Thread: kind of

Could you explain me the "kind of" expression usage? I know it as "somehow" ,a colloquial expression. I don´t know if I have used it in these sentencesin the right way.
"My mother was also kind of a refined woman "and this would have the same meaning of a woman so refined, or such a refined woman? "They were kind of strange people"
Another question: "kind of" can be used followed by a verb?" I think I should kind of thank you for your help last month." Or " He kind of broke up when he could recover his puppy again. "
As you can notice, I am trying to learn English. I thank you a lot.
Best wishes

Yes, very colloquial. Do you speak Spanish? Would you like a Spanish expression for that?

Originally Posted by SandraT

As exx wrote, it is colloquial and yes, you can use a verb after kind of, just like the example you mention.
I am also putting a link here where you can get more examples and also the meaning.

Kind of: rather: to some (great or small) extent;
"it was rather cold"; "the party was rather nice"; "the knife is rather dull"; "I rather regret that I cannot attend"; "He's rather good at playing the cello"; "he is kind of shy"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Hope it helps!

Good explanation! I'll take some of your examples SandraT to translate them the way we say that in Spanish... at least in Argentina:

it was kind of cold: estaba como frío, estaba un tanto frío
I kind of regret that I cannot attend: Como que me arrepiento de no haber ido/asistido
He's kind of shy: es como tímido, es una tanto tímido

It's very colloquial and very much used... now thinking about it... it's an awful grammatical structure

Hope it helps!

Thank you. I would certainly like a Spanish expression. I do speak Spanish! I am from Argentine.

I thank you a lot for your help, Sandra T and Member 286. I´ll keep on studying, as you can see I am kind of confused with several English expressions.

good explanations for something that´s a bit confusing. A few other synonyms are: a little, a bit, a tad, sort of.

Gosh!!!!!! What a team we are!!!

I'm proud of you all!!

PLEASE, DO NOT CHANGE!

I certainly thank you all a lot for your useful answers.
Can I make another question?:is it right to say: I have mistaken speaking with him.? I know the verb to mistake usage like to confuse: I have mistaken Peter with John all my life. But, can we use it into another way?
My best regards