This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more. Visit our website. Six minutes capita from BBC Learning English. Hello and welcome to Six Minute Vocabulary with me, Fen and me, Catherine. And today's show is all about a. order A.. Yes, those useful words we use to describe things, we'll look at what a.. Order is and how to use it.

That'll be a nice, easy quiz.

And we'll leave you with a small but meaningful tip for learning vocabulary.

So let's start off with Nicky and Joe, who are talking in a furniture shop.

Here's a question to think about while you listen. What did Nikki's grandparents have on?

What did Nikki's grandparents have? Let's find out. Joe, come on, sit on this sofa. It's really uncomfortable. I know, but I've always wanted a big old leather sofa. My grandparents had one when I was little.

Well, that's not a good reason to buy a horrible sofa. The one with the stripy blue cotton cushions looks a lot nicer maybe.

Oh, what's this look? A beautiful green and blue Turkish. Kill him. Kill him.

Oh, a little carpet sofa's first neki.

So that's Jo and Nikki, and we asked you, what did Nikki's grandparents have and the answer is they had a big old leather sofa.

That's right. And the phrase a big old leather sofa is our first example of a. order.

Now, when we use two or more adjectives together to describe a noun, the order we put them in is important. For example, we don't usually say an old leather big sofa.

So for our sofa example, first it's size so big and then age old, then material leather, a big old leather sofa.

So that's size, age and material type. And each new adjective in the list needs to go in the right place.

For example, color goes between age and material type so we can say a big old red leather sofa.

Now some people find it difficult to remember the adjective older, but there's a good tip, which is the adjective with the meaning most closely related to the noun goes nearest to it.

And in our example, the material type leather is most closely connected to the noun. Big, old and red are more general. So big old red leather sofa. Another one please.

Then blue stripy cotton cushions, so color, blue quality, stripey and material type cotton blue stripy cotton cushions.

And Nikkie got very excited about a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim did see.

I can understand that. Yes.

It's such a beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim there. We had opinion, beautiful and then colors green and blue. We had two colors joined by and and then country Turkish.

Oh, you're listening to BBC Learning English. And we're talking about a. order, and you might have noticed that we used some adjectives at the beginning of the program, we had nice, easy quiz with two opinion adjectives.

Easy has a closer connection to the noun quiz than nice.

So we put easy next to the noun a nice easy with a nice, easy quiz and another one, a small but meaningful tip we can put but between adjectives when they seem a bit unusual next to each other.

Like small but meaningful. Yeah, strange but true, Catherine.

Indeed, never. Nothing strange about vocabulary. So let's hear today's examples again.

First size, age, color and material.

Big old red leather, sofa and leather has the strongest connection to the noun.

Next color, quality and material, blue stripy cotton cushions and opinion.

Color and country.

Beautiful green and blue Turkish kilim. Right.

And now it's quiz time. Put these adjectives in the right order. Number one, I love my old smelly big dog, right?

I love my big old smelly dog.

But this is a Moroccan simple but delicious recipe.

This is a simple but delicious Moroccan recipe.

Very good. And that brings us almost to the end of the program.

But before we go, here's that tip we promised you. And it's a game this time. Now, this is a game to play with a friend, to practice describing things. Think of a noun, but don't tell your friend what it is.

Then give a.. Clues to help them. Guess the end game.

Yeah. You want to play. Let's give it a go. Brilliant. There's more about this ABC Learning English dot com.

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