Hello, everyone, and welcome to The English Like A Native Podcast, the podcast that's designed to help you to improve your English! My name is Anna. And today, you're gonna have to bear with me while I try and pick apart the differences between these two words‘bear’ and‘bare’. These two words are, you've guessed it, homophones. They sound the same bare/beə/, bear/beə/, but they have different spellings and meanings. So, let's have a look at the spelling first! BARE version 1. B-A-R-E. BEAR version 2. B-E-A-R. Now put your hand in the air. If homophones cause you problems. Are they confusing for you? I can tell you right now, my hand is in the air. Homophones are not just confusing for learners of English. But they're also confusing for natives too. We understand the meaning but when it comes to writing them down, we're sometimes unsure which version of the word to use. So, in the case of‘bear with me’, which is a common phrase that we use, which version of bear do we do we choose? Well, let's work it out together. So, let's start with the most commonly used word. And that is the word‘bear’, B-E-A-R. First of all, it's a noun, think about a big grizzly bear a big furry, her bear coming out of the woods. If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you'll never believe your eyes, because you're going to see the teddy bears’ picnic. So,‘bear’ also acts as a verb. Okay, so it means‘to carry something’, or‘to put up with something’. Now to put up with is another way of saying‘tolerate’. It's a phrasal verb for‘tolerate’, or‘to endure’. So, I always think of a very strong bear. He's so strong, and bears generally are quite strong, aren't they? He's so strong that he can carry things. He can endure all sorts of hardship, he can put up with a lot. He can tolerate a lot. So always connect this vision of a big strong grizzly bear. Being able to hold on to things you can even think about a bear hug.‘A bear hug’ is a huge embrace where someone really wraps their arms around you and gives you the biggest tightest hug or sometimes it's lovely to get a bear hug from somebody isn't it? So, bear, B-E-A-R, think about strong bear carrying things tolerating things and enduring hardships can put up with anything. Now the other word bear B-A-R-E. This one is an adjective, which means to be naked or uncovered or empty. So, you might think about the cupboards are bare. Oh no, the cupboards are bare. What are we going to eat today? Or you can think about being completely bare, having a bare bottom.“I don't want anyone to look at my bare bottom.” It actually reminds me of a clothing brand. That provides tights very woolly tights for babies and toddlers. And they tend to put an animal's face on the bottom area of the tights. And it always makes me laugh to see the bear face on the bottom of children because I think it's like a pun. A bare bottom. It's like a visual pun. A bear bum. It's not a bear bomb. It's not a naked bomb, but it is a bear on a bomb. It's a bear bum. So, that that's confusing because there I'm thinking about the animal the bear but actually, it's insinuating the other version of bare the adjective naked B-A-R-E. Is your head spinning yet? Now the other problem with bare B-A-R-E is that it can also be a verb. And in a verb form it means to reveal. So, think about making yourself naked, to show yourself to someone I'm going to bare all, it means I'm going to reveal all I'm going‘to bare my soul’ is a common phrase, going to bare my soul to the world and tell them exactly how I'm feeling what I'm thinking, this is who I am, I'm going to bare all in a revealing interview. Another common phrase is“bare minimum”. If you have the bare minimum, it means it's you've got the least possible amount of something. So for example, I might say when I'm travelling, I like to travel light. So I take the bare minimum with me, I take the least possible amount of things with me, I like to travel with just one backpack. So I'll take the bare minimum. So that's a common phrase with B-A-R-E. But what are some common phrases with the grrr version, the B-E-A-R version? Well, bear with me, I said at the beginning of this podcast, bear with me is a very common phrase, you might hear it on the phone, you might hear it in informal situations, if you're waiting for someone, or in formal situations, in a shop, perhaps, in a restaurant, or in an office environment, and it means‘be patient with me’,‘just wait for a minute’, I'm trying to do something in order to then be able to help you. So, I might say,“Please bear with me while I turn on my computer, we need to book a date into the diary. But bear with me, while I turn the computer on, it will take just a few minutes.” Another common phrase is“to bear something in mind”. So you might tell someone,“Bear this in mind”. And it means‘remember this’,‘think of this’,‘keep this in your head’. So I could say,“Bear in mind that your brother is only two, you must be patient with him.” I might say that to Jacob actually because his brother is nearly two. And Jacob can sometimes be a little impatient with his little brother. So I have to say,“Jacob”, you know,“bear in mind, Caspian is only two. Well, he soon to be two, but he's not as big as you are. So you have to be gentle with him.” What other phrases are there? Well, you could“bear the brunt of something”, usually you're bearing the brunt of an impact. Or if someone's anger, that's how it's commonly used“to bear the brunt”. And it may it means to take the full impact of something. So imagine a car crash, what is going to take the full impact? Well, it's whatever is hit first, I imagine. So if it was a lamppost, the car crashes into a lamppost and then into a fence and then bashes into another car, the lamppost will take the full brunt, it will bear the brunt of that impact, is the first thing that takes the full impact of that car. So I might come into the office one day, really angry and say to you,“Oh, if anyone says a word to me, they will bear the brunt of my anger.” I mean, that scenario is never going to happen, because well, I'm a happy smiley person. I'm very, very rarely angry, especially not with other people. So, another phrase that you could use is“to bear weight”. And this just means‘to support weight’. So for example, if I've just put a few sticks together in the garden to work out of frame, and I've gone to get the drill and the screws to pin it all together. And then I see Jacob, my three-year-old trying to climb on it, I'd say,“Oh, Jacob, no, don't climb on that frame. It's not ready to bear weight yet. It can't support weight, it's not ready to bear weight just yet.“Hang on. Bear with me while I go and get the drill. And bear in mind that I still have to paint it. So even when I have drilled it altogether, you'll have to wait while I give it a lick of paint.” You can also“bear pain”. So you can‘bear the pain’ it means‘to endure pain’. Or you might be you might say I can't bear it. Oh, it's so painful. I can't bear it. For example,“I won't have my legs waxed because I can't bear the pain.” And that's true. I find waxing to be quite brutal, quite painful. I think maybe I have very sensitive skin So I can't bear it, I won't have it done. Or I might say to my partner,“Please turn off that music. I can't bear listening to it anymore. I can't tolerate it, I can't endure it. It's just not my style of music. It's too loud. And I've got a headache.” And the final phrase that comes to mind is‘to bear fruit’. If something bears fruit, it means that it shows positive results, it yields positive results. So, for example,“Your hard work will pay off and your business will eventually bear fruit.” Just imagine a cherry tree. I'm looking at my cherry tree in the garden right now as I speak. Imagine a cherry tree you buy it as a tiny little sapling, a teeny tiny little thing. You grow it over the years, you give it light and warmth and nice fertilised soil, you water it. And after many years of all that hard work, it eventually bears fruit. It gives me fruit, it holds fruit, it rewards me. And then I eat all the cherries. If the animals in the garden don't eat all the cherries before me. So hopefully that gives you a clearer idea of how we use‘bear’ versus‘bare’ naked. Thank you guys for bearing with me while we dived deep into the differences between‘bear’ and‘bare’. 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