Tricky Words in this week's OVI
Very. English learners are familiar with this word being used as an intensifier, like the Slovak "veľmi". Adjectives which can have a scale of intensity, such as funny, interesting, embarrassing,
stupid, heavy, light, easy or difficult, can be combined with a range of intensifers from the minimum, e.g. slightly, a bit (trochu) through medium, e.g. quite, moderately, fairly (mierne, dosť,
celkom) to the maximum, e.g. very, extremely, colossally (veľmi, krajne, ohromne).
Some adjectives have no scale of intensity, because they are absolute, such as perfect or ideal (nothing can be more than perfect, although plenty can be less than…). But "very" can be used in
another sense with nouns, such as "in that very order" or "ah, the very person", "the very essence of coolness", like "pravé", "dané" or "samotné" in Slovak.
Empty