Learn English – What does let oneself into somewhere mean

idiomslet

One of my friends has explained the following to clear the difference between these.

Nevertheless, I cannot understand them, well. In addition, are they correct?

Sophie let herself quickly into the red house.

Sophie quickly went into the red house.
ANSWERS

They pretty much mean the same thing. Except that Sophie quickly went into the red house could mean that someone else let her in, too.

To let oneself into implies an unlocking or at least physical opening of the entrance, not just entering.

to let someone in' is not necessarily the same as 'to go in' or 'to allow in'. It means someone has eg opened the door or unlocked the door.

Best Answer

Let someone in or let someone out means to enable someone to come in or get out of somewhere.

Hi, the door is locked. Could you let me in, please?
Hey! I want to go home! Let me out of here!

If you would address me with these lines, I could let you in to my house, or I could let you out of the cage.

As a result, you would probably get into my house, or get out of the cage.

Now, if the person that you let in or out is yourself, then you do not need anyone else to allow you or enable you to get into or out of something. So if you have the key to my house and to the cage, you can say:

Hi, the door was locked. I let myself in.
I wanted to go home, so I let myself out of there.