Are you learning English? Hmm?
Me? Yeah, I am! Do you want three letters that will help you sound more like a native?
Just three letters? Just three letters. OMG? No. LOL? WTF? No. The three letters are...
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening! Welcome to Smashing English! Before we start
this video be sure to subscribe because we make new videos all the time and I don't want you to
miss any. So, with that said let's get on with the video. Okay, okay we know why you're here
you've heard that there are three little letters that will help you sound more like
a native. Well wait no more, I am here to tell you. Now if you're watching this video
you are probably at a place with your English where you are learning new words all the time,
you feel pretty confident with some new vocabulary but you just want to sound a bit more like a
native- like a normal person. Well this is what you need to use. Take an adjective, any
adjective. Let's use the adjective handsome "oh he's so handsome". Now if you want to alter this
adjective a little bit we can say very handsome, we can say extremely handsome, we can say a little
bit handsome. We've got all of these words that we can use to change that adjective and make it
stronger or less strong. However what natives use are the three letters i-s-h. "ish". Yes,
a lot of native speakers walk around sounding like Sean Connery! Ish, Ish Ish Ish. Mish Moneypenny
look at the fish. Mish Moneypenny. Now what does ish mean? Ish means "kind of", "a little",
"not so much", "not a lot", "meh". It's that kind of feeling. So we can use ish if you want to say
that someone is a little bit something, but not a lot. So let's use it with handsome. So,
I might ask you "oh this guy, is he handsome?" and you might reply with "he's handsome-ish". So,
we can put ish at the end of an adjective, not at the beginning. at the end to mean "yeah a
little bit but I'm not sure about this adjective description". So if someone describes you as
handsome-ish it's not exactly a huge compliment! It's like the person doesn't want to fully commit
to that description of you. They don't want to say "yes that person is handsome" they just want to
say "I guess a little bit". "What's the matter are you cold? "I'm coldish" "Guys, uh is this
jumper black or is it bluish?" "it looks a bit bluish". We might say the man had grayish hair.
It's not fully gray, I don't want to commit to that description. I don't want to say yes his
hair was gray, because it's not fully gray, it's got parts of gray in it so it's grayish,
not fully gray. So that's one way we can use ish. You can put it at the end of an adjective.
But some people also just use ish on its own like this.. "Wow you've got a new job! Are you happy?"
"Ish. I wish I was paid more to be honest". "how's the food? Is it spicy?"
"Um....ish!". So, if someone asks you if someone or something is ADJECTIVE, you can reply with ish.
it's like saying somewhat, a little bit. Now, is this formal? Is it informal? you can use it in
any context really. But a bit like anything, you've got to think about what you're saying
and who you're saying it to. If you're in a job interview and the interviewer asks you "are you
hard working?" probably don't reply with ish! Because it makes it sound like you're not very
hard working. I wouldn't use this in formal writing. So, for a University dissertation or
a job application or something extremely formal in writing I wouldn't use it. But in an informal
email or a text or anything like that you are absolutely fine to use it. It's not rude. It's
not informal It's just something that's a bit more modern than other English words. Now you
might have heard ish in some different contexts for example English. Smashing English. So,
in this sense the suffix ish means 'belonging to'. So, English belonging to England. Danish
belonging to Denmark. Ish can also mean having the characteristics of something. For example,
sheepish. Acting a little bit like a sheep! Or childish. Acting like a child.
So, you might hear the suffix ish in lots of other contexts too but as English teachers none of our
students use it in the way we've taught you today. If you start implementing it into your day-to-day
speech it will really help you to sound more like a native and we hope this video was useful....
Well useful-ish! Thank you so much for watching! If you like this video please give it a like! If
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English lesson with me or Bez the link for that is down below! Thank you so much for watching!
Thank you so much for watching! And I'll see you next time! And we'll see you next time! Ta-Ta!!