How to use THOUGH in English? Ask Alisha

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Today we have some building construction in the background. Sorry.

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha.

The weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe.

First question.

This comes from Shunichi Saito.

Hi, Sunichi.

Sunichi says, “I want to know what does ‘tho’ mean.

For example, ‘It's very expensive tho.’

I see the word, ‘though’ at the end of a sentence very often.”

Yeah, a lot of you have sent this question in recently.

So, I talked in a previous episode of Ask Alisha about using the word “though,”

T-H-O-U-G-H, at the end of a sentence.

It means “but” at the end of a sentence and we use it kind of casually.

When you see the word, “tho,” T-H-O, it's like an even more casual version of “though,”

T-H-O-U-G-H, at the end of a sentence.

So, you'll see this a lot on like social media, you'll see this when you're on Facebook or

Twitter or Instagram, text messages, maybe.

“Tho,” just means “but” but at the end of a sentence.

So, in your example sentence which was “It's really expensive tho,” it means it's really

expensive but.

However, it's like just putting that little “but,” that little disagreement kind of

feeling at the end of the sentence.

So, it's sort of like a soft disagreement or a soft sort of difference of opinion.

“Tho,” T-H-O means “though, T-H-O-U-G-H but it's just extremely, extremely casual.

So, for a little bit more detail, you can check this video where I talked a little bit

more about T-H-O-U-G-H at the end of a sentence with some other examples.

I hope that that helps you.

I know many of you have asked that question lately.

Next question!

Next question comes from William.

Will, I guess, from Rio de Janeiro.

Hi, Will.

Will says, “What is the difference between ‘tenant’ and ‘lodger.’

When we talk about a person who rents a house or lives there without paying.

Is there a difference?”

So, a “tenant” is a person, as you say, who rents an apartment or who rents a house.

A “lodger” does the same thing, however, the difference is that a lodger shares the

space with the owner of the space.

So, for example, if I'm renting a room and the person who owns the room or the person

who owns the building or who owns the house, for example, they also live in the same space.

Maybe they live in a different room or maybe they live in a different part of the building,

in that case, you could call me a “lodger,” perhaps.

That person is giving me a room, in that case, and they also shared the space with me.

A “tenant,” however, is someone who lives in a space, they're renting this space but

they are separate from the person who owns it.

So, I hope that that helps you.

Next question!

Next question comes from Alejandra.

Hi, Alejandra.

Alejandra says, “What does ‘well, for one’ mean?”

“Well, for one,” there are really two parts to this.

First is the “well” part.

We use “well” to transition in speech like, “Well…” and then we share an idea.

“Well” is sort of like, “I heard what you said and now I'm going to say something

from your comment or whatever.”

So, “well,” it's like just a very soft and simple transition to use.

“For one,” we're using the word, “one,” there.

This implies that there's some series of points we want to make.

So, think of this, “Well, one,” as in like point number one.

And then, after that, maybe, there's going to be point two and then point 3.

So, “for one,” for two,” “for three,” for example.

So, think of this as the speaker beginning a series of points like, “Well, for one,

it shouldn't be this expensive.

For two, it's not a very good deal,” or something like that.

Oftentimes, native speakers do forget that we're making lists, actually.

I think this is common in any language.

But, when you hear, “Well, for one,” it means the speaker is planning to introduce

a series of points to support his or her argument.

So, I hope that that helps you.

Next question!

Next question comes Thies, Theis?

I’m very sorry.

“Hi, Alisha.

I want to know the difference between, ‘I have no idea’ and ‘I don't have an idea.’”

Ah.

“When can I use ‘no’ or ‘do not?’”

Great question!

Okay, let's start with “I have no idea,” the expression, “I have no idea,” means

I don't know, I totally don't know, I don't know anything.

“I have no idea” is an emphasis phrase we use for when we don't know but we just

don't know anything, absolutely nothing, zero percent.

“I have no idea,” “Where's your brother?”

“I have no idea.”

“When is the homework due?”

“I have no idea.”

“What time is this video supposed to go up?”

“I have no idea.”

That's not true.

“I have no idea” refers to knowing nothing, absolutely nothing about the situation or

about the conversation point.

However, “I don't have any ideas,” you're trying to think of something, trying to create

something, trying to make an idea somehow and you cannot think of anything.

So, for example, “What do you want to do this weekend?”

“I don't have any ideas.”

“What do you think should be our next project?”

“Hmm, I don't have any ideas.”

“I don't have any ideas” or I don't have ideas about something means I'm not really

thinking creatively, maybe, or means I don't have any new thoughts about what to do next.

If someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer, you can say, “I have no

idea.”

If you just want to express you don't have like a proposal or you don't have a plan for

something in the future, you can say, “I don't have any ideas.”

Next question.

Next question comes from Hafta Meriam Teca.

Hafta Meriam Teca, I'm very sorry if I pronounced that wrong.

Hafta Meriam Teca says, “Hey, Alisha.

When can we use the word, ‘would?’”

Ha!

Actually, this is a pretty big question and I think it's better to answer it in a different

video.

Last week, actually, I made a whiteboard video about some uses of the word, “would.”

So, please watch for that video very soon.

It should be up in the next couple of weeks.

So, yes, I know many people want to know about “would,” we made a video, so please keep

your eyes open for that very soon.

Thank you for the question.

Next question!

Next question comes from Adam.

Actually, next two questions come from Adam.

First, “What does ‘I'm yanking a chain long terms of you’ mean?”

I have no idea.

I have never seen this before and I have no idea what it means.

We do have an expression, “I'm yanking your chain,” so to yank means to pull.

We use this expression, “I'm yanking your chain” to mean I'm joking.

Your second question, Adam.

“If the word ends in ‘E-D’ like ‘far-fetched.’

How do we make the ‘E-D’ sound?

Like a ‘T’ sound or a ‘D’ sound?”

Yeah, good question.

Actually, also, I just made a video a couple weeks ago about ending “E-D” sounds, about

/ed/ and /id/ sounds.

For words that end in “E-D”, there are some vowel and consonant rules for that.

That video, also a whiteboard video, should be up on the channel very soon.

So, please watch for that.

I explained, I hope, everything in that video.

Please, watch that soon when it comes out.

Next question!

Next question comes from Mohammed Al Dahle.

Mohammed says, “I want to hear you speaking Japanese, please.”

You want to hear me speak in Japanese?

[speaks in Japanese]

When I give you guys these recommendations when I'm talking about some of the tips that

I have for you guys, a lot of it comes from my experience learning Japanese, too.

Those are all the questions that I want to talk about this week.

Thank you very much for sending your awesome questions.

So, if you have not sent a question yet, please send the questions to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask-alisha.

Also, if you liked the video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to

the English Class 101 channel and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other

great study resources.

Thank you so much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha and I will see you again soon.

Bye-bye.