Same as & the same as

[hoangkha]

Hi!
Is same as the same as or not the same as the same as, please?

[5jj]

hoangkha, your question is almost incomprehensible. Please use italics or quotation marks for words or phrases you are asking about, as I have:

Is same as the same as or not the same as the same as, please?
Is 'same as' the same as or not the same as 'the same as', please?

It would be even clearer as:

Does 'same as' mean exactly the same as 'the same as'?

[Raymott]

Hi!
Is same as the same as or not the same as the same as, please?

And the answer is "No". At least, they are used differently, in colloquial speech.
Do you have a proper sentence with "...same as ..." without 'the'? If you don't, then the question is pointless.

[hoangkha]

One day he got up, had breakfast and went to work, same as usual.

[Raymott]

One day he got up, had breakfast and went to work, same as usual.

OK, that's simply a colloquial way of saying "... the same as usual" or "... as he usually does." There's no difference in meaning.
I wouldn't use "same as..." in a formal essay though.

It's often used as a short informal answer:

A: How are you?
B: Same as usual.

A: How's work?
B: Same as always.

[BobK]

OK, that's simply a colloquial way of saying "... the same as usual" or "... as he usually does." ...

Or even '...and went to work, as usual.' There's a literary tendency, used by some authors, to make the 'usual' into an adjective: 'One day he got up and had his usual breakfast' - but this is rather too fancy for my liking. It also works best when there's only one complement.

b