Could anyone please explain the meanings / denotations of the 3 concepts?
Answers from both British & American speakers are appreciated.
(I reckon they may refer to different entities in BrE & NAmE.)
Apartment is American English and flat is British English, but they both refer to the same thing. Apartment is a more generic term that can also refer to condos, but this is (possibly eastern) US usage only. There’s actually a variation on what to call condos within different regions of the United States.
Apartment is now used extensively in Britain too, especially for newer properties.
Condo (condominium) is not a term used frequently in Britain.
Thx Speedtest & Beeesneees!
I supposed there must be a spatial / dimensional difference between the referents of the 3 words.
I know that the British tend to use “flat”, whereas the Americans say “apartment” for the same category.
Speedtest! I see U are from the East Coast. What would U call a “condo”?
A 1, 2 or more room property / real estate with or without a garage / common facilities (yard, garden, pool, bicycle storage, etc.)?
What about “apartment”?
Beeesneees! Do U mean only newer, modern flats can be called apartments in BrE?
When I hear “apartment” from a British speaker, somehow it reminds me of a larger flat, or a huge “room” in a hotel. Is that right?
I said ‘especially’ for newer properties, not ‘exclusively’ for newer properties. They can be older properties too.
Your definition (large flat or part of a hotel suite) used to be correct, but now there are small 1 bedroom apartments, which would traditionally be considered flats, as well as larger luxurious properties.
Actually, I grew up on the West Coast but have some experience here in the east. On the East Coast, a condo would range from a townhouse (the US definition, which is a multi-story unit that is larger than an apartment but smaller than a single-family home) to what I would consider an apartment, which is a small 1 or 2 bedroom unit with a small kitchen and a living room. On the West Coast, a condo is basically the same as a townhouse.
I’m not exactly sure what terms Southerners and Midwesterners use. The US is a very large country, after all.