第233期：absolutely or definitely

昨天一位朋友给我讲了件事，说起去年冬天全家去瑞士度假时住在当地人的一间小木屋里。小屋主人跟他们介绍房间设施，厨具在哪里，餐具在哪里，介绍刀具时，嘱咐他们千万不要让小孩碰那些刀。朋友回答说Absolutely. 结果小木屋主人盯着他愣了一下。因此朋友感觉自己用错了词，不知那个场合是不是应该说definitely.

今天我们就来讲讲absolutely和definitely的区别。

英语近义词辨析是中学英语老师的强项，但这两个词你搜遍中国的网络，也找不到一篇能讲清楚的文章。这种辨析不是佛老的强项，因此佛老专程在几个外国英语论坛和网站上学习了一下，总结如下。

首先，absolutely和definitely在绝大多数情况下完全相等，可替换度大概在99.9%的程度，仅有非常轻微的差别。

1. When the question is about something you or somebody has a control over, it is answered with ‘definitely’. 如果问题是关于人能控制的事物时，用definitely回答。

例句：

Can you look into this problem? — Definitely.

你能查一下这个问题吗？– 当然。（这时，用definitely较自然。也可以说sure, certainly.）

2. When referring to something outside one’s jurisdiction, like natural laws, absoluteness can be attributed. 在指超出人的控制能力，例如自然法则之类的事物时，用absolutely.

例句：

Are you sure Jim is here? — Absolutely.

你肯定Jim在这儿？– 当然了。（这时的absolutely强调的是“你”对”Jim在这儿“这件事的肯定，没有疑问。）

（以上参考了https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/63382/definitely-vs-absolutely部分内容）

你可以简单地理解definitely强调你的主观态度，absolutely强调事情的确定程度。

Quora上有很多人问这个问题，也有很多回答。大多数人的看法是absolutely和definitely完全没有区别。

一位Quora答者说：（John Platts on Quora）

I ask two people “Has Brexit been a disaster?” One says “Absolutely.” The other says “Definitely.” They both mean the same thing: that they are in complete agreement with the statement implied by my question. Similarly, if they’d said “Absolutely not” and “Definitely not”, they’d be saying the same thing.

另一位答者说：（Aidrian Bridgeman-Sutton on Quora）

However “My dog is definitely mad” does not mean the same thing as “My dog is absolutely mad”; definitely means there is no doubt about his madness, where as “absolutely” expresses the degree to which he is mad

这个意见的意思是，definitely强调确信确定没疑问，而absolutely强调描述的情况的程度。这是目前佛老在网上能找到的最直接的解释了。

说回朋友的那个故事，我的看法是他当时回答说absolutely或definitely都没错。小木屋的主人之所以愣了一下，我猜有三个原因。第一，absolutely这个词是美国人最爱用，欧洲人很少说（相对而言）。第二，瑞士人的母语有四种，德语、法语、意大利语和罗曼什语。英语不是母语的人猛地听到一个他不常听到的词，愣一下是正常反应。第三，absolutely在口语中单独使用时的确容易产生语义不清的歧义和误会。尤其在表达“肯定不会”这种意思时，只说一个absolutely或definitely其实意思都不太清楚。最好不这样说。

顺便推荐一个很好的英语学习字典：牛津英语学习字典 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com，英语解释简洁明了，例句多。

据这本字典的解释，absolutely is used to emphasize that something is completely true.

而definitely is a way of emphasizing that something is true and that there is no doubt about it； in a way that is certain or that shows that you are certain.

另一个英语学习网站Two-Miniute English网站上有两组对话，也可以加强对这两个词的辨析。

Definitely

Definitely can be used to express definite manner, complete agreement or strong affirmation.

Conversation

Mary:Marc, did you call your mother?

Marc:Not yet. I’ll definitely call her in the evening. I’m sure she’s fine.

Mary:I’ll most definitely not accept any excuse this time. I want you to call her right now.

Marc:What’s the hurry? I told you I’ll definitely do it once I’m back from work.

Mary:Your relatives are coming over. They’ll definitely ask you for some news about her. Do you think it’ll be pretty to tell them that you have no idea?

Marc:Definitely not. I’ll call her now.

Absolutely

Absolutely is used to express that there’s no exception or to emphatically express complete agreement.

Conversation

Mary:I absolutely want to do this, Marc.

Marc:Do you have any idea of what you are saying? Why do you want to resign?

Mary:I think I’ve made my reasons for resigning absolutely clear.

Marc:I understand your reasons, Mary. But we had been considering you for a promotion.

Mary:I absolutely understand that it will be a great loss for me to leave at this point. I just can’t stay any longer.

Marc:It’s your final word then.

Mary:Absolutely!

（上面这两段对话摘自http://twominenglish.com/video/205-Sure_Certainly_Definitely_Absolutely_English_G.html）

这个网站上还有讲解这两个词的教学视频。

综上所述，我的朋友在瑞士说的那句absolutely并没有说错，这个场景中和definitely可以互换使用。只是，他描述的那个场景中，更好的建议是说一个完整的句子，而不是说一个词。例如，小屋主人说千万别让孩子碰那些刀。我的朋友说：We will certainly not let the kid touch them. Thank you for the reminder. It’s very kind of you. 这样就没有任何歧义了。

毕竟，absolutely这个词对非英语为母语的欧洲人而言，听上去有点突兀。甚至有人说，你可以认为absolutely主要是一个美国英语的单词。

最后，说一个有趣的语言问题。

我们讲了这么多absolutely，你知道这个词怎么发音吗？

OK，你知道美国英语中这个词怎么发音吗？

美国语言学家Ann Cook有本书专门教美国英语的，从发音和语调开始。字母“t”在美国英语中的发音是大多数没有经过美国英语发音训练的人不明白的。t这个音在美国英语中有好几种发音，例如absolutely这个词中的t，在美国英语中就不是t，而是变成了d，或者失去te所在的那个音节，听上去像absoludly或者absolu_ly.

对美国英语发音感兴趣的同学可以试着读下面这几个小句子：

What a good idea. [w’d’ güdäi deey’] Put it in a bottle. [pü di di n’ bäd’l] Get a better water heater. [gedda bedder wäder heeder]

Put all the data in the computer. [püdall the dayd’ in the k’mpyuder]

Patty ought to write a better letter. [pædy äd’ ride a bedder ledder]

上面这些句子中，按照美国英语的发音，没有一个t的声音。每个句子后面标注的是美国英语发音的模拟。

对美国英语有兴趣的同学可以参考Ann Cook的官方网站：http://www.americanaccent.com

祝大家学习愉快。