Too vs Very - English In A Minute

Hi, I’m Phil from BBC Learning English.

Today I’m going to tell you how to use 'too'

and 'very'. They are both intensifiers – but

they don’t mean the same thing.

We use 'very'

to make an adjective, or an adverb

stronger. So we can say, "The building is

very old." That

could be a good thing - it's beautiful. Or it

could be a bad thing - it's falling down.

Or it might not matter. If we use 'too'

(with two Os), then it means it's a

problem. Could say, "It's too easy." It

means ‘it’s a waste of time’.

It’s a problem! It’s not too difficult

– in fact, it’s very easy. Just remember

that if we use ‘too’, it’s a problem.