English WebPages

• druhy domů a bytů
• bydlení v Británii
• bydlení v USA
• bydlení v České republice
• domácí práce
• výhody a nevýhody bydlení ve městě a na venkově/v bytě a v domě
• náš dům/byt
• můj budoucí dúm/byt – místo, kde chci bydlet

Places to live:

• a detached house stands alone and is not joined to any other building
• a semi-detached house is joined to another house on one side
• a terraced house is part of a line of houses that are all joined together
• a block of flats is a tall modern building that is divided into flats
• a cottage is a small house in a village or in the country. Cottages are usually old buildings and often very attractive
• a bungalow is a house with only one floor and no upstairs. Bungalows are usually modern buildings
• country house/mansion is a very huge and wonderful country house
• palace, castle, tent, windmill, lighthouse, houseboat, caravan, hotel

Most people in Britain live in houses, except in big cities where more people live in flats (apartments in US English). A lot of people own their own homes. If you want to buy or sell a house, you go to an estate agent. People usually borrow money from the building society - this money is called a mortgage. If you rent your house or flat, you pay money (= the rent) to a landlord or landlady (you are the tenant). You can also rent a council house or flat very cheaply from the local council. Parts of the house:

• rooms (living, dining, children, bed, hobby), kitchen, bathroom, toilet, lavatory, laundry, cellar, attic, shed, garage, hall, entrance hall, patio, yard, garden
• floors:
  • ground floor = 1st floor = downstairs (in a house with 2 floors) = přízemí
  • 2nd floor = upstairs (in a house with 2 floors) = první patro
  • USE: on the first floor (preposition ON)
• your ideal house
• your household duties: vacuum cleaning, cleaning, washing, ironing, washing up = washing the dishes etc.

Houses in Britain: Many British people prefer to buy a house rather than renting one, because they can decorate or alter it to suit their own taste and because they believe they will have more privacy. Young people and those who cannot afford to buy a house live in rented accommodation. Some rent a furnished bed-sit, a combined bedroom and sitting room, and share washing and cooking facilities. Other rent a flat or house, often sharing the cost with friends. The most typical houses are terraced houses which date from Victorian and Edwardian times and which were built mainly for working-class people. There is little or no front garden. Access to the back garden is through the house. Terraced houses were originally quite small. They had two bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen/dining room, an arrangement called “two up, two down”. Most have now been extended and bathrooms added. Houses in the USA: In the US there is plenty of space, except in big cities, so many houses are large and have a lot of garden around them. Most are detached, but there are also duplexes, which are similar to British semi-detached houses. Ranch-style houses are built on one floor only. Mansions are very large houses where rich people live. Some types of houses are associated with certain parts of the country. NYC is famous for its brownstones, tall, narrow buildings named after the material used to build them. New England has clapboard houses, and in some cities there are row houses, similar to British terraces. The South has large wooden houses built before the Civil War in the antebellum style. In the cities many people rent an apartment in an apartment building. Apartments usually have no more than three bedrooms, and are often rented furnished. An apartment with only one room may be called a studio or a loft. A building in which the apartments are owned by the people who live in them is called a condominium or, in some places, a co-op.