This mini episode teaches you the common informal words “sorta” and “kinda.”
Episode 175 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the common informal words “sorta” and “kinda.” What do they mean, and how do you use them? Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
The topic for this episode is two very similar and very interesting words. The two words are sorta and kinda. Sorta and kinda. That's s-o-r-t-a and k-i-n-d-a. Sorta and kinda. What do these mean? What kind of words are these: sorta and kinda? They actually come from longer phrases. Sorta comes from sort of, and kinda comes from kind of.
You will not see sorta and kinda in written English very often. Mostly, you will hear sorta and kinda in casual, informal English. But unless we are being very careful, we often pronounce "sort of" as sorta, and we pronounce "kind of" as kinda. I think that it is important that you are familiar with these words because you will hear them very often. They are very common words.
What do these words mean, and how do we use them? We use sorta and kinda with adjectives to mean “a little bit” or “somewhat” or even “approximately.”
I should say that sorta and kinda can also be used with verbs. And when we use them with verbs, it has a slightly different meaning. And I might talk about using sorta and kinda with verbs on a later episode.
Sorta and kinda mean the same thing. As far as I know, there is really no difference between them. If there is a situation or a sentence where you can use sorta, you can also use kinda in the same situation or the same sentence to mean the same thing.
Let me give you some examples of sentences that use sorta or kinda.
“I know that is a famous museum, but I thought it was sorta boring.” Or “I know that is a famous museum, but I thought it was kinda boring.” In other words, I thought that museum was a little bit boring. I thought that museum was somewhat boring.
Here's another example:
“When I met my new coworkers, I thought they were sorta strange.” Or I could also say, “I thought they were kinda strange.” Again, this is just another way of saying, “I thought they were kind of strange,” or “I thought they were sort of strange.” And that means I thought they were somewhat strange. I thought they were pretty strange. I thought they were a little bit strange.
Even if you are familiar with these words—sorta and kinda—and the phrases that they come from—sort of and kind of—you might not know this about these words: we sometimes use sorta and kinda together to mean “a little bit” or “somewhat.” Let me give you an example of that interesting thing.
Let's say my friend is going to be starting a new job, and I ask my friend, “Well, are you excited about starting your new job?” And my friend answers by saying, “Kinda-sorta.” Kinda-sorta. You can put those two words together as kinda-sorta. And that means “it's a little bit true,” or “I think that a little bit” or “I agree with that somewhat.” So when I ask my friend, “ Are you excited about your new job?” and my friend answers, “Kinda-sorta,” my friend is saying, “I’m a little bit excited about my new job,” “I'm somewhat excited about my new job.”
That is sorta and kinda—and also kinda-sorta. And these are some words that I think you should know.