Very and Really

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Gold Forest English podcast. My name is Jordan and today I want to talk about the words very and really.

So very and really are two adverbs, and they are often used in very similar situations. One of the most common situations to use them is with adjectives. So, for example: It's very hot today. It's really hot today. So we're using the adjective hot and we're making it bigger with the words very or really.

So the words vary and really mean more a lot or more than normal. So we can use them with adjectives, like hot, and they have the same meaning. However, very is a little bit more polite and serious. and it's a bit more common with formal speech, formal writing. The word really is a bit more common for spoken, casual conversation, so it can feel a little bit more relaxed and friendly. Both of them are correct and both of them have the same meaning, but the word really is a little bit more common for spoken English. It's more natural. So we would say, it's really cold today. That's a very natural phrase. If we say, it's very cold today, it is completely correct. There's no problem with this English, but it might feel a little bit more formal.

In terms of strength about how much does it increase, we can think that the word really is a little bit stronger than the word very. So if I say, I'm very hungry, I'm saying, I'm big hungry. Yes, hungry a lot. But if we say, I'm really hungry, the feeling is even more strong. It's super hungry. So both are correct and both are good English. I'm very hungry, I'm really hungry, but really has a little bit more power, a bit more strength.

Something that we do need to be careful about, though, is using strong adjectives. So strong adjectives are words like fantastic, amazing, horrible, exhausted, like super tired, delicious, very tasty. These strong adjectives mean more than the normal adjective. For example, hot and then boiling. Boiling means very, very, very hot. Freezing is very, very, very cold. These strong adjectives have the meaning of more than the normal adjective. So we don't use strong adjectives with very. So we might say that's very good, but we don't say that's very amazing, because very means more and amazing means more than good. This is not a natural way to use the words. So, we can use the words really. That's really amazing. This is okay. This is natural English, but not the word very. Because, as we said before, Very means more than normal, but really means extra more than normal. Because really has a stronger feeling, it can be put together with these very strong adjectives. So strong adverb, really, and strong adjective. Fantastic. That's really fantastic. Strong adjective freezing. Oh, it's really freezing weather. So having this very strong adverb, really, we can put them with the very strong adjectives, Different from the word very, which means more than normal, but it doesn't have that same super extra powerful.

So, to recap, the words vary and rarely have very similar meanings of being extra and more than normal. We often use them with adjectives. It's very hot, she's really tired. They're both correct, they have the same meaning, very and really more than normal. In spoken English, the word really is more common, very is correct, but it just feels a little bit more polite and a bit more formal. There's no problem with it, but just to be clear, really is more friendly and relaxed and very can feel more serious and polite in general, but of course, there's no problem for using either one in the other situation. The word really is a little bit stronger than the word very, so we use the word really with strong adjectives, like fantastic, amazing, delicious.

Okay. So, as always, I've got a full blog post on the website, goldforestacademy.com. So if you want to look at some more details, some more examples, and have some practice questions, you can find them on our blog post. All right. So, very and really, similar, but a little bit different. I hope this podcast has helped you get some understanding of these two words.

Thank you very much for listening. I hope you have a good day and good luck with your English. I'll see you in the next episode. Goodbye.