Learn English – What’s the difference between ‘that’s true’ and ‘that’s right’ in English

adjectivesdifferencemeaning-in-contextword-usage

'He is good at English,'

'That's true.'

And:

'He is good at English,'

'That's right.'

According to Collins dictionary,
right is defined as:

If something is right, it is correct and agrees with the facts.

true is defined as:

If something is true, it is based on facts rather than being invented or imagined, and is accurate and reliable.

They seem both refer to concrete fact, what's the difference between them? Any opinion is appreciated, thanks.

Best Answer

If there is a nuanced difference, true refers to the utterance (the statement is factual) and right refers to the person's understanding (your understanding is correct).

We tend not to say

His statement was right.

but

His statement was true.

and

He was right.

And even when we say "No, that's not right" after someone says something we know to be incorrect, when we say "That's not right" the meaning is "you have gotten it wrong". We're not saying that the statement is "false" because it could actually be more complicated than a simple binary true/false. We're referring to the speaker's understanding (or misunderstanding) of something.