Podcast: Como usar such em inglês

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

May 23
Podcast Como usar such em inglês

Hi, all.  How have you been?

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre a palavra such.

Transcrição

Hello, everyone. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna give you several examples of how to use this word: such. S-u-c-h. Such. Such may be used to communicate a few different things, and today we are going to focus on one of them: how to use ‘such’ to emphasize. For example, when you say Mary is such a nice girl, what are you saying? You’re saying that you think Mary is very nice. It’s as though you were saying Mary is so nice. Instead, you say Mary is such a nice girl. Here’s another one: Bahia has such nice weather all year round. What does that mean? That means you think that the weather in Bahia is so nice, all year round.

It’s simple, right? As with everything in English – especially stuff that isn’t intuitive to us Portuguese speakers –  we have to hear it a lot in order to become familiar and absorb it. So here is a series of examples where I use the word “so”, which is the word everyone is more familiar with, in order to emphasize something. After I’m done reading this list, I’ll give you the same examples using ‘such’:

  • This coffee is so bad.
  • This car was so cheap!
  • This study room looks so messy.
  • The variety of products carried by this supermarket is so amazing.
  • I didn’t know their house was so old.

Now let’s hear these sentences when they have the word such in them. ‘This coffee is so bad’ – we can say This is such bad coffee, or This is such a bad coffee if you want to be specific to the cup of coffee in your hand, for example.

‘This car was so cheap!’ can be said like this: It was such a cheap car! ‘This study room looks so messy’ can become This study room is such a mess. The next one we have is ‘The variety of products carried by this supermarket is so amazing’. You could say This supermarket carries such an amazing variety of products. And finally, ‘I didn’t know their house was so old’ can be expressed as I didn’t know they owned such an old house.

Did you notice that we say so bad, so cheap, so messy, so amazing and  so old? This is so good, that is so bad. This bar is so trendy, that house is so spacious, that girl is so clever, this magazine is so interesting. This little word ‘so’ comes before adjectives. Now notice how such was used in all the previous examples: such bad coffee, such a cheap car, such a messy room, such an amazing variety, such an old house. ‘Such’ comes before a short phrase, right? A short phrase containing at least an adjective and a noun. Bad coffee, a cheap car.  Such bad coffee, such a cheap car.

Here’s an expression that you’ll hear a lot as you get more and more familiar with English: This isn’t such a bad idea. What does that mean? When someone says This isn’t such a bad idea, they are saying that this idea isn’t so bad… it’s actually a good idea. This idea isn’t so bad. This isn’t such a bad idea. It may not seem like a very good idea at first; but as you take a closer look you realize that this idea isn’t so bad. This isn’t such a bad idea. It’s… an OK idea, maybe even a good idea!

Here are a few of my personal opinions: English is such a great language to learn and speak. The Internet is such a fantastic tool for business. It’s such a nice feeling to wake up to a sunny day. Dogs are such loyal friends. Memorizing words is such a boring thing to do. Again, listen: such a great language; such a fantastic tool; such a nice feeling; such loyal friends; such a boring thing.

Do you wanna give it a shot? Let us know how you would use such to talk about things in your life. Next podcast we continue with expressions with the word ‘such’. Talk to you next time.

 

Key expressions

  • such a great girl
  • This isn’t such a bad idea

 

Glossary

it’s as though you were saying = é como se você estivesse dizendo

all year round = o ano todo

trendy = algo que acompanha as últimas tendências, que está na moda

Ana
Fernandes 17/01/2015

This is such a great podcast!
You are so nice!

Thanks for your work!

Viktor 01/02/2013

Hi Ana Luiza, I love your website! I’ve learned a lot with your tips, in especial, the pronunciations of the words because I am not so good at listening.
I had a doubt after this lesson about the use of the word “though”. I learned we can use this word as “embora” in portuguese, but in this sentence “It’s as though you were saying” I don’t understand the meaning. I think that is a idiomatic expression, but I’ve never seen this kind of use before.
Could you please explain a little more about this ? Or if you have a post commenting the several manners of use, could you point to me ?
Thank you a lot and sorry for my bad english! I’m trying, I swear! =P
Hugs!

André 21/11/2012

I love to study Languages, especially English.
I need to improve, and I’ve been working for this. Maybe one day I’ll become in such a good speaker like you.

PS: I’m going to have a lunch, today we have such a delicious meal.

Edilza Medeiros 11/06/2012

Hi, Ana,

Your website has such a precious tips. Thanks for one more, Ana! God bless you! God bless you!

Oi Ana,

Eu ensinava português via skype para uma amiga americana que sempre dizia: “Alessandro, you are such a good teacher”. Eu sempre “aceitei” o “such” na expressão, mas nunca tive uma explicação plausível sobre o seu uso. No podcast de hoje você esclareceu a questão de forma primorosa.

Obrigado pela dica and keep up the good work!

    Ana 03/06/2012

    Legal, Alessandro ;) Feliz em ajudar, e o exemplo foi bacana. Não sabia que vc ensinava português, btw!

    @julianinhamatos 13/06/2012

    Such a good surprise to see Alessandro Brandão here too.
    Some time ago I’ve really heard a podcast with an Ana’s interview on EE blog.
    It seems it is a nice interchange between such good teachers and that can bring advantages for all of us, webstudents!

Edmar 01/06/2012

I spent some days just listening to the podcast and today I read the script. I got it almost all words. I’m happy and I want to say something: YOU’RE SUCH A AMAZING ENGLISH TEACHER. Thank you very much.

P.S.: If I said something wrong tell me how I should to say.

    Ana 03/06/2012

    Thank you, Edmar. I’m doing the same thing you’ve done – I’m learning Italian and have been listening to each audio several times before reading the transcript (but that’s because the audios are still easy for me to understand)

Débora 27/05/2012

I must say, My daughter is such a cute girl.

Ana 25/05/2012

Everyone, obrigada pelos comentários. Aproveitem!

Layssa 25/05/2012

You always do such great podcasts!
It´s such a amazing book.

dbarboni 25/05/2012

Hi Ana, I saw in your text this preposition “Instead” and I have a question for you. What’s the difference between “Instead and Instead of”? Thank you very much. Great job as always!

    Ana 25/05/2012

    Good idea for a post, Débora. Coming soon…;)

Diogo Higino 24/05/2012

Hi Ana, thanks for this such a great tip.

I have ever got to pay attention as much as required for this topic, but also for whatever phrase I saw with ‘such’ I wasn’t sure about the correct way that it was meaning. I mean there are other ways to use such, but this podcast dried up the possibilities about it. That’s beauty of being an Inglês Online user.

Thanks.

    Ana 25/05/2012

    Hi Diogo!

    Yep, there are other ways to use such. Keep your eyes peeled for our next podcast!

    P.S. You could say “thanks for such a great tip” or “Thanks for this. Such a great tip”

    And… great use of the expression “That’s the beauty of…” ;)

Daniele 24/05/2012

Hi Ana! It’s such a nice podcast and I’m loving your blog increasingly! it’s such a good tip and I’m sure that it’s helping many many people! I’m living a real situation about what i’m going to say: It’s such a bad thing to depend on bus!! rsrsrsr!

    Ana 25/05/2012

    Congrats, Daniele! Very nice examples. Thanks ;)

dbarboni 24/05/2012

Hi Ana Luiza, I always had doubt about this word and I am happy because now, I am undertand better. Thank you so much.
Some phrases:
Listening music is such a great thing to relax.
Eating chocolate is such a favorite food that I love it.

    Ana 25/05/2012

    Hi Débora,

    Thanks for the examples!! Great.

    In the “chocolate” example, you can say “Chocolate is such a favorite food of mine”

mauricio 24/05/2012

your podcasts are such a great.

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