American Sports Vocabulary | English Listening Practice for Beginners | Lily & Tom

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]You can do it, Tom. Get him.

[00:00:02]>> Catch him, buddy.

[00:00:06]>> Come on, Tom.

[00:00:09]We will gift a premium membership to one person who comments on this video.

[00:00:27]>> Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Daily English Talk. I'm Lilly.

[00:00:32]>> And I'm Tom. If this is your first time here, welcome to the family. We're so glad you joined us today.

[00:00:38]>> Every day, we help you learn real English, natural English, the kind of English people actually use in life.

[00:00:45]>> And today's topic is so much fun.

[00:00:48]>> We're talking about sports in the United States.

[00:00:52]>> [laughter] >> Sports, sports, sports. Americans love their sports.

[00:00:57]>> They really do. We're going to teach you some great vocabulary today, some useful grammar, and we'll share some funny personal stories, too.

[00:01:05]>> Very funny. Well, one story is very funny, mostly for Lilly.

[00:01:11]>> [laughter] >> You'll find out later. But first, we have a question for you.

[00:01:16]>> This is our special question for today.

[00:01:19]We'll answer it at the end of the video.

[00:01:21]>> So, here is the question. Tom tried a very popular American sport for the first time last weekend. He practiced for 20 minutes. He was very confident, and then something happened.

[00:01:34]>> Yes, something happened.

[00:01:36]>> [laughter] >> The question is, what sport did Tom try, and what went wrong?

[00:01:41]>> Nothing went wrong. It was a learning experience.

[00:01:45]>> [laughter] >> Write your guesses in the comments. We will tell you the full story at the end.

[00:01:50]Okay, let's start the lesson.

[00:01:52]>> If you want the transcript vocabulary >> and a slow audio version, check the join button below. So, Tom, we've been in the United States for a while now, and I have to say, Americans really do love their sports.

[00:02:08]>> Oh, absolutely. It's everywhere. You walk into a restaurant, the TV is showing a game. You walk into a store, there are jerseys on the wall.

[00:02:17]>> [laughter] >> Last month, I went to a grocery store on a Sunday afternoon, and the store was almost empty. I thought, "Where is everybody?"

[00:02:27]>> And where were they?

[00:02:29]>> They were all at home watching American football, the NFL. It was a big game that day.

[00:02:35]>> I remember that day. That was the first time I really understood how much Americans love the NFL.

[00:02:42]>> I asked my neighbor. She told me, "Sunday, during football season, nobody goes anywhere. Everyone watches the game."

[00:02:50]>> [laughter] >> She was right. The parking lot was completely empty.

[00:02:55]>> What about you? When did you first really feel the American sports culture?

[00:02:59]>> Oh, that's easy. The first time I went to a baseball game.

[00:03:02]>> Oh, yes. Tell them about that.

[00:03:04]>> Okay. So, we went to a real MLB game, Major League Baseball.

[00:03:09]Big stadium, hot dogs, everyone wearing team colors.

[00:03:13]>> It was such a good atmosphere.

[00:03:16]>> The energy was incredible, and I had never eaten a stadium hot dog before. I ate three.

[00:03:23]>> [laughter] >> He ate three hot dogs.

[00:03:25]>> And I regret nothing.

[00:03:27]>> [laughter] >> He regrets everything. He felt sick on the drive home.

[00:03:32]>> That is also true.

[00:03:34]>> But, the game itself was beautiful. The crowd was so loud when the home team hit a home run.

[00:03:41]>> I had goosebumps. I didn't even understand all the rules yet, but I felt the excitement.

[00:03:46]>> That's the amazing thing about sports.

[00:03:49]You don't need to understand everything to feel the energy.

[00:03:52]>> Exactly. And I went home, I watched videos about baseball rules for 2 hours.

[00:03:59]>> 2 hours?

[00:04:00]>> I'm a dedicated student. You know this about me.

[00:04:04]>> We also went to a basketball game together. Remember that?

[00:04:07]>> The NBA game. Yes, that was so fast. The players move so quickly. It's completely different from baseball.

[00:04:14]>> What surprised you most about the basketball game?

[00:04:17]>> How loud it was inside. The music, the crowd, the announcer. Every few seconds something was happening. There was no quiet moment.

[00:04:27]>> [laughter] >> Tom was looking around the arena like this. Wide eyes, head turning everywhere.

[00:04:33]>> There was just so much to see.

[00:04:35]>> American sports events are a real experience. It's not just the game. It's the food, the music, the crowd, everything together.

[00:04:43]>> And every sport has its own culture, its own fans, its own traditions.

[00:04:48]>> And that is exactly what we are going to talk about today. All right, before our main vocabulary section, let's look at a grammar point that came up in our conversation just now.

[00:04:58]>> This is a really useful one for talking about sports and experiences.

[00:05:03]>> We're going to look at the past simple tense. Specifically, how to talk about experiences you had in the past.

[00:05:09]>> You heard us using this all through the conversation. I went to a baseball game.

[00:05:14]I ate three hot dogs. The crowd was loud.

[00:05:18]>> With the past simple, we use it for finished actions. Things that happened at a specific time in the past. They started and they ended.

[00:05:27]>> So, how do we form it?

[00:05:29]>> For regular verbs, we add ed to the end.

[00:05:32]Walk becomes walked. Watch becomes watched. Play becomes played.

[00:05:37]>> Easy enough.

[00:05:39]>> But English has many irregular verbs.

[00:05:42]These don't follow the ed rule. You need to learn them separately.

[00:05:46]>> And sports conversations are full of irregular verbs. Let's look at some examples.

[00:05:51]>> Go becomes went. I go to the game.

[00:05:55]Yesterday, I went to the game.

[00:05:58]>> See becomes saw. I see the player.

[00:06:01]Yesterday, I saw the player.

[00:06:04]>> Win becomes won. The team wins today.

[00:06:08]Yesterday, the team won.

[00:06:10]>> Hit becomes hit. This one is the same.

[00:06:13]The player hits the ball. Yesterday, the player hit the ball.

[00:06:19]>> Some irregular verbs are sneaky like that. They look the same.

[00:06:23]>> And for questions in the past simple, we use did. Did you watch the game? Did they win? Did Tom eat three hot dogs?

[00:06:31]>> [laughter] >> The answer to that last one is yes, he did.

[00:06:34]>> I was hungry. It was a long game.

[00:06:37]>> For negative sentences, we use did not or didn't. I didn't understand the rules. They didn't win the game.

[00:06:44]>> So, when you talk about sports experiences, remember, past simple for finished actions. Regular verbs get ed.

[00:06:52]Irregular verbs, learn them one by one.

[00:06:56]>> And the more you listen to natural English, the more natural these verbs will feel. That's why we're here every day. Okay, now let's learn some great vocabulary about sports in the United States.

[00:07:07]>> We have some really good words today.

[00:07:10]These are words you will hear all the time if you watch American sports or talk to American sports fans.

[00:07:15]>> Let's go. The first word is stadium.

[00:07:18]Stadium. Can you say it with us?

[00:07:21]>> Stadium.

[00:07:22]>> A stadium is a large building where sports are played. It has seats for thousands of people. It has a field or court in the middle.

[00:07:29]>> American stadiums are enormous. Some NFL stadiums hold over 80,000 people.

[00:07:36]>> 80,000 people in one building?

[00:07:40]Last Saturday, Tom decided to try American football.

[00:07:43]>> I had been watching it all season. I understood the rules. I felt ready.

[00:07:49]>> He went to the stadium with a football.

[00:07:51]He was going to practice throwing it.

[00:07:53]>> The spiral throw. That's the beautiful throw where the ball spins in the air. I had watched videos.

[00:08:00]>> He watched four videos. Four. He was very prepared.

[00:08:04]>> I went to the stadium. I found people who play football.

[00:08:08]>> And?

[00:08:09]>> A few minutes later, I had the ball in my hands. I looked around and there were three huge players running straight toward me.

[00:08:17]>> What did you do?

[00:08:20]>> Lilly, I think that was the fastest I have ever run in my entire life, but they caught me and took me down.

[00:08:27]>> Tom, are you okay right now?

[00:08:30]>> Right now, yes, I'm fine, but I couldn't recover for two days. It's not as easy as it looks.

[00:08:37]>> Aw, poor Tom.

[00:08:39]>> The next word is jersey. Jersey. Repeat after me. Jersey.

[00:08:44]>> A jersey is the shirt that a sports player wears. It usually has the player's name on the back and their number.

[00:08:50]>> American sports fans love to wear their team's jersey. It's a big part of sports culture.

[00:08:56]>> When we went to the basketball game, I think 90% of the crowd was wearing a jersey.

[00:09:01]>> [laughter] >> I was the only person not wearing one. I felt very out of place.

[00:09:06]>> [laughter] >> He really did. A fan next to us actually said, "Hey, where's your jersey, man?"

[00:09:13]>> [laughter] >> A very fair question. I didn't have an answer.

[00:09:17]>> After that, Tom bought a jersey.

[00:09:20]>> I did. I support the team properly now.

[00:09:23]>> Let's use jersey in a sentence. My favorite player's jersey has the number 23 on the back.

[00:09:29]>> [laughter] >> Or I bought a new jersey before the game so I could wear it in the stadium.

[00:09:34]>> This next word is very American.

[00:09:37]Touchdown!

[00:09:38]Touchdown! Say it. Touchdown!

[00:09:41]>> A touchdown is how you score points in American football. When a player carries the ball into the end zone, that's the scoring area, or catches it there, the team scores a touchdown. Six points.

[00:09:54]>> And when a team scores a touchdown, the crowd goes absolutely wild.

[00:09:59]>> [laughter] >> I watched my first NFL game with our neighbor. When the home team scored a touchdown, he jumped off his couch.

[00:10:07]>> [laughter] >> He jumped?

[00:10:09]>> He spilled his entire drink. He didn't even care. He just kept cheering.

[00:10:14]>> That's the passion of American football fans.

[00:10:17]>> And you will hear the word touchdown constantly during football season. It's a word every English learner needs to know.

[00:10:24]>> Let's use it in a sentence. The crowd cheered loudly when the player scored a touchdown.

[00:10:30]>> Or it was the fourth quarter and the team needed one more touchdown to win the game. The next word is championship.

[00:10:38]Championship. Repeat. Championship.

[00:10:42]>> A championship is the final competition of a season. The best teams play each other to decide who is the greatest.

[00:10:49]>> In American football, the championship game is called the Super Bowl. It is one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

[00:10:56]>> Hundreds of millions of people watch the Super Bowl every year. It's more than just a game. It's a cultural event.

[00:11:04]>> People have Super Bowl parties. They cook food, invite friends, watch together.

[00:11:09]>> Our neighbor invited us to a Super Bowl party last year. It was incredible.

[00:11:14]>> There was so much food and everyone was so engaged. When their team was losing, the whole room went quiet.

[00:11:22]>> And then they scored a touchdown and everyone started screaming again.

[00:11:25]>> What a night!

[00:11:27]>> Let's put championship in a sentence.

[00:11:29]The two best teams in the league will play in the championship game on Sunday.

[00:11:34]>> Or, she has watched the basketball championship every year since she was a child.

[00:11:39]>> Our next word is court. Court. Say it.

[00:11:43]Court.

[00:11:43]>> A court is the playing surface for certain sports. Basketball and tennis are played on a court.

[00:11:49]>> This is different from a field. A field is bigger and usually outside. Think football or baseball. A court is usually smaller and often inside a building.

[00:12:00]>> Basketball courts are beautiful. The polished wood floor, the painted lines, the hoops at each end.

[00:12:07]>> When we went to the NBA game, the court was so shiny and bright under the lights.

[00:12:13]>> And the players are so tall. Standing near the court, you realize these are enormous human beings.

[00:12:20]>> [laughter] >> Tom stood next to one player after the game for a photo.

[00:12:24]>> Ah, [sighs] the player's elbow was at my eye level.

[00:12:28]>> [laughter] >> It was a memorable photo.

[00:12:30]>> I looked very athletic standing next to him in a relative sense.

[00:12:34]>> Let's use court in a sentence. The players warmed up on the court before the game started.

[00:12:40]>> Or, my friends and I play basketball on the court at the park on weekends. This next one is very important. Season.

[00:12:48]Season. Let's say it together. Season.

[00:12:52]>> In sports, a season is a period of time when games are officially played. Each sport has its own season.

[00:12:58]>> Baseball season is in the spring and summer. Basketball season is in the autumn and winter. American football season is in the autumn.

[00:13:06]>> And this is interesting. American sports seasons don't always match the calendar year.

[00:13:13]>> I was confused by this when I first arrived. I kept asking, "Wait, is football season over? When does it start again?"

[00:13:20]>> [laughter] >> He made a chart.

[00:13:22]>> I made a very good chart. I understood everything after the chart.

[00:13:26]>> Let's use season in a sentence. My father watches every football game during the season.

[00:13:32]>> Or the basketball season starts in October and the championship happens in June.

[00:13:37]>> Our last vocabulary word is one you probably know, but let's look at how American sports fans use it.

[00:13:44]Fan.

[00:13:45]Fan. Repeat.

[00:13:47]Fan.

[00:13:48]>> A fan is someone who loves and supports a team or a sport. American sports fans are incredibly passionate.

[00:13:56]>> They wear the jerseys, they travel to away games, they watch every single game of the season.

[00:14:02]>> I met a man at the baseball game who had not missed a home game in 11 years.

[00:14:09]>> 11 years?

[00:14:11]>> [laughter] >> He had a special seat. He said the hot dog vendor knew his order by heart.

[00:14:16]>> Aw, that's actually really sweet.

[00:14:19]>> [laughter] >> It is. There's something beautiful about that kind of dedication.

[00:14:23]>> Let's use fan in a sentence. She has been a fan of that basketball team since she was 8 years old.

[00:14:29]>> Or the fans in the stadium were so loud I couldn't even hear myself talking.

[00:14:35]>> Now we have a question for you.

[00:14:37]>> Tell us in the comments below, what is your favorite sport in your country?

[00:14:41]>> Do you watch it on TV? Do you play it yourself? Do you go to games?

[00:14:44]>> We would love to hear about the sports culture where you live.

[00:14:48]>> Write your answer below. We read every single comment and we love hearing from you.

[00:14:53]>> Is there a sport in your country that you think we should try?

[00:14:56]>> Think carefully before you answer that, especially after today's story.

[00:15:01]>> You can't let it go, can you?

[00:15:03]>> Never. Speaking of which, thank you so much for watching today, everyone. We had so much fun talking about American sports with you. Remember, the best way to learn English is to listen every day, repeat out loud, and never give up.

[00:15:18]>> We upload a new episode every single day. Every day, a new lesson, a new story, new vocabulary.

[00:15:25]>> So, if you haven't subscribed yet, please hit that subscribe button right now. You don't want to miss a single episode.

[00:15:32]>> And if today's video helped you, give it a thumbs up. It really helps other English learners find our channel.

[00:15:38]>> You are doing something incredible. You are learning a new language. That takes courage, patience, and hard work.

[00:15:46]>> And every single day that you show up and practice, you are getting better, even when it doesn't feel like it.

[00:15:52]>> We'll see you tomorrow for another episode of Daily English Talk.

[00:15:56]>> And I will not be practicing any throwing sports tomorrow.

[00:16:00]>> No promises for me. Bye-bye.