Daily Routine Vocabulary: Activities, Phrases and Exercises

Morning routine vocabulary

Your morning routine includes the things you normally do after waking up and before starting work, school or other activities.

Notice the difference between wake up and get up.

You can wake up but stay in bed for another ten minutes.

I usually wake up at 7:00, but I don't get up until 7:15.

We normally say have breakfast, rather than eat breakfast, when describing a routine. Both are possible, but have breakfast is extremely common in everyday English.

I have breakfast at around eight o'clock.

Work and study routines

Once the day begins, your routine may involve work, studying, travelling or completing everyday tasks.

Useful work and study phrases include:

• start work
• finish work
• start school
• attend a class
• have a lesson
• study English
• do homework
• check emails
• answer emails
• join a meeting
• take a break
• have a coffee break
• have lunch
• work from home
• commute to work
• travel to work
• pick up the children
• finish a task

Commute means to travel regularly between your home and your workplace or place of study.

I commute to work by train.

When talking about work, remember that we normally say start work and finish work without the.

I start work at nine.

She finishes work at five thirty.

For studying, do homework is a common collocation. We do not normally say make homework.

I usually do my homework after dinner.

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Afternoon and evening activities

Daily activities do not end when work or school finishes. Many common routine phrases describe what people do during their free time.

There is an important difference between go to bed and fall asleep.

I go to bed at eleven, but I usually fall asleep at around midnight.

You can also use get home when talking about your normal arrival time.

I usually get home at about six thirty.

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Common daily-routine collocations

English learners often know the individual words they need but combine them in unnatural ways. Learning common collocations helps your English sound more natural.

Here are some particularly useful everyday routine phrases:

• have breakfast
• have lunch
• have dinner
• have a shower
• have a break
• make the bed
• make coffee
• do homework
• do the housework
• do the washing-up
• do the laundry
• brush your teeth
• get dressed
• get home
• go to work
• go shopping
• go to bed
• take a break
• take the bus

Pay special attention to do, make and have because they're not always used in the same way as similar verbs in other languages.

For example:

I do the housework on Saturday mornings.

Not: I make the housework.

She makes the bed before she leaves for work.

Not: She does the bed.

Learning the complete phrase is usually more useful than memorising individual words.

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Adverbs of frequency for routines

English speakers often use adverbs of frequency to explain how regularly we do something.

Common adverbs include:

• always
• usually
• often
• sometimes
• rarely
• hardly ever
• never

With most verbs, the adverb normally goes before the main verb.

I usually have coffee in the morning.

She often walks to work.

We sometimes order dinner.

With the verb be, the adverb normally comes after the verb.

I am usually tired in the evening.

He is always busy on Mondays.

You can also use phrases such as:

• every day
• every morning
• every evening
• once a week
• twice a week
• three times a week
• at weekends
• on weekdays

These phrases usually appear at the beginning or end of the sentence.

I go to the gym twice a week.

At weekends, I usually get up later.

Example daily routine

Here is an example of how the vocabulary on this page can be combined into a natural description.

On weekdays, I usually wake up at around 7:00 and get up a few minutes later. I have a shower, brush my teeth and get dressed. Then I make some coffee and have breakfast while I check my phone.

I leave the house at about 8:15 and commute to work by train. I normally start work at nine. During the morning, I answer emails, attend meetings and work on different tasks. I usually take a short break at around eleven and have lunch at about 12:30.

I finish work at 5:30 and get home at around 6:15. In the evening, I normally cook dinner and then relax for a while. Sometimes I watch TV, read a book or go for a walk. I go to the gym twice a week.

Before bed, I brush my teeth and usually scroll through my phone for a few minutes. I go to bed at around eleven thirty and normally fall asleep before midnight.

A daily-routine description does not need to include every small activity. Focus on the main parts of your day and use words such as usually, sometimes and normally to make the description more natural.

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Exercises and answers

Exercise 1: Choose the correct word

Choose the correct verb to complete each phrase.

1. ___ breakfast
   a) do
   b) have
   c) make
2. ___ the bed
   a) make
   b) do
   c) have
3. ___ your teeth
   a) clean
   b) brush
   c) wash
4. ___ homework
   a) do
   b) make
   c) take
5. ___ dressed
   a) have
   b) make
   c) get
6. ___ to bed
   a) go
   b) get
   c) have
7. ___ the laundry
   a) make
   b) do
   c) have
8. ___ a shower
   a) have
   b) do
   c) make

Exercise 2: Complete the sentences

Use the correct phrase from the box.

wake up · get home · go for a walk · start work · have lunch · fall asleep

1. I usually __________ at 7:00 in the morning.
2. I __________ at nine, so I leave home at about eight.
3. We normally __________ at around one o'clock.
4. I usually __________ at about six in the evening.
5. After dinner, I sometimes __________ around the park.
6. I go to bed at eleven, but I don't always __________ immediately.

Exercise 3: Add an adverb of frequency

Complete each sentence with a suitable adverb such as always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely or never.

1. I __________ check my phone after I wake up.
2. I __________ cook dinner during the week.
3. I __________ go to bed before ten.
4. I __________ exercise in the evening.
5. I am __________ tired after work.

More than one answer may be possible.

Answers

Exercise 1

1. have
2. make
3. brush
4. do
5. get
6. go
7. do
8. have

Exercise 2

1. wake up
2. start work
3. have lunch
4. get home
5. go for a walk
6. fall asleep

Exercise 3

Answers will depend on your own routine.

A useful final activity is to write six to ten sentences describing a normal weekday. Try to include several of the daily activities vocabulary items from this page and at least three different adverbs of frequency.

Related grammar lessons

• Past Simple Tense: Rules and Exercises
• Modal Verbs in English
• Gerunds and Infinitives: Rules and Exercises