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Roommate - Dormitory

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While in school it is common to have a roommate when you are in the dormitory. In the States, it's also common to share an apartment with a roommate. This lesson will cover the English you will need to talk to your roommate. Of course you can talk about many things, but I will specifically target this lesson towards roommate stuff.

Dormitory Roommate

When you first go into a dormitory, you will either be greeted by the person already there, or you will have to greet someone that is coming later than you. Most dormitories have one room for two people. After the dormitory section, I will cover living in an apartment with a roommate.

When you arrive to the dormitory, you can usually engage in small talk first. Most of the time, you have to get to know one another. Talk is initiated by both parties simultaneously. You can ask questions like where they came from, what year they are in, or what they like to do. But besides that, you have to find out the living habits of each other. After you engage in small talk, you can ask these questions:

It's important to know the sleeping habits of your roommate, so ask if they are a night person or a morning person.

"So, are you a night owl or a morning bird?"

A night person is referred to as an owl. That is because owls are more active at night. Birds on the other hand wake up early. So they associate morning people to birds.

If you don't want to use this expression, you can ask,

"Are you a night person or a morning person?"
"What time do you usually go to sleep?"
"What time do you usually wake up?"
"If you didn't have anything to do the next day, what time would you sleep till?"

It's common courtesy to respect each other. If you are asleep, the roommate should be quiet. This goes for you too.

When you get sleepy, you can either go to sleep, or tell your roommate that you are going to sleep.

"I'm a little tired. I'm going to sleep now. Have a good night."
"I'm sleepy. Time to go to bed. See you in the morning."

If you like listening to music, you can ask your roommate,

"Does the music bother you?"
"Let me know if you want me to turn the music off."
"Do you mind if I turn the stereo on?"

But when you ask questions about music or TV, you should make sure that person is not studying. If they are, then it's pointless to ask because it should be quiet. This is only good for times when you are both doing nothing.

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