Hi everyone. I’m Vicki and I’m British. And I’m Jay and I’m American and today
we’re looking at a word that’s quite tricky. No, it’s very tricky. But that’s what I said! No you didn’t! I speak British English and Jay speaks American
English and normally, we manage to communicate OK. But there’s a word that causes us problems. Quite. It’s such a common word. We both use it a lot. But it’s the word that’s hardest for us
to understand. Sometimes we use it in the same way, but sometimes
we use it differently. And then we get confused. Quite. Quite? Let’s look at some examples. Have you finished the artwork yet? No. I’m not quite ready. I need another five minutes. Take your time. I’m quite happy to wait. Do you want to go and get a coffee or something? No, I’m quite all right thanks. I’ve had quite enough coffee today. That’s not quite correct. Just go away! What’s your problem? Here are some of the things we said. 'Quite' is an adverb and it means ‘completely’
in all these examples. It means to the greatest possible degree - 100%. We can use it this way in British and American
English And you heard quite in two negative sentences
too, where it means not completely - so almost, but not 100%. Again it can have this meaning in British
and American English. We often use quite in the negative like this
to criticize someone gently or to say we disagree with them. So we might say ‘I don’t quite agree’
or ‘That’s not quite right’. Yes, and we mean ‘I don’t agree 100%.’ or ‘You’re a little wrong’. Quite softens the disagreement. It works like that in American and British
English. But there’s another way we use 'quite' that’s
quite different. So what did you think of my report? It’s quite good. Fantastic. I’ll send it to everybody now. Hang on. It needs some changes. But you said it was quite good. Yes, but we need it to be VERY good. Huh? There was a misunderstanding there. Yeah, I thought you liked my report. Well, I thought it was fairly good or pretty
good, but not very good. But you said it was quite good. If I say that I mean very good. Quite is a forceful word. It’s not forceful in British English. It just means to some degree. So let me get this straight. Sometimes when you say 'quite' you mean completely,
like me. Yes. But other times you just mean fairly or pretty. Yes. Then how can I tell what you mean? Well, sometimes you can tell from the kind
of adjective we use with quite – whether it’s gradable or ungradable. We’d better explain that. Some English adjectives are gradable, so they
can be true to different degrees. For example good is gradable. Something can be very good, or fairly good,
or just a little good. But other adjectives are ungradable, for example
perfect. We don’t say something is very perfect or
fairly perfect or a little perfect. It's just perfect. Here are some more examples of ungradable
adjectives. Things are either dead or they’re not. People are either married or they’re not. There’s no in-between with these adjectives,
so we don’t use them with 'very'. The meanings of these adjectives already contain
the idea of ‘very’. So here’s what happens in British English. If we use ‘quite’ with an ungradable adjective,
we probably mean completely. For example, 'It's quite perfect'. It's 100% perfect. But if we use quite with a gradable adjective,
we probably mean ‘fairly’ – so to some extent, but not very. For example, 'It's quite nice' - it's fairly
nice. So if you say ‘I’m quite tired’, you
mean you’re fairly tired. Yeah, and what about you? I could mean that, but normally if I say I’m
quite tired, I mean I’m VERY tired. Pronunciation matters too. If we stress the word 'quite' the difference
can get more marked. I’m QUITE tired - that means I’m very
very tired I’m QUITE tired – that means I’m only
fairly tired. There’s another thing you do in British
English. What’s that? I’ll say something and instead of saying
‘I agree’ you say ‘quite’. Oh yes. It’s rather formal but to show we agree
with someone or to show we’ve understood, we can say ‘quite’ or ‘quite so’. It just means ‘yes’. It sounds very British. Quite. Let’s have a quiz question now. OK. See if you can answer this everyone, and you
Jay. If your American boss says ‘your work is
quite good’, what does it mean? Jay? If my American boss says my work is quite
good, I should get a raise. They think my work is very good. British English is different. If my British boss says my work is quite good,
I’d have to ask what I'm doing wrong. Because it’s only fairly good. Wow! So the difference in meaning is subtle, but
it can be very important. If you don’t pay attention, you might miss
it. When I came to the US I had to stop and think
when people said ‘quite’. ‘Do they mean fairly or do they mean ‘very’? I still have to stop and think sometimes. And I’ve had to learn the difference too,
so I can understand Vicki’s family and friends. Yeah. Here’s a real example. My British friend was visiting us and meeting
Jay for the first time and they were just getting to know one another and talking about
their families. I was telling her about my father and how
he spoke six languages and I said ‘He was quite good at languages’. So my British friend was surprised and she
said, ‘Why are you saying that? You said he spoke six languages.’ ‘Yeah, he was quite good at languages.’ So my friend was thinking, ‘He’s being
derogatory about his father? That’s not nice! If you speak six languages you’re a very
good linguist – not just fairly good. And I was thinking, ‘We’ve only just met. Why is this woman being so argumentative?’ It was like she wanted to pick a fight with
me for no reason. It’s the sort of misunderstanding that can
damage relationships. Yes, it’s dangerous because you might not
realise it’s happening. And one last thing before we stop. Yeah? I have some advice for any American guys who
are going on a date with a British girl. What’s that? Don’t tell her she’s quite pretty. It happened to one of my friends on her first
date with an American guy. What! He told her she was quite pretty? Yes, he was lucky to get a second date! And that’s it for today everyone. If you’ve enjoyed this video please share
it with a friend and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel. Bye-bye now. See you next Friday. Bye.
