BBC Radio Podcasts from 6 Minute Vocabulary
Suffixes
Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.
Academic vocabulary
Learn how to cope if you are studying at an English-speaking university.
Phrases from Shakespeare
We learn phrases from Shakespeare that are still used today.
Irregular verbs
Some irregular verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.
Eponyms as nouns and verbs
What does the word Hoover have in common with the word Google?
Adjectives from names
We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.
Large numbers
How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.
Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion
Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.
Synonyms
Learn about words that have the same or similar meanings
Discourse Markers: Interjections
Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.
Commonly misspelled words
Weird or wierd? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!
Linking words
Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.
Words with more than one spelling
Are you unsure whether it’s disc or disk, sympathise or sympathize, learnt or learned?
Acronyms
Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.
Antonyms
Finn and Catherine discuss antonyms in 6 minute Vocabulary.
Suffixes: -ness & -ity
Listen to Neil and Catherine talk about words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.
Discourse markers: showing attitude
fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally.
Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence
ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.
Someone, somewhere, anywhere...
Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.
Irregular verbs
Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.
Reporting verbs
Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.
False friends
Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.
Words with 'ough'
Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.
Easily confused words
Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.
Suffixes: -less and -free
Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!
Prefixes de, dis, dys
Do you suffer from dyspepsia? Could a detox diet help? Learn about prefixes.
Ordinal numbers
What's the date today? And do you know how to say it?
Short spoken forms
Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha… are these really English words? Who uses them and why?
Uncountable nouns
What is more important in life: knowledge, money or happiness?
Time expression with in, on and at
Learn how to use time expression with the preposition in, on and at
Hyphenation
Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.
Words with double letters
Catherine and Finn talk about spelling words with double letters in 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Pronouncing verbs and nouns
Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.
British and American English
Catherine and Doug discuss British and American English
Business jargon
Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.
How to pronounce words that start with 'c'.
'c' or 's'? Learn how to spell words that begin with a /s/ sound.
Phrasal verbs and context
When talking about moving in, moving out and moving on, what do we mean? We explain.
re, pre and pro
Do you recycle your rubbish? Do you buy prepacked food? Are you proactive?
Silent letters
How do you pronounce the words night and knight?
Onomatopoeia
Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.
Multi-word verbs
Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.
Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical
We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.
Strong adjectives
Listen to our fantastic, wonderful programme about strong adjectives.
Male and female job words
How words change depending on whether a man or a woman is doing the job.
New words
Rob and Catherine are here to help you update your language!
Weather words
British people love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.
Homophones
Learn about words that sound the same but have different meanings
Compound nouns
Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.
Adjective order
We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!
Contractions
Finn and Feifei help you learn this important part of speaking and writing, in English.
Job suffixes
What's the connection between a teacher, a driver or a presenter?
Word stress
Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.
Compound adjectives
Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).
Lexical sets
Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.
-ing and -ed adjectives
Interested or interesting? Which adjective do you use? We discuss -ing and -ed adjectives
Binomials: phrases made of two words
Do you want some cheap and cheerful tips to improve your English? Listen to learn more.
Useful chunks of language
Do you like to eat a full English breakfast? Listen to find out how to use this phrase.
Prefixes: un-, in- and dis-
Learn some prefixes which we hope won't make you feel unhappy.
Adjectives and adverbs
Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.
Suffixes
Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.
Academic Vocabulary
Do you have to write academic texts and essays? We give you some tips on how to do it.
Talk like Shakespeare
Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.
More irregular verbs
Write, wrote, written. Speak, spoke, spoken - learn more about irregular verbs.
Eponyms as nouns and verbs
To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.
Adjectives from names
We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.
Large numbers
How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.
Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion
Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.
Synonyms
Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.
Discourse Markers: Interjections
Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.
Commonly misspelled words
Weird or weird? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!
Linking words
Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.
Words with more than one spelling
Disk or disc? Confused about which one to use? Finn and Catherine talk about spelling.
Acronyms
Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.
Antonyms
A good way of building vocabulary in English is to learn words with opposite meanings.
Suffixes: -ness and -ity
‘Happiness’ and 'responsibility'. Learn words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.
Discourse markers for showing attitude
Fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally. These words are useful. How do we use them?
Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence
ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.
Someone, nothing, anywhere
Learn about words like someone, nothing and anywhere in 6 minutes.
Irregular verbs
Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.
Easily confused words
Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.
Suffixes: -less and -free
Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!
Prefixes: dys- de- dis-
Do you suffer from DYSpepsia? Could a DEtox diet help? Neil and Finn talk about prefixes.
Ordinal numbers
What's the date today? Do you know how to say it? Listen to the programme to find out.
Spoken short forms
Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha... We give you an introduction to short spoken forms.
Uncountable nouns
Can you count knowledge, money or happiness? How to deal with uncountable nouns.
Time expressions
We look at time expressions with 'in', 'at' and 'on'.
Hyphenation
Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.
Words with double letters
We talk about spelling words with double letters, such as 'accommodation'.
Pronouncing verbs and nouns
Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.
British and American English
Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.
Business jargon
Do you 'think out of the box' or 'push the envelope' at work? Learn business jargon.
How to pronounce words beginning with 'c'
Catherine cycled through the city centre! How do you pronounce all those words with 'c'?
Phrasal verbs and context
Learn phrasal verbs in sentences to help understand their meanings.
Prefixes: 'Re-', 'pre-', and 'pro-'
Learn about words with the prefixes 're-', 'pre-' and 'pro-' in 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Silent letters
Silent letters are letters that we see in words, but don’t actually pronounce.
Onomatopoeia
Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.
Multi-word verbs
Learn how to use multi-word verbs to make your English sound much more natural.
Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical
'Classic' or 'classical'? Learn about adjectives ending in -ic and -ical.
Strong adjectives
What word do you use when you want to say something is very good or very bad?
Contractions
Learn how to use 'I've' and 'isn't' - your English will sound more natural.
Male and female job words
We teach you job titles for men and women.
New words
What do the words selfie, photobomb and trolling mean? Help us update your language!
Weather words
Rainy, snowy, windy, sunny. Learn how to describe the weather.
Homophones
Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.
Compound nouns
Do you like ice cream? Do you use a keyboard? Words like are compound nouns.
Job suffixes
What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.
Similar words
Explore the similarities and differences in words like 'big' and 'large'.
Adjective order
Do you know how to put adjectives in the right order? We can help.
Contractions
To sound fluent and natural when you speak you might want to learn about contractions.
Job suffixes
What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.
Word stress
Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.
Compound adjectives
Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).
Lexical sets
Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.
-ing and -ed adjectives
Boring or bored? Interested or interesting? We'll tell you the right adjective to use.
Binomials
Learn how to use these short English phrases made of two words that go together.
Chunks of language
Find out how you can sound much more natural by learning and using chunks of language.
Prefixes
Learn how to add prefixes to the beginning of some words to change their meanings.
Adjectives and adverbs
Fashionable? Fashionably? Learn how to use adjectives and adverbs.
Suffixes
Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.
Academic Vocabulary
Do you have to write academic texts and essays? Finn and Neil give you some tips.
Talk like Shakespeare
Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.
Irregular verbs 2
Break, broke, broken... We look at verbs that don't behave themselves.
Eponyms as nouns and verbs
To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.
Adjectives from names
Freudian, Dickensian, Orwellian... learn about adjectives that come from names.
Large numbers
How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.
Suffixes -sion -tion -tian
"I have a confession to make. My ambition is to meet a Martian!" - We teach you suffixes.
Synonyms
Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.
Discourse Markers: Interjections
Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.
Commonly misspelled words
Finn and Catherine talk through some of the complexities of English spelling.
Linking words
Rob and Catherine talk about words and short phrases used to connect ideas.
Words with more than one spelling
Disk or disc? Confused about which one to use? Finn and Catherine talk about spelling.
Acronyms
Nasa, Fifa, Unesco, Nato - Peter and Catherine talk about acronyms.
Antonyms
A good way of building vocabulary in English is to learn words with opposite meanings.
Suffixes: -ness & -ity
Learn how to use the suffixes '-ness' and '-ity' in English.
Discourse markers: Attitude
Words and phrases we use to express our attitude to what we’re saying or writing.
Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence
ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.
Someone, somewhere, anywhere...
Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.
Irregular verbs
Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.
Reporting verbs
Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.
False friends
Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.
Words with 'ough'
Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.
Easily confused words
Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.
Suffixes: -less and -free
Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!
Prefixes: dys- de- dis-
Do you suffer from DYSpepsia? Could a DEtox diet help? Neil and Finn talk about prefixes.
Ordinal numbers
What's the date today? Do you know how to say it? Listen to the programme to find out.
Short spoken forms
Learn how these words are used: gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha.
Uncountable nouns
Can you count knowledge, money or happiness? How to deal with uncountable nouns.
Time expressions
Neil and Catherine look at time expressions with 'in', 'at' and 'on'.
Hyphenation
Learn how to use hyphens: "They did a ten-foot dive into the swimming pool."
Words with double letters
Catherine and Neil talk about spelling words with double letters, such as 'accommodation'.
Pronouncing verbs and nouns
'Increase' can be a noun or a verb and they aren't pronounced the same way...
British and American English
Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.
Business jargon
Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.
Pronouncing words that start with ‘c’
Listen out for words that begin with the /s/ sound but start with the letter 'c'.
Phrasal verbs and context
A guide to multi-word verbs and prepositions that can change the meaning of phrasal verbs.
Prefixes re-, pre- and pro-
'REcycle', 'PREpacked', 'PROactive' - we talk about prefixes in 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Silent letters
We talk about letters in English that we see in words but don’t actually pronounce.
Onomatopoeia
Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.
Multi-word verbs
Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.
Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical
'Classic' or 'classical'? Learn about adjectives ending in -ic and -ical.
Strong adjectives
'Terrified', 'fantastic', 'amazing' - learn how to use strong adjectives.
Male and female job words
Policeman / policewoman, actor / actress - learn about job titles and gender.
New words
'Selfie', 'photobomb', 'trolling'. Learn what these new words mean and how they are made.
Weather words
The British love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.
Homophones
Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.
Compound nouns
Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.
Similar words
We talk about words like 'big' and 'large' and explore the similarities between them.
Adjective order
This is a big, old, smelly dog! Learn which adjective has to come first.
Contractions
"I've run a marathon." Look at the shorter form 'I've'. Learn how to use contractions.
Job suffixes
What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.
Word stress
How to pronounce the words 'photographer' and 'photograph'? Learn about word stress.
Compound adjectives
Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).
Lexical sets
Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.
-ing and -ed adjectives
Boring or bored? Interested or interesting? We'll tell you the right adjective to use.
Binomials
Learn how to use these short English phrases made of two words that go together.
Chunks of language
Find out how you can sound much more natural by learning and using chunks of language.
Prefixes
Have no fear... Finn and Alice are here and they'll teach you everything about prefixes!
Adjectives and adverbs
Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.
Suffixes
Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.
Academic Vocabulary
Do you have to write academic texts and essays? Finn and Neil give you some tips.
Talk like Shakespeare
Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.
Irregular verbs 2
Break, broke, broken... We look at verbs that don't behave themselves.
Eponyms as nouns and verbs
To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.
Adjectives from names
Freudian, Dickensian, Orwellian... learn about adjectives that come from names.
Large numbers
How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.
Suffixes -sion -tion -tian
"I have a confesSION: my ambiTION is to meet a MarTIAN!" - We teach you suffixes.
Synonyms
Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.
Discourse Markers: Interjections
Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.
Commonly misspelled words
Finn and Catherine talk through some of the complexities of English spelling.
6 Minute Vocabulary: Academic Vocabulary
Neil and Finn's top tips for dealing with specialist vocabulary