少し vs. 少々: Do You Know Which is Used As Casual?
少し and 少々 are used as the same meaning, however there are the subtle differences. Could you explain how native speakers use depending on what situations are? Let me introduce how you correctly use them today!
少し(sukoshi)
A little bit (Casual)
少し means “a little bit”. Although both 少し and 少々 is used as the meaning, 少し is more casual than 少々. Furthermore, when you want to emphasize 少し, you would be able to put “だけ” after 少し, so that would be 少しだけ. Additionally, ちょっと is also used as the same meaning as both 少し and 少々, however, ちょっと sounds much casual than 少し. Thus, you might want to use ちょっと to your only friends. 少し is not that casual, so you would be able to use it in daily conversations as casual and polite.

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少々(shoushou)
A little bit (Formal)
Again, 少々 and 少し are used as the same meaning, however, it is used in business situations as formal. Apparently, native speakers prefer 少々 to 少し in cooking such as “塩少々(a pinch of salt)”, “砂糖少々(a pinch of sugar)”, etc. And in business situations, “少々お待ちください” and “少々お待ちいただけませんか?” is quite often used in which means “I’ll be with you in a moment.” and “Would you wait a moment, please?”. Thus ちょっと is used only for your friends, 少し is used for all of the situations as both casual and polite. Lastly, 少々 is used in business situations as formal.





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