This is a question I get a lot from students and specifically this one student wanted me to answer this.

Of course, I'm Jennifer from JForrestEnglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker.

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Now, let's dive in with this video.

Let's talk about the difference between bother and disturb.

Now first we'll look at them in the context of interrupt.

So let's say that you want to talk to your professor at school, and he's in his office, and you're not sure if he's busy.

So you can knock on the door and you can say, sorry to.

Now what would we want bother or disturb?

Sorry to bother you, but sorry to disturb you, but what do you guys think bother or disturb?

Well, in this case of interrupt, they're interchangeable, they have the same meaning.

Okay, so you can use either one and there's no difference.

The only thing that I noticed is that disturb, it's more formal, and bother just sounds a little more casual.

Sorry to bother you, but I have a question.

Sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to ask you a question.

Now I think the majority of people are using it in this specific context.

However, we do have some other ways that we can use the verbs to bother or to disturb.

So let's quickly discuss those.

The verb bother also means to annoy or to cause problems for, and the sentence structure would be someone or something bothers someone.

For example, let's say I work in an open space with lots of people around me, but I like listening to music while I work.

I don't like wearing headphones.

So I'm playing music out loud at my computer, even though there are other people around.

Now maybe I could be respectful of the other people and I could ask them, Oh, is my music bothering you?

Is my music bothering you in that sense annoying you or causing problems for you?

Is my music remember something bothers someone, my music is my music bothering you.

So that's a really great question you could ask.

Now you could also make a statement about your coworkers.

For example, this is a common situation where you would use this verb.

Let's say one of your coworkers whistles all the time while they're working.

I wish I could demonstrate whistling to you but actually I don't know how to whistle.

I'll try.

That's literally the best I can do.

I've tried so many times to whistle and I just don't know how.

So now you know something weird about me.

I can't whistle.

Okay, so let's say your coworker whistles all the time while they work.

And then you could just make a statement and say, Oh, his whistling really bothers me.

His whistling really bothers me in the sense of it annoys you or causes problems for you.

In that case, we wouldn't use disturb.

Disturb doesn't really have the same meaning, it sounds a little odd to use it.

So in this specific case of something or someone bothers someone, we would use bother.

So let us know in the comments, what's something that bothers you?

Let us know in the comments.

Now we also have a specific way of using disturb.

And we use disturb specifically with one's sleep.

And it has the same meaning as interrupt like we saw with our original example.

But we use it in the sense of interrupt one's sleep.

And that's why whenever you go to a hotel, the signs say do not disturb.

The little sign you can put on your door in the morning to let them know to leave you alone.

Those signs always say do not disturb.

They don't say do not bother.

I've never seen a sign with bother, it's always disturbed.

And that's because they're talking about your sleep.

For example, let's say you come home, and then your mother tells you, close the door quietly.

I don't want to disturb your brother.

Okay, so you would have to imagine in that case, your brother is sleeping, I don't want to disturb your brother.

Now, if your brother is doing a different activity, like let's say studying.

In that case, you could use disturb or bother interchangeably.

And in that case, again, disturb is a little more formal bother is a little more casual disturb also sounds a little more serious as well.

But specific to sleeping, we would use disturb.

And now you know the difference between bother and disturb.

Remember, before you go, leave your example in the comments of something or someone that bothers you and see if you can leave an example with disturb as well just to practice.

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And until next time, happy studying.

As for me, I would say that slow drivers really bother me.

But I'm trying to work on that because I don't want to be somebody who gets bothered really easily.

So I'm trying to be a little more patient when I drive.

What about you?

What's something that bothers you?

Make sure you leave it in the comments and I'll see you in my next video.

Bye!