American houses usually have private kitchens, a living room and sometimes separate areas for eating and watching television. A house usually has its own mailbox, a yard with plants or perhaps a lawn, and a place to store garbage out of sight.

　　A bungalow is a small house with one or two bedrooms and usually one bathroom.

　　A mansion is a real big house with many bedrooms and several bathrooms.

　　A ranch house usually has three or four bedrooms. The "master bedroom" for the mother and father usually has its own bathroom.

　　An apartment is usually one living space within a building. Several apartment can be in the same building, with a shared yard, parking spaces, and garbage.

　　A town house is a two-floor apartment. The kitchen, living room and dining room are usually on the first floor and the bedrooms are on the second floor.

　　A studio apartment may have a separate kitchen, but the living room is also the bedroom!

　　A condominium, or "condo" for short, is an apartment that is owned by the occupant, not the building owners.

　　Most American are happy to talk about their homes. And if they've done anything special in their home, they'll let you know what it was, and maybe tell you what it cost to put in the Jacuzzi, deck or patio, etc. Most Americans live in cities, but nearly as many live in suburbs. Suburban American has shopping centers called malls and residents usually need a care to get around. Most of the houses in the suburbs are one or two stories tall, with private yards and gardens and garage. There are few tall buildings in the suburbs. Cities have neighborhoods, "warehouse" stores, and public transportation (bused, trains and taxis) is usually pretty good. Private houses might only have a back yard, and if there is a garage it probably is small. Cities have a lot of apartment buildings and some tall buildings may seem to "scrape the sky", so they are called "skyscraper".