Use This 3 Letter English Word to Sound Like a Native!

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