Saiba as diferenças entre "though", "thought", "tough", "through" e "thorough"

Well, you've probably read or heard one of these palavras em inglês, ou words somewhere, but be honest: did you know what it meant or did you just keep over and try to understand the context?

If you skipped, know that you're not alone because these words are all very similar and even native speakers fall into traps with them from time to time. That’s why we've decided to show you each one both the meaning and some examples so you can finally understand once and for all what each one means.

Tough

Let's begin with “tough”. This is an adjective and it means hard resistant or difficult, a synonym of hard. Imagine an undercooked steak, tough to chew, right? Tough is the perfect word for that situation. Let's see some other examples.

  • This steak is too tough to eat.

  • She's a tough girl.

  • The exam was a tough one.

Though

Now let's move on to the next one, “though”. Though would be similar to but, although or even though. Generally this word is related to cause and effect phrases, even if one thing happens, the other will still occur. Here are some examples;

  • Though I was tired, I finished the race.

  • She's smart though a bit shy.

  • Even though it rained we had a great picnic.

Thought

Continuing with the next word in English: adding an extra T at the end of the word we have “thought”. This one is more common to encounter. Thought is the past simple form of the verb to think, in this case, it can be used to conjugate the verb in the past as well as to refer to a thought, an idea or a reflection. Let's see how to use the word in examples:

  • I thought about it for a long time.

  • She thought the movie was amazing.

  • He thought he had the answer.

You notice that in the first three words we only had the confusion between T-H and G. Now let's better understand the words that also have the letter R. 

Through

The first one is “through”. Through means something that goes from one side to the other, it can also mean that one thing is passing through another. Examples will make it easier to understand:

  • I walked through the park.

  • She worked through the night to finish the project.

Thorough

Now let's see the word “thorough”. This is an adjective used to say that something was done impeccably. You can also use this word to describe something as detailed or thorough. Look at the following examples:

  • The police conducted a thorough investigation.

  • She gave the report a thorough view.

  • He has a thorough understanding of the subject we were talking about.

Throughout

And finally, “throughout”. Throughout is the last sister of this family of words, it is an adverb that means during a period throughout. We use it normally when we need to say that something happened from beginning to end or for a specific duration of time. For example: 

  • There was music playing throughout the party.

  • She traveled throughout Europe.

  • The book explores the concept of happiness throughout history.

Palavras parecidas em inglês não precisam mais ser um desafio

I hope that helped to clarify the words "though", "thought", "tough", "through", "thorough" a bit more. My tip is: pick one of them and try to use it in your daily life. Once you're comfortable with it, move on to the next one. Another tip is to follow the order I gave you, first the three words without R and then the other three with R. Also, try to find these words in songs, because depending on the singer's accent, you may hear the same word differently.

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