“I've been swimming laps before work, and I feel so much better.”
B1 · Intermediate9 minPhrases
When you need this
Swimming is half sport, half daily habit. Some people swim to train, some to stay in shape, and some go to the pool to float and relax. The conversations are about routine: how often you go, how far you swim, which pool isn't too crowded, and whether you can swim at all.
That last one matters. Plenty of adults never learned, and "I can't really swim" is a normal thing to say. "I'm not a strong swimmer" is the softer version, and it tells people to keep you near the shallow end without making a big deal of it.
Listen for laps and strokes. A lap is one length of the pool, or sometimes there and back. A stroke is a style: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly. "I swim forty laps, mostly freestyle" tells a swimmer everything they want to know.
Phrases
swim up and down the pool for exercise
one length of the pool, or there and back
the main swimming styles
where the water is deep or shallow
a soft way to say you swim badly
stay in one place with your head above the water
glasses that keep water out of your eyes
one marked section of the pool for lap swimmers
the person who watches swimmers and helps in danger
breathing hard after hard exercise
learn to swim with a teacher
get less hot, often in water
Say it out loud
Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.
Practice · 3 min
Say one natural line for each situation.
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Say it today
Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.