Do you EVEN understand EVEN?

(upbeat swing music)

- This is our last tenner.

- Yeah, you're right.

What should we bet it on, odds or evens?

- It doesn't even matter, the odds are even.

- They're not, but if we bet on zero, we'll be rich.

- Zero is a very odd thing to bet on.

- Yeah, you're right.

All right, we'll bet five on zero,

and then the other five on double zero.

- That's even more stupid.

- Do you even have the smallest bit of faith in me?

- Not even a little bit.

You've even sold our wedding rings

and then gambled that money.

- What are you even talking about right now?

I'm gonna win everything back and even more, just watch.

- [Man] No more of that. - Even if you win,

I'm breaking up with you.

(ball rattling)

I can't even look.

(upbeat swing music)

- [Man] Black six.

- Shit. - Idiot.

- There are so many ways that we can use the word even.

I didn't realize how many

until I started writing this video.

So you might know a few of them,

you probably don't know all of them,

so any new information from today's video,

make a note of them, write your own examples

of that meaning of even in your notes

or in the comments of this video, and then I can check.

So very quickly, an even number,

that's a number like two, four, six, eight, 10,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The other numbers are odd numbers.

One, three, five, seven, nine, da-da-da-da-da.

Actually, odd is also interesting,

because we have a few meanings for this word as well.

Not just the numbers, but also, one is when

you talk about the odds, that's a noun.

This is talking about the chances of something.

So for example, if I'm at hospital

and I want to know, am I going to live or die?

What are the chances?

You might often hear this in TV shows or movies as well.

What are my I odds, just be honest with me.

I'm just asking, what are my chances,

in this case, of survival?

So my doctor might reply,

well, you adjust a head,

so the odds aren't good, I'm afraid.

A side note, when we say I'm afraid,

we're not really saying I'm ugh, I'm scared.

It's a polite way of saying I'm sorry, or unfortunately.

For example, if you have to cancel on plans,

oh, I'm afraid I can't come to your thing, it's boring.

Again, this is a noun, the odds, my odds,

and it's always plural.

It's never the odd, my odd, no, odds.

What are the odds that you will come to London this year?

Another meaning of odd could just mean, hmm, strange.

Like if someone is acting odd, they're acting strange.

If they look odd, they look strange.

Really easy, right?

An example.

Huh, that guy doesn't have a head.

That's odd.

Strange.

But back to even, the main use of even is as an adverb,

so it changes the feeling of that verb,

and the main feeling of it is surprise at something,

or to emphasize something, or sometimes confusion.

I'll show you later.

Basic example, if you are feeling happy,

but then you see someone that you like

and they always make you feel happy,

but you're already happy, so you could reply

to, "Hey, how's your day," with

"Even better now."

Your day was really good,

but then you saw your friend, and now it's better.

We don't say more better, but we do say even better.

So if you want to say more,

more something, use even more something.

And it's the same for less as well.

We don't say less less, we say even less.

For example, in my last job, I didn't earn much,

but in my current job, I earn even less.

Again, I'm emphasizing that comparison.

It was bad before, but now it's more more bad.

I earn even less, eh.

Or maybe we're surprised

because it's more than you expected.

For example, if you have to work every day this week

and you don't have any free time,

ah, I have to work so much this week.

I even have to work the whole weekend.

So it's already a lot.

I have to work so much, but there's more, more,

again, we're emphasizing the amount.

So in this case, it's more than she expected.

I even have to work the whole weekend.

This doesn't have to be a bad thing.

It could be for a good thing.

It could be, wow, I don't have to work this week,

and I'm even getting paid, this is great.

So it could be emphasizing a bad on top of a bad.

It could be emphasizing a very good on top of a very good.

How could we use that in an example?

Tell me about a really good friend of yours,

or your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife,

I don't care who they are,

tell me why they're really good,

tell me why they're really bad.

For example, oh my God, I have the best girlfriend.

She tells me I'm handsome and,

I don't know why you would have this voice, but,

she she even has a dog.

So you could list why they're amazing, amazing, amazing,

and even more amazing, or why they're just really rubbish.

Let me know in the comments.

Hmm, maybe you're surprised that

the minimum amount of something didn't happen,

or it doesn't exist, or it's not there.

For example, you have a date with someone,

you expect that the person, at least they smell nice.

They don't smell like hot vomit.

You know, that's the smallest bit of effort

that someone can make on a date, so.

You meet the date, and hi,

their breath smells like a dead fish.

Again, the minimum effort for a date is brush your teeth,

and when the minimum amount of something didn't happen,

then you can use even.

Oh my God, he didn't even brush his teeth.

Remember, in a negative, he didn't even brush his teeth.

We're emphasizing that, come on,

this is the minimum amount, at least.

The very, very minimum, but it didn't happen.

Have you ever had a date like this?

Luckily I haven't, but if you have a story like this,

I'd love to hear it.

Remember, we're talking about minimum amounts,

in this case an action, but it could be things.

If you want to say the minimum amount

of a thing doesn't exist, even.

Ah, I'm so thirsty, can I have a drink?

I'm sorry, I don't have any drinks.

Ah, not even water?

No, sorry.

In that situation, we're surprised

about a lack of something, again,

the minimum amount of something.

If you're noticing a pattern, then great,

because it's kind of showing extremes,

either a lot more than you expected,

or a lot less than you expected.

And thinking of this idea of extremes,

we could use even in examples like this.

He wants to date her, but she would never date him.

It doesn't matter if he, something ridiculous and extreme,

gave her a million pounds for one date.

Nope, doesn't matter, no date.

And when we say this, it doesn't matter.

It means nothing.

That is the key bit of information.

We say even if.

And two things, you're using it with a conditional sentence,

because even if, in this case a second conditional,

and it's really extreme.

So it's not just something little, doesn't matter.

We're taking an extreme example and saying,

in this extreme example that I've imagined,

that doesn't matter, because I still won't date you.

So try to make your own even if sentence in the comments.

If this is new, or if you didn't know

how to use it before, make a sentence.

Okay, now why doesn't she want to date him?

Is it because of his looks?

No, it's because he's really stupid.

You should date him because he's so hot, look at him!

But she's like, I don't care.

Yes, he's hot, but he's still stupid.

Nah, he's an idiot.

She could just say this, but she'll say,

nah, even so, he's an idiot.

When we say even so, you're saying yes, I agree,

yes, that's true, but this is more important.

Like, eh, yeah, he's hot, but that doesn't matter.

He's an idiot, is basically the feeling with this.

Even though, this has the same feeling as even so,

we just use it slightly different.

For example.

This guy, he just ate, but he wants to order pizza.

Now, usually when you just finish eating,

you don't want to eat again.

I do actually, I always wanna eat again,

but in this case he wants to say,

yeah, I know I just ate,

but that doesn't really affect this.

This is maybe more important than this.

Even though, even though I just ate, I wanna order pizza.

The fact that I just ate doesn't really matter,

because I still wanna order pizza.

And also, this sentence and this sentence could switch,

but always remember, put even though

with the sentence which doesn't matter.

I wanna order pizza even though I just ate.

I'm still hungry.

Try your own even though sentence in the comments.

Also very common in casual conversation,

not formal conversation, you might hear even

used as an adverb to show confusion.

Something like this, for example,

you are sitting in a very advanced maths class

and nothing makes sense.

You're so confused.

You're gonna emphasize that confusion with even.

As a normal sentence, he could just say

what is he talking about, I don't understand,

but we'll use the adverb even

to emphasize how confused I am.

What is he even talking about?

I don't understand anything.

And finally, even has some basic meanings

like equal or balanced.

For example, if your friend is making drinks

and she wants to make sure the amounts are equal,

they're balanced, hmm, do they look even?

Now, not only amounts of a physical thing,

it could be something more abstract.

(sharp slap)

For example, if you punch your friend,

well, that's not equal.

To make things equal, your friend has to

punch you back in return.

This makes you equal.

This makes things balanced.

Now we're even.

Now everything is equal and balanced.

You have done to me the same

that I have done to you, we're even.

Ooh, okay, a great way to practice this one.

Has someone ever done something bad to you,

and you got revenge?

How did you get even with that person?

Let me know.

So which of those meanings of even was new for you?

Or odd as well?

Make your own examples in your notes,

in the comments, or on your Instagram Stories.

Tag me at @papateachme, and I'll repost you,

and I'll see you in the next class.

(mellow music)