hard to remember my dreams.

But sometimes I have nightmares, and then they are easier to remember.

So I might wake up in the middle of the night and feel a bit scared or worried.

Can you tell us about a strange dream that you've had?

Yeah, I had a weird dream a couple of nights ago.

I was at my auntie's house in the kitchen

and then suddenly the floor was very wet

and there were three robbers that were going to come and open the front door.

So I had to run across the wet kitchen and lock the front door.

It was a bit scary and weird.

Yeah. That sounds like a really scary dream.

Yeah. So, a scary dream we can call a 'nightmare'.

So, I had a nightmare, a bad dream, the other night.

And I was in a foreign country, I think somewhere like Italy, a European place,

and I couldn't find my family.

And I was running around the streets,

trying to find them and I couldn't find them.

But then, after a while of looking around the streets,

I saw people in my family, and I felt much better.

So it sounds like it started as a nightmare,

but then it kind of went into a dream.

Yeah. It was just a normal, happy dream by the end.

Good!

Well, I noticed there that you used the past simple

and the past continuous to describe your dream.

You said 'I was running around', which is the past continuous

and then you said 'I found them', which was the past simple.

And this is really common language that we use

when we're describing things in the past like dreams.

So, we've talked about how long we sleep for

and we've talked about dreams and nightmares,

but I have a big question for you, Neil.

Do you snore?

You do!

That is snoring. Do I snore?

I don't think I do,

but my wife says that I do.

Oh, so you do snore!

No, I've never heard myself snore!

Let's have a look at the language we learned in this conversation.

We learnt 'nightmare', which is 'a bad or scary dream'.

We heard 'exhausted' — 'very tired'.

And we learnt a way to talk about dreams

using the past simple and the past continuous.

For example, you dreamt that you were

running around trying to find your family and then you found them.

I did.

Thanks for listening to Real Easy English.  If you liked this, there are lots more  

programmes to help you with your English  on our website. Like English In A Minute,  

where we explain one language tip in 60  seconds.

Visit BBC Learning English dot com.

Next time, we'll talk about our favourite films.

See you then, goodbye!

Bye!

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
sleep /sliːp/ A1	verb - to rest in a state of reduced consciousness, when the body and mind are inactive noun - the state of sleeping
dream /driːm/ A1	noun - a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep verb - experience dreams during sleep
tired /ˈtaɪərd/ A1	adjective - in need of rest or sleep
night /naɪt/ A1	noun - the period of time between sunset and sunrise
hours /ˈaʊərz/ A1	noun - a unit of time equal to 60 minutes
exhausted /ɪɡˈzɔːstɪd/ B1	adjective - very tired; extremely fatigued
bed /bed/ A1	noun - a piece of furniture for sleeping on
remember /rɪˈmembər/ A2	verb - to recall or bring back to mind a past event or fact
nightmare /ˈnaɪtmeər/ B1	noun - a frightening or unpleasant dream
scared /skerd/ A2	adjective - feeling or showing fear
worried /ˈwʌrid/ A2	adjective - anxious and troubled over actual or potential problems; concerned.
strange /streɪndʒ/ A2	adjective - unusual or surprising; odd
kitchen /ˈkɪtʃɪn/ A1	noun - a room or area where food is prepared and cooked
scary /ˈskeri/ A2	adjective - causing fear; frightening
country /ˈkʌntri/ A1	noun - a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory
family /ˈfæməli/ A1	noun - a group of people who are related to each other
streets /striːts/ A1	noun - a public road in a city or town, with houses and buildings on one or both sides.
happy /ˈhapi/ A1	adjective - feeling or showing pleasure; pleased.