sea,seaside,beach...? Hello guys and girls! In my last session with a teacher I was talking about my habits and my life in general and I said something like: "In summer we use to go to the sea", and t

Dario

sea,seaside,beach...? Hello guys and girls! In my last session with a teacher I was talking about my habits and my life in general and I said something like: "In summer we use to go to the sea", and the teacher looked at me and said :"you mean to the beach?", and I said like : "Oh yes,that's what I meant to say,sorry". The problem is when I think of it now it doesn't seam right (not that it's not correct)to me, I mean because of the context. That's because what I was trying to say is that "In summer we usually go to the seaside" because I live inland and the coast is a few hundred miles away from my house and "I'm going to the beach" sounds to me like I'm already at the seaside and the beach is maybe a few yards away. Can someone clarify this for me please. Should have I said "to the seaside" instead of "to the sea" in the first place? Is it wrong to say "to the sea", does it sound to a native english speaker like we are going sailing? Thank you.

Jan 14, 2015 1:42 PM

Answers · 12

You are right. 'In summer, we usually go to the seaside.' is the correct expression. Note that the form 'use to go' doesn't exist. There is no present tense form of the past habitual 'used to go'. In the present tense, we use the present simple, with or without an appropriate adverb. But back to the seaside. Yes, you are absolutely correct. If you live inland, you would say 'seaside'. In fact, native speakers would almost never say 'go to the sea'. If you are already at the beach, you might say 'go on the sea' for a boat or windsurfer, for example, or 'go in the sea' to swim. It would be very unusual to find a context where 'go to the sea' might fit. You might like to look at an almost identical question which came up recently: http://www.italki.com/question/277210

January 14, 2015

In US English, we often use "beach" as a substitute for the "seaside", which is a word we rarely use. We would say, "I'm going to the beach for my vacation." meaning "I don't live near the ocean but I'm going there" to a house, hotel etc. we also use "beach" to mean the strip of sand next to the water. So you "go to the beach" meaning specifically to the side of the ocean once you have arrived for your vacation. The meaning of "beach" thus depends on the context.

January 14, 2015

jeste, trebao si reći 'to the seaside'/'ići na more' za nas kontinentalce. 'to the sea' be značilo da si već na moru i sad ideš ploviti (nisam sigurna za ovo, ali za prvo poprilično;))

January 14, 2015