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 medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

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 the phrase in shape.

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: Don’t forget you can always find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website. Premier Vocabulary has three different levels: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is in shape.

Jack: The phrase in shape is used to describe someone who is in good physical condition.

Rich: The word shape describes the form of something; triangles, squares and circles are all shapes.

Jack: Your body is also a specific shape. There are many different body shapes for men and women.

Rich: Doing sport and exercise can help you maintain your body shape - doing exercise can help you stay in shape.

Jack: That’s a common collocation with  in shape. To stay in shape. To stay in shape means to stay in good physical condition.

Rich: Footballers need to stay in shape throughout their careers if they want to play well for 90 minutes every week.

Jack: Another common collocation is to keep in shape. Footballers need to keep in shape - they need to stay in shape. Stay in shape and keep in shape mean the same thing.

Rich: A third common collocation is to get in shape. I think this describes me more than footballers.

Jack: Do you need to get in shape, Rich?

Rich: I do. I haven’t been doing much exercise recently. I’m sat in front of my computer too much. I need to get out more, go for a run, get on my bike and get in shape.

Jack: So, that’s three collocations with in shape: get in shape, stay in shape and keep in shape.

Rich: We should quickly look at the opposite because that’s how I’m feeling at the moment: out of shape.

Jack: Rich is out of shape. He’s not in good physical condition. Don’t worry too much, Rich. It won’t take you too long to get in shape.

Rich: Sometimes when footballers return to training in pre-season they are out of shape. They need to quickly get in shape and stay in shape during pre-season training.

Jack: There is the final whistle!

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

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

Are you in shape?

What should we do to get or stay in shape?