“It's a bit intimidating.”

English Lesson: It's a bit intimidating.

You've been offered a job in another country. You're telling your friend about it. You're going to take the job and you're excited, but it's also a little bit scary. You say this about how you're feeling.

It's a bit intimidating.

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a bit (adjective)

"A bit" is similar to "a little", "kind of" or "somewhat". It's used when you want to lessen the degree of a description:

He's a bit shorter than me.

He has a video of me from when we were in college that's a bit embarrassing.

"A bit" is used for adjectives that are negative. So you wouldn't say that an event was "a bit fun" or that a person is "a bit nice". But you can say that the event was "a bit boring" and the person is "a bit rude".

"A bit" is slightly formal. It's more formal than "kind of" or "a little", but more casual than "somewhat":

kind of > a little > a bit > somewhat

(something) is intimidating

Something that is "intimidating" is a little scary, but not too scary. It's something that you're a bit frightened of, but you will be able to handle it. Some things that you might consider intimidating include:

  • speaking in front of a large audience
  • having a meeting with the director of your department at work
  • talking to native speakers of your second language
  • starting a business