The position of ''really'' in sentence (2025)

Ex: He is really happy.
He really is happy.
I know both sentences are correct.But I wonder which sentence is more commom in spoken Engilsh?

Thanks for help.

The meaning of 'really' changes depending on its location.

"He is really happy" means that he is very happy.
(You can't say 'He very is happy' though!)

In your example "He really is happy," 'really' means the same as 'truly.'

It depends on what you are implying with the sentence.

"He is really happy" means "He is extremely happy" whereas "He really is happy" means "He is actually happy."

edval89 said:

The meaning of 'really' changes depending on its location.

"He is really happy" means that he is very happy.
(You can't say 'He very is happy' though!)

In your example "He really is happy," 'really' means the same as 'truly.'

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Thanks,you guys really help me a lot.

In my opinion, it's not very well represented in text. They both mean the same thing, to be honest. Their meaning changes depending on which word is stressed. For instance...

"He is really happy" can mean "he is truly happy" just as much as "he really is happy" can.

Toadie said:

In my opinion, it's not very well represented in text. They both mean the same thing, to be honest. Their meaning changes depending on which word is stressed. For instance...

"He is really happy" can mean "he is truly happy" just as much as "he really is happy" can.

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Good point, I agree. Although I wouldn't say that "He really is happy" could mean "He is very happy" with special emphasis, or could it?

edval89 said:

Good point, I agree. Although I wouldn't say that "He really is happy" could mean "He is very happy" with special emphasis, or could it?

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He is very happy means that he is extremely happy, which is not quite the same thing as he is really happy which means he is truly happy but not necessarily extremely happy.

Orange Blossom

Toadie said:

At the highest usage levels, you're right, they don't mean the exact same thing, but you have to admit, in everyday speech, really and very are practically the exact same thing.

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I agree with Toadie here. The dictionary agrees as well.

paulochine said:

I don't think "he really is happy" is right,I never heard it.

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Hi paulochine,

It is correct though. As the others said, it means he is very happy.

Cheers!

Being a non-native English Speaker,I have to admit that ''He is really happy'' is a easier way to pronounce than ''He really is happy''.

I was wondering whether a native speaker has the same feeling.

Toadie said:

There aren't too many things that a native speaker finds hard to pronounce, except something like a tongue-twister, or a really long word.

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Thanks for yuor reply.
I got it^-^

kenny4528 said:

Being a non-native English Speaker,I have to admit that ''He is really happy'' is a easier way to pronounce than ''He really is happy''.

I was wondering whether a native speaker has the same feeling.

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Hi,

Not really. Neither one seems more difficult than the other to me. They're both commonly used; they just have slightly different meanings.

Cheers!