Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases. Things you use and need to know to play the game.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at ten collocations with the word time.

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases; things you use and need to know to play the game.

Rich: The word we are looking at in this episode is time.

Jack: I am sure all of you know the word time so we’re going to look at ten common collocations that use this word.

Rich: First we’re going to look at five collocations with time that are used away from the football pitch.

Jack: And then we’re going to look at five collocations with time that are used on the football pitch.

Rich: Let’s start with spend time. To spend time means to use time doing something. We often talk about spending time doing things we enjoy.

Jack: I like to spend time with my family whenever I can.

Rich: I like to spend some time next to the sea when the weather is nice.

Jack: I like to spend my time at the seaside with my family.

Rich: We can save time which means to use less time.

Jack: I like to take the plane rather than the train because it saves me time.

Rich: I can save time by planning my day.

Jack: Let’s look at a couple of phrases. What about the phrase in time or just in time.

Rich: Just in time means at the last possible moment before something happens. Listen to these examples:

Jack: You’re just in time. The match is about to start.

Rich: I uploaded my essay just in time. The deadline was 1200 and I uploaded it at 1159!

Jack: Another useful phrase is time off. We take time off work to go on holiday.

Rich: Time off is a period of time you don’t work because you’re on holiday or you’re sick.

Jack: You might ask your boss for some time off for all kinds of things - a holiday, your sister is getting married, you need to look after your pet hamster.

Rich: I’m not sure about that last one. OK, another useful collocation is to waste time.

Jack: To waste time means to use time in an unproductive way. People might waste time by chatting to colleagues when they should be working or playing games when they should be studying.

Rich: Football teams might waste time near the end of a match if they are winning. They take the ball to the corner of the pitch, lie on the ground for a long time with injuries and take a long, long time substituting players. All of this to waste time and protect their lead.

Jack: So to waste time has a connection with football. Let’s look at five more collocations that we use on the football pitch.

Rich: A football match is usually 90 minutes long. What happens after 45 minutes?

Jack: Half-time. The players have 15 minutes to rest at half-time. We can call it the half-time break or even the half-time interval.

Rich: Commentators say things like it’s one-one at half-time, or one-one at the break or one-one at the half-time interval.

Jack: And what happens after 90 minutes?

Rich: Well, that’s full-time. The referee blows for full-time. The result at the full-time whistle is Manchester United 3-1 Brighton.

Jack: But sometimes the referee doesn’t blow the whistle after 90 minutes. Sometimes it’s blown after 93 or 94 minutes.

Rich: That’s because we have some injury time or additional time.

Jack: This is the time which is added for injuries and substitutions.

Rich: But this is not extra time, is it?

Jack: No, because extra time is what you have in cup competitions. There are 30 minutes of extra-time.

Rich: So the referee blows the full-time whistle after injury time or additional time or after extra time if the teams are level and it’s a cup competition.

Jack: There is the full-time whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

Why do teams waste time near the end of matches?

How does it feel when your team scores in injury time?

Can you use the other collocations with time we used in this podcast?