Are we having fun yet?

Actually, the English words fun and funny are not really much fun! For such short and common words, they cause a lot of confusion.

First off, let’s talk about parts of speech. The word fun can be used as both a noun and an adjective. The word funny is always an adjective, but it has very different, and sometimes almost opposite meanings. So if you don’t use it properly, people may misunderstand what you mean.

As a noun, fun basically means pleasure or enjoyment … it’s a very positive word.

We had fun at the beach today.

We aren’t having any fun at the beach because it’s raining.

Notice that fun is a non-count noun. It’s always singular. You can’t have funs.

A very common expression is fun and games. This phrase means something enjoyable, not something that literally includes both fun and games. It’s often used in a slightly negative sense. See these examples.

Having a dog was all fun and games until he chewed up my favorite sweater.

English class isn’t all fun and games, you know … wait until the teacher gives the first exam!

Fun is also often used as an adjective. For example:

We had a fun time.

He’s a fun person. He’s fun to be with. (We always have fun when we’re with him.)

Notice that the adjective fun is not gradable; that means, you can’t say something is funner or funnest. It’s also a bit informal. In written English, you might want to consider using enjoyable, amusing, or delightful instead.

Since we’ve been having so much fun talking about fun, let’s move on to funny.

Funny is always used as an adjective but it has more than one meaning.

First of all, funny can mean something that makes you laugh. I call this ha ha funny. We like funny movies; they make us laugh. This man is funny; he makes her laugh because he tells funny jokes. This book is funny; its reader is laughing. Funny is not used, though, to describe something that is just enjoyable. The adjective fun (or synonyms such as amusing, enjoyable, or delightful) should be used instead. Look at these examples.

Don’t say:  I had a funny time at the beach.   Instead, say:  I had a fun time at the beach. Or, I had fun at the beach.

Don’t say:  I had a funny vacation.  Instead, say:  I had a fun vacation. Or, my vacation was fun. Or, I had fun on vacation.

Don’t say:  The ride at Disney World is so funny.  Instead, say:  The ride at Disney World is so much fun.

The adjective funny also has some very different meanings. Funny can describe something that is strange, peculiar, unsettling, unexpected, surprising, or suspicious. Here are some examples:

My stomach feels funny. I’m afraid I might be getting sick.

Your voice sounds funny. Do you have a cold?

That’s funny. I thought I left my car keys on this table, but now they’re not here.

That man is acting kind of funny. I hope he’s not planning to rob the store.

I heard a funny noise downstairs and I went down to see what it was. I thought it might be a robber but it was only my cat.

Finally, you might wonder about my title, “Are we having fun yet?” It came to my mind without knowing exactly where I’d heard it before. So I did a little research and it turns out that it’s a line from a comic strip character called Zippy the Pinhead. This expression is ironic. It says the opposite of what you feel. So when you ask, “Are we having fun yet?” that means that you aren’t having much if any fun at all. Which may be how you feel about learning the meanings of fun and funny!