Today I’d like to write about the difference between “fast” and “early”. I don’t know about other languages, but in Japanese they use the same word for both ideas.
The word “fast” is used to mean that someone does something quickly. For example:
I can run very fast. I won many races when I did track and field in high school.
Paul works very fast. He completed his last project in less than two weeks.
Wow! You got here really fast! There must have been very little traffic.
The word “early” is used to mean that someone arrives ahead of the scheduled time. For example:
I came early for the party because I thought I could help you get ready for it.
I like to get to work early. It gives me a chance to do some things without having a lot of people around.
Spring is early this year. Normally it doesn’t begin for three more weeks.
If you have trouble understanding the difference between these two words, think about it like this: “fast” is about the speed of something or someone and “early” is about when something or someone arrives.
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