hey Aubry what's shaking today how are you I'm great I'm feeling good I'm feeling good
I'm excited to get into today's topic uh do you have a question for me here yeah I want
to know would you ever go skydiving or have you been I guess I don't know have you been
I've never been skydiving me neither I've been parasailing but never skydiving so would I ever go
probably not same no thank you I've seen a few videos of like shoots not opening and oh I just
so scary and terrible so just a quick in case you guys aren't aware really fast the
difference skydiving you jump out of a plane and it's just you in a parachute and then you
mentioned parasailing I've done that as well that's where you're like attached to a boat
there's also a parachute but you're behind a boat and in general it seems you're not nearly as high
up yeah and you're usually you're above water and much safer in a few ways I did it in Rocky Point
just this last time I was there it was so fun oh just recently okay yeah okay when did you go
oh a long time ago when I was like 12 years old in California yeah yeah I'm not sure if I would
actually do that now either to be honest I think I'm getting less Brave physically Brave as I get
older because I is that more fear I don't know when you're 12 you're like whatever anything can
happen I'm fine you know so here's my question when we're talking today about the difference
between perhaps and probably so if I say would you ever go skydiving how would it be different if
you answered perhaps or if you answered probably great question so if I had said perhaps my answer
I would have put a subject there right perhaps I would um but we gotta give a little more right
perhaps and then I feel like I need to share why why am I saying perhaps and with probably I
just said probably not and that's enough that's native that's natural so what is the difference
Aubry yeah right we're gonna dive into this today is a little nuanced but it's hopefully by
the end it'll be pretty clear what they mean and which one you should use when this actually was
um a really good questioner from a listener pravin who emailed in the question what's the difference
between perhaps and probably it's a very good question that's a great question it's a great
one so let's go into you know the meaning right what do they mean what about so they both mean
maybe probably is definitely more of a yes right if would you go skydiving probably it's like yeah
maybe yeah probably yes right yeah there's a different yes definitely a different implied
willingness and a different implied politeness in certain contexts too so like you said probably is
more of a yes and perhaps it's more of a maybe and it can change depending on the tone we used
to 100 so and we do use these basically to answer a question mostly would you say are there other
contexts there is we are going to talk about an exception but in general we use these most often
to answer a question yes I love it okay so let's get into it tell us about when we're answering
a question here what do we need to know so or to make a request right but this is first we'll talk
about answering a question with perhaps and we're gonna jump right in and do a little mini role play
to show how this might work start us out Lindsay all right hey want to meet me for coffee tomorrow
perhaps okay so this is sort of the wrong the example where you said I would feel like I
would need to add something after perhaps why how did that feel oh you left me hanging you left me
thinking oh I don't really know if she likes me very much or wants to spend it also feels
very formal um it was it feels a little rude a little short a little cold right yeah you have
to if you're just going to say perhaps you really need to say why why are you saying perhaps or it
feels rude yeah and you also need to know that it is a little bit fancier sounding it does you
know even if you continue and you feel more formal right like even if you continue to say perhaps but
I'll have to check my schedule it feels formal which naturally does create distance yes right
so if if you are answering someone you don't know well or you know a doctor or something this this
feels very appropriate right yeah um perhaps right if are you available March 22nd at six
for a appointment with a doctor perhaps but let me check my schedule yeah that's whereas if it's a
close friend this might always be a little too and for a little too formal yeah I totally agree so be
careful so there's a few things to think about here when we choose the word and that of course
is for American English because this might be much more common in other English-speaking countries to
Americans it feels quite formal yeah it might be different yeah we we focus on this show guys on
American English we really can't speak with much Authority on British English Aussie English so
we have had guests from those countries on before and we're real in the future they can speak with
authority where we can so again with to answer a question now we're going to look at probably which
is a little different let's do again Dive Right into a role play here all right I'm hosting a
dinner party at my home this weekend are you free probably okay how did that feel I like that a lot
better it is much better it's still I feel like there is still a little bit of rudeness for me
just to be like probably like I feel like I need to say why maybe like probably but my mom's in the
hospital so I may have to play it by ear yeah you still are leaving that ambiguity so it's just not
enough it's not enough exactly if you're not gonna give an outright yes anything else it's like okay
why why are you why are you not willing to come to my party I need to know why give me some reasons
yeah okay so that is the first situation then Aubry to answer a question what will be number
two the second situation yeah so this is to make a request and this most often you'll hear this
with perhaps like for example perhaps you should close the window and it is almost a little passive
aggressive yeah people do say this right it means the same thing as could you close the window what
do you think Lindsay would you say it this way well it all depends on the context am I already
in a situation that would you would end up with some passive aggressiveness are the personalities
passive aggressive it still depends on the context but yes I agree it does have hints and tones of
passive aggressiveness for sure yes and we use it to be facetious right here's an example and
this is where tone really matters I might say perhaps you should stop winning every game and
then maybe I'll want to play with you right with our tone instead of just saying hey if you don't
stop winning every game I'm not going to play with you instead this word facetious where you
say we're almost a little sarcastic we're being a little more playful with it and you need the
tone yeah that feels a little more benevolent right it's not it's not that passive aggressive
perhaps you should close the window right but yeah there's a lot we can do here for sure and
then there's a slangy version with probably but this is very informal you might hear someone say
like probably she heard you and again very slangy very Regional you might not hear it everywhere
it means the same as she probably heard you okay but this sort of very slangy version so let's do
a mini role play so we can hear it I see okay so why do you think she's not talking to me
probably she didn't like when you yelled at her yesterday all right so this is where we might
hear it it's always going to sort of add emphasis and you need that intonation otherwise you would
just say she probably didn't like it went right but because I'm sort of being facetious again a
little sarcastic like uh maybe you shouldn't have done that right right I put probably before for
this emphasis okay so again just to be totally clear for our listeners which of these is what
they'd see in a textbook which of the two probably the second one right the the more standard one
sure you're gonna learn in a textbook you know she probably didn't like when you yelled at her
and you'll have probably defined as maybe you know same as maybe she didn't like it when you did that
but the rest of this you're not going to learn from a textbook that slingy way or or how to use
it like to learn the sort of facetious sarcastic ways that need this interesting intonation you
can't get that from a textbook you really can't that's why I love this that we're bringing this
in and yeah so you so Aubry when you're talking to your friends or your family you hear this too
right like maybe more than she probably probably she didn't like this beginning the sentence with
probably yeah and I'm curious if you do as well we say this a lot in the Northwest United States
in Idaho you'll hear this a lot where a sentence is started with probably it's maybe Regional it's
very slain but I do also hear it sometimes in TV shows movies but always in this kind of situation
where someone is doing it intentionally to add sarcasm to add that condescending but try you know
playful tone right otherwise it would just sound um ungrammatical but we're using it intentionally
instead of saying she probably didn't like it right we're switching the grammar and adding
intonation to give this to to create the sarcasm yeah and that's what we can do when we reach that
level of fluency we can break the rules and do it for a reason and know that we're breaking the
rules and have fun with it right I would say in my region or especially in the Northeast because
that's where I'm from originally not so much not as much but I definitely have heard it for sure
just wouldn't be what I would go to necessarily but we break other rules you know right I mean
forget it it's a nightmare Wherever You Go There are rules that are broken it just depends on which
ones for which Regional dialect absolutely for sure for sure so what's a takeaway for today
Aubry yeah so there are so many ways to say maybe right two of them we covered today perhaps and
probably but also possibly we'll see there are a lot and each can have implied meaning so you need
to sort of know the Nuance the implication behind them so you use the right one because you could
potentially create a misunderstanding or offense if you accidentally use the wrong one oh my gosh
it used to drive me nuts I would get a lot of we'll see from like parent figures you know my
friends parents or my own parents can we get ice cream we'll see that would drive me nuts as a kid
oh my gosh we have to do another episode on that one I know I'd say that to my kids all the time
and one of my children always if I say we'll see or maybe he says I'll take that as a yes that's so
clever every time so I have to like clear well no that's not a yes that's a maybe I love it I'm so
smart I wish I had been that smart as a kid that's so funny that's so good I'm glad we went into this
nuanced difference right I mean we have to know these nuances and you know in my mind a big piece
of the takeaway today is that once you get to that high level of fluency guys pay attention
to your Regional dialect where you're where are you living if you're living in the states what
are the rules that people are breaking and why and what is the tone that creates very interesting for
connections ugh so interesting awesome Lindsay this is a really fun chat perhaps I will see you
tomorrow probably I would say so yes yeah all right take care everybody bye [Music]