Too / Either / Neither / So – What’s the difference?
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Level: Beginner Reading Time: 4 minutes Category: Vocabulary
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In this lesson:
Today we are talking about agreeing with people when we have a conversation.
This is something that we often do, because finding things in common is awesome and it helps us become friends.
In English, we have four very common phrases that help us to show that we agree with what someone said, but they are a little tricky to get right.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to use them perfectly and speak with confidence!
Phrases for agreeing with people.
In English, there are lots of different ways to agree or disagree with people.
Some of the ways to do this can be pretty complicated, but today we are focussing on the 4 easiest phrases:
- Me too
- So do I
- Me neither
- Me either
These are the easiest ones to use so they are also the most used ones. Let’s take a look in detail.
So do I
“So do I” is a really simple phrase.
It is a way of saying,
“I, as a person, completely feel the same way about that thing that you just said”
but only using three little words.
You need to be careful though, because sometimes you need to change the verb in the middle. This depends on the conversation. Check out these examples:
- I play baseball – So do I
- I am from the UK – So am I
- I can speak English – So can I
Changing the verb can make this a little tricky to use perfectly, so if you want an even easier phrase, check out “me too”.
Me too.
Me too is even easier to use than the last phrase because you don’t have to change anything.
You just say it and it works perfectly. It has the exact same meaning and it’s super easy to remember because it is only two words. Here are some examples:
- I love pizza – Me too
- I hate long flights – Me too
- I want to buy a PS5 – Me too
The only thing you need to think about [and so do i] is that you can only really use this to agree with affirmative sentences.
We use a totally different phrase when we want to agree with negative statements. We use “me neither.”
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Me Neither.
Me neither is like the negative version of me too.
It is used to agree with sentences that have the word not in them. Here are some examples:
- I don’t like summer – Me neither
- I don’t have a dog – Me neither
- I haven’t done my homework – Me neither.
Neither is the combination of not and either. Neither means that both options are not good.
Imagine this situation. Person A doesn’t like classical music. Person B doesn’t like classical music. In that case, neither person likes classical music.
Me Either.
This one is a bit more tricky to use, and you probably won’t use it too much.
99% of the time you should use me neither, however if you really want to use me either, it needs to be used in a sentence that has “not” in it. Check out these examples…
- Wednesday is no good for the meeting, I’m too busy. – Actually, it’s no good for me either.
- I didn’t go to the supermarket yesterday. – I didn’t go either. I was too tired.
- I don’t want to eat curry today – I kinda don’t want curry either. Let’s order pizza.
The reason for this is that if you have not and neither in the same sentence, you have 2 negatives and this is a big no-no in English. Double negatives usually have the opposite meaning and you should try not to do that. Look at this sentence.
I didn’t go neither. = I did not go not either = I did go
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