QUITE vs QUIET Meaning, Pronunciation, and Difference | Learn with Example English Sentences

Hi, everybody. I’m Esther.

In this video, I’m going to talk about two similar and sometimes confusing English words

‘quite’ and ‘quiet’.

Although ‘quite’ and ‘quiet’ are spelled and pronounced differently,

many students still confuse these words

especially in their writing.

By the end of this video, you'll be a master at using them.

So keep watching.

Let’s start with ‘quite’.

Listen carefully to how I say it.

‘quite’

‘quite’

It's an adverb.

it means to a large degree or completely.

It can also mean truly or considerably.

Let’s look at some examples.

The first sentence says,

‘We've had quite a lot of rain this year.’

The word ‘quite’ emphasizes that there was a lot of rain.

The next sentence says,

‘I hadn't seen Rebecca in quite a while.’

Again, ‘quite a while’ emphasizes that it's been a really long time.

I hadn't seen Rebecca for a very long time.

Now, I will talk about the word ‘quiet’.

Listen carefully to how I say it.

‘quiet’

‘quiet’

It is usually an adjective.

It means there is very little or no sound.

Let's take a look at some examples.

The first sentence says,

‘She spoke in a quiet voice.’

This means that her voice was very little - I almost couldn't hear it.

The next sentence says,

‘It's so quiet without the kids here.’

When the kids are not here, it's quiet.

There is not much noise.

Now, let's do a checkup.

In the sentence below, we need to fill in the blanks with ‘quiet’ or ‘quite’.

Take a moment to think about where these words belong.

The first part of the sentence says,

‘He's _blank_ intelligent.’

I want to use the word that shows that he's very intelligent,

emphasizing how intelligent this person is.

So which word do I use?

I use ‘quite’.

‘He's quite intelligent.’

The second part of the sentence says,

‘but he is a very _blank_ child.’

We need an adjective to describe this child.

‘quiet’ is the right word to use.

So we should say,

‘He's quite intelligent, but he is a very quiet child.’

Now you know the difference between ‘quite’ and ‘quiet’.

They can be confusing especially in writing

but now you know how to use them well.

See you in the next video. Bye.