Hello, welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 29, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that aims to explode your active vocabulary by deep-diving into five items every day of the working week. We start today's list with a verb and it is mow. Mow. To mow. We spell it M O W. To mow is to cut or trim the grass with a lawnmower. So many of us in the UK have a garden with grass, some sort of lawn that needs mowing. And there are a range of mowers that you can buy. Some people aspire to have a sit-on mower so they can drive up and down their huge garden, if they have one, that requires a sit-on mower and cut the grass. Unfortunately, in the area I live in, it's not likely that you're going to have a garden big enough to be able to have a sit-on mower. So, to mow/əʊ/ mow. That's a big, round sound that we have to make. Mow. Here's an example sentence,"I need to mow the lawn before our guests arrive for the barbecue." Okay, so do you have a lawn and do you mow? Do you have to mow your lawn or do you just leave it to grow? Very long and wild. Next on the list is a noun and it is window sill. Window sill. Window, quite simple. W I N D O W. Sill. S I L L. Window sill. A window sill is that flat ledge or shelf that's the bottom of a window frame. And in many households, we place flowers or trinkets, little ornaments on the window sill. In my house, our kitchen window sill aspires to be a beautiful, decorative area, with, you know, some nice orchids and a few little ornaments besides, but as is typical in a household that has little children, there's also lots of random little bits, like bits of broken plastic that's come off a toy that we intend to try and fix. The odd elastic band, random stones that the children refused to let me throw away or put out in the garden, an empty snail shell, a shell that we got from the beach, a small pot of bubbles that we got in a party bag. So the window sill just becomes cluttered with all these bits and bobs. I am a minimalist. I'd love to have a nice clean, clear window sill with just the odd plant to decorate it. But anyway, here's another example sentence,"My dog loves to sit on the window sill and watch the birds outside. You wouldn't think he was a 50kg Rottweiler." Alright, moving on to another noun and it is conditions. Conditions. We spell this C O N D I T I O N S. Conditions. Now this describes the state of the atmosphere or the environment including factors like whether it's raining, what the temperature is, if it's windy. So we often couple this with weather conditions. Weather conditions. It really depends on the weather conditions."We don't have the right conditions for today's picnic, it's raining and it's blowing a gale." Talking about weather, last night I was, of course, woken by my sons, as they usually do on most nights, and afterwards I went to the bathroom and there were these flashes and I thought to myself,"Well, it's quite calm outside. It can't be a storm." So I thought maybe there's an intruder in my garden with a flashlight and it's just flashed across the window. And that's what the flash was. So I looked out and I couldn't see anyone. I was like,"That's a bit odd." And I saw the flash again. I was like,"Oh, that was a flash. It was definitely a flash. I'm not imagining it." And then I started to panic that I was having some sort of seizure or something because I was seeing these flashing lights. So I went to bed and I closed my eyes and then I could see the flashes again. I was like,"Oh my goodness, this is my brain. Something's happening to my brain. Something's definitely wrong." So I started Googling. Why can I see flashes in my head? And then I started to hear the roll of thunder and it was this almighty thunderstorm. It lasted for about half an hour, just constant flashes of light and almost constant rumbling of thunder. It was quite impressive. Hard to sleep, but very impressive. Anyway, I digress. I do apologise. So, conditions. Here's an example sentence using conditions,"The weather conditions are perfect for a picnic in the park, grab your gear and let's go." Next on the list is the adjective hardy. Hardy. We spell it H A R D Y. Hardy. If something is described as hardy, then it's strong, tough, and able to withstand very difficult conditions. So we often talk about plants and trees being hardy. There are certain areas in my garden that get very little sunlight and are quite exposed to the cold and to wind, so I need hardy plants to go into that area of the garden so that they can survive through the tough conditions. Here's an example sentence,"The mountaineers are incredibly hardy, enduring harsh weather and rugged terrain on their climb to the summit." Last on the list is the idiom to be green-fingered. To be green-fingered. Green, the colour, G R E E N, fingered, F I N G E R E D. As if the fingers on your hands are green because you are good at working with plants that typically are predominantly green. So to be green-fingered, this means you have a talent for gardening. You're good at growing plants. My mum is incredibly green-fingered. I'm relatively good, but I also have a track record of killing plants. You know, I have all the best of intentions, but I don't always succeed. For example, when I tried to grow bonsai trees, I think I killed about three bonsai trees before I decided it was an expensive hobby that was never going to work out and gave up. But yes, my mum is very green-fingered. No matter where she lives, she always manages to make it look like a flower shop. The front of the house, the back of the house is always just brimming with beautiful plants and flowers. There's so much colour. She grows a lot of her own, like, fruit and veg and herbs. It's just lovely. She's fantastic with her plants. Here's another example,"My grandmother has always been green-fingered. Her garden is always filled with beautiful flowers and thriving vegetables." Okay, so that brings us to the end of the list. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the verb to mow, which is to cut or trim the grass with a lawnmower. Then we had the noun window sill, which is that flat ledge or shelf at the bottom of a window frame. We had the noun conditions, which describes the current state of the atmosphere, so the temperature, whether it's raining or windy, etc. Then we had the adjective hardy, describing something that is strong, tough, and able to withstand difficult conditions. And then we had the idiom green-fingered which is to have skill with plants and a talent for gardening. So let's now do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Mow. Mow. Window sill. Window sill. Conditions. Conditions. Hardy. Hardy. To be green-fingered. To be green-fingered. Okay, great. Let's test your memory now. What's the flat shelf at the bottom of the window frame called? A window sill. Absolutely. In the morning I would look out of the window to check whether we have the right state of atmosphere, whether the weather is suitable. What noun could I use instead of saying the weather? The conditions. Yes, I lean on my window sill and look out of the window to check what the weather conditions are like so that I can plan my day because what I want to do today is cut the grass, using my special machine. What verb should I use here? Mow. Yes, I want to mow the lawn. I also need to go and trim some of my plants that are very strong and tough. They've made it through the winter. It was a very difficult winter. What adjective could I use to describe these plants that are tough? Hardy. Yes, I need to go and trim my hardy plants. Now I'm very good in the garden. I've managed to grow all sorts of difficult-to-grow plants. And my garden looks like a garden centre, to be honest. It's beautiful. Some people have described me as having a talent for gardening. What idiom could you use here instead? They've described me as being green-fingered. Yes, fantastic. Okay, I want you to listen out for these items once again, as we head into storytime. Jill sat on her window sill, looking out at the lush green garden that her husband, Robin, had lovingly tended to every day. It had been two months since he'd passed away and she was still struggling to come to terms with his absence. They had been married for 55 years and had built this bungalow in Wiltshire together, making it their own little piece of paradise. Robin had always been an avid gardener, even at the age of 80, and despite the weather conditions, he would spend hours mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, and tending to the flowers. Jill had never been very green-fingered, but she would often accompany him in the garden, enjoying his company and the peacefulness of the surroundings. Now, she was faced with the daunting task of maintaining the half acre of land that Robin had manicured with love. She knew it was not going to be easy, especially as she was not as hardy as her late husband, but she was determined to keep the garden looking just as beautiful as Robin had left it. With the help of her kind neighbours, Jill learned the basics of gardening, and slowly but surely, she started to develop her own green fingers. She would spend her mornings tending to the flowers and her afternoons sitting on the window sill admiring her handiwork. One day, as she was pruning the roses, her neighbour, Mrs. Jenkins, came by to check on her. She looked at the garden with envy and said,"Jill, your garden is simply stunning! I wish I had your green fingers." To which Jill replied with a chuckle,"Well, I never thought I had them in me, but I guess grief can make you do strange things." And as she looked at the garden, now thriving under her care, she couldn't help but think that maybe Robin was still with her, guiding her in his own special way. She may have lost her husband, but she had gained a newfound love for gardening. And that, to her, was the most beautiful gift of all. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you did enjoy today, please take a second to leave a like, rating or review. And don't forget to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast to your English-learning friends. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.