Both words mean “living, not dead”, but they go in different places. Alive comes after a verb: The fish is still alive. Live comes before a noun: live animals. Live also means “performed or broadcast as it happens”: live music, a live broadcast.
alive or live — can you pick the right one?
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be/stay + alive; keep + somebody + alive; still alive; alive and well; live + animals/fish/plants; live + music/broadcast/match; be shown/played + live
- The doctors worked all night to keep the patient alive.
- We found a small bar with live music and stayed there until midnight.
- The restaurant keeps live lobsters in a big tank near the entrance.
What changed
First versionWe had dinner at a café with alive music last Saturday.
RevisionWe had dinner at a café with live music last Saturday.
Alive and live look like two forms of the same word, so alive music can seem fine. But alive doesn't go before a noun, and music played right in front of you is live music.
The adjective live rhymes with five, while the verb live rhymes with give: We live near a bar with live music. When talking about people, the usual word before a noun is living: She is my oldest living relative.
Your turn
My grandma's cat is nineteen, and he's still ___ and well.
Show the answer
alive — The word comes after is and describes the cat, so you need alive. Alive and well is a fixed phrase meaning “still living and healthy”. Live in the sense of “living” goes before a noun and doesn't work like this after a verb.
Describe a visit to a market, an aquarium or a zoo. Use live before the name of an animal and alive after a verb.
At the fish market they sold live crabs, and my son couldn't believe they were still alive.
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