Hi, I have a little stupid question…What does mean pretty in this phrase?:
They had also built pretty little houses for their families.
I wonderd if I could interpret:
They had also built fairly little houses or They had also built nice/beautiful/cute little houses??
I will appreciate your help with this situation.
“They had also built fairly little houses” - No
“They had also built nice/beautiful/cute little houses” - Yes, correct
You would use “pretty” to mean “fairly” in something like
Yeah I come here pretty often
That’s pretty damn funny
Pretty stupid, eh?
Adding to what spatterson said, “pretty” is a way of kind of distancing yourself from a statement or decreasing the tone of the word. For example, “I’m pretty good at speaking German.” (You are trying to not be arrogant and downplay your fluency or proficiency)
“She’s pretty dumb.” (A “nicer” way of calling somebody dumb; you’re not directly calling her dumb)
Is the C2 test for English hard? You must be really smart to have passed it!
“It’s pretty hard.” (Downplaying your fluency, again)
@Spatterson
OK! Reading your explanation, I notice that this term have two function: adverbial function and adjectival function…doesn’t it?
@Cazasigiloso
Oh, If you had not let me know this usage, I could not know it ever! It will very useful for me:)
Thank you both so much!!!
Adverbial, Adjectival… big words give me a headache. I think that’s a pretty fair assumption (See what I did there?).
One more thing to note, you’ll mostly find pretty (meaning “fairly”) in informal speech or texts. You wouldn’t write an email to your boss saying:
“I am pretty sure we have the problem solved”
or… at least I wouldn’t write it like that.
The examples we (caza and I) gave are common informal phrases.
Pretty is actually quite versatile (maybe even the second most versatile word I know!).
“She’s pretty hot”
You’re actually saying she’s very attractive. The pretty here is used to emphasize “hot”.
haha, thank you! You explained very clearly with specific examples!
So after this lesson, I would not make a mess of replying to boss with “pretty” ;D.
Thanks again!
@patterson: Is English your native language?! Or is it Swiss German, Italian, French, or Romansch?
Yeah, English is definitely my native language. I just happen to live in Switzerland.
Ok, good. I was getting a little freaked out! I thought you were one of those guys that hadn’t been abroad and learned English as a foreign language to a VERY high level.
Do you live in the Swiss German, French, or Italian part?
I’m in the Swiss German part – Zurich. I have met several Swiss people around my age (late 20s) who work in English, watch English TV shows, etc and their English is excellent. They know are common slang and idioms… it’s quite amazing. But I am having fun teaching them some of the more obscure southern American slang (think “larry the cable guy” or Jeff Foxworthy).
I’ve actually never been in the South but the accent is pretty obvious to a native American, I think. Do you guys really say “ya’ll” a lot? I’m not a big fan of Larry the Cable guy but maybe that’s because I don’t watch tv! Jeff Foxworthy is Southern? Had me fooled.
In this context, pretty means beautiful.
They had also built pretty little houses for their families. In other words, they had also built beautiful little houses for their families.
English is my native language.
@caza - Well I’m actually not Southern (at least I don’t consider myself to be). I grew up in Buffalo NY. But yeah, they really say “ya’ll” and “ole” (for oil) and a lot of other weird sayings. I’m not a fan of Larry either but my brother is… so I’ve been exposed. And don’t let Jeff Foxworthy fool you. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from my Alma Mater Georgia Tech – he’s actually a genius in disguise.
ole? Never heard of that before. I mistook Jeff Foxworthy for Michael J Fox–I meant that his accent didn’t sound Southern. (I was thinking of Michael J Fox’s voice)
Do ya’ll say “reckon” a lot, too?
Yeah the old joke is they “bole” water and put “ole” in their cars. Hmm… I don’t know about “reckon” I’d have to ask my brother about that one. He’s the “redneck” in the family – or at least has more native Southern friends. Most of my friends in Atlanta were international students… “fixin to” have you heard that one? “wer fixin’ ta’eat” Or “Did you eat yet” becomes one word “Dicha-Eayet” I probably butchered that one
Yeah the old joke is they “bole” water and put “ole” in their cars. Hmm… I don’t know about “reckon” I’d have to ask my brother about that one. He’s the “redneck” in the family – or at least has more native Southern friends. Most of my friends in Atlanta were international students… “fixin to” have you heard that one? “wer fixin’ ta’eat” Or “Did you eat yet” becomes one word “Dicha-Eayet” I probably butchered that one
They had also built pretty little houses for their families.
I dnt think “pretty” in the sentence is beautifuI, pretty in this sentence is an adverb which modifies for “IittIe” it means “quite” or “rather”
No, I can’t agree with that explanation. If you look at the context:
“Other men, also looking for gold, had reached the Stanislau hills of California many years before I did. They had built a town in the valley with sidewalks and stores, banks and schools. They had also built pretty little houses for their families.”
This is a story. And these few lines are talking about how a nice beautiful town sprung up – everything was picturesque. The storyteller is not saying:
“Other men came. They built sidewalks, stores, banks, schools. And then they built really small houses”
It just doesn’t fit the context.
“Fixing to”, yes, I’ve heard it.
Regarding the “pretty little houses”, I concur with spatterson; they are saying that the houses look GOOOOODDD. 