Hi, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on small synonyms.
If you've watched my lesson on big synonyms, this lesson has a similar idea. We're going
to look at ways to make your vocabulary richer to make it stronger and to add variety. So
I will be looking at some other ways that you can say "small" so that you don't sound
like you're repeating the same adjectives, the same words again and again in your conversations
or in your writings. So let's begin.
First, we have a sentence. "He's, she's, that's" -- you can say, "It's so" -- obviously, you
could say "small" if you're talking about a building, a chair, a table, whatever it
is that you're talking about. You can also say, "That's so little." So "little" and "small"
are probably the two most common words that you likely know. And you might know the next
one as well, which is "tiny". So you can have a tiny problem or a tiny headache, or a tiny
issue with someone.
The next one might be new for some of you, and that word is "minuscule". Now, "minuscule"
-- think of the word "mini", which is here. And again, "mini" just means "small", just
means "little". If you wanted to make it a little more formal, you can say, "It's minuscule."
So if you have the difference between buying one car and another car, but one car is much
better, but the price difference is not very big, you can say, "The price difference is
minuscule. I should pay the extra money and get the much better car." Okay? So a difference
can be minuscule or small or little.
Next, we have the word "petite". This comes from the French word for "small", "petit"
or "petite". I apologize for my pronunciation. We also use this word in English. In English,
it means, like, "cute", so small that it's acute and adorable like this little thing.
What is this? Hey. There's a little Pikachu in my pocket. So as you can see, this Pikachu
is very petite, so cute, so small, so tiny that he's adorable. Okay, Pikachu. I'll see
you later. He's small, but he's very heavy. I hope he'll be okay.
Next, we have the word "puny". Now, "puny" has a negative meaning. It's so small that
it's weak, not strong. So a person can have puny muscles, for example. So again, "petite"
-- cute and adorable; "puny" -- so small that it's weak, not strong.
Next, we've the word "mini" which we discussed. And the final three words are not as commonly
used in writing, but we definitely use them in speech. So the word "wee". If you want
to, you know, have a big problem, and when you're talking about this problem to your
friend and you don't want to stress the size of the problem, and you want to say, "We have
a wee problem, a small problem." Even if the problem is big and you want to make it smaller
in the person's mind, you can say, "We have a wee problem, a teeny problem, a teensy problem."
So all three of these words, they use the sound "ee". And you can stretch it out when
you're saying it. "A wee problem, a teeny problem, a teensy problem."
And finally, we have one, two, three, four expressions where we're combining two different
adjectives and we're making them sound really cute and adorable and small and tiny. So first,
"itty-bitty". It sounds fun to say, right? So repeat after me, "itty-bitty". You can
say "an itty-bitty problem", "I have an itty-bitty headache." Very cute. Adorable, almost.
Next, we have the words "teensy". And if you want to emphasize it even more, "teensy-weensy"
okay? "Teensy-weensy." Same with the next one, "teeny-tiny." So all you're doing is
combining teeny and tiny. And finally, we have "itsy-bitsy". So there is a children's
nursery rhyme that goes "itsy-bitsy spider". And if you're lucky, maybe you'll get to hear
it at some point.
So one more time, from the top, listen and repeat. Practice the pronunciation.
"Little, tiny, minuscule, petite, puny, mini, wee, teeny, teensy, itty-bitty, teensy-weensy,
teeny-tiny, and itsy-bitsy." Okay.
So if you'd like to test your understanding of how to spell these words, how to use them
in context, as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And don't forget to
subscribe to my YouTube channel. Bye.
"The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and
-- hey. What are you looking at? -- washed the spider out. Out came the..."