Think of adverbs as modifiers: they modify elements of a sentence (verbs, adjectives, other adverbs). Adverbs answer questions such as "where?", "when?", "how long?", "how much?", or just "how?".
Spanish adverbs are easy to spot, because many of them of them have the ending "-mente", which is similar to the English ending "-ly". Because adverbs don´t modify nouns or pronouns (that is the adjectives job) , you don´t have to worry about gender or number agreement.
Adverbs of place express where the verb action is carried out.
- Él va delante. (He is going in front.)
- Vete más acá (Come near here.)
- Jaime está arriba. (Jaime is upstairs.)
- Madrid no está lejos. (Madrid is not far.)
Adverbs of place |
abajo |
down, downstairs |
arriba |
up, upstairs |
afuera |
out, outside |
adentro |
inside |
cerca |
near |
lejos |
far |
atrás/detrás |
behind |
adelante |
forward |
debajo |
under |
delante |
in front |
enfrente |
opposite |
alrededor |
around |
junto |
next to |
aquí |
here |
Acá (aquí). allá (there)
These two adverbs have a similar meaning to "aquí" and "allí" , and they are widely used in Latin America. In Spain, however, they are used with verbs of movement.
Ven mas acá. (Come closer.)
Vete allá. (Go over there.)
"Allá" combined with a pronoun is similar to the English idiom "so much for":
Allá él si no quiere ir con nosotros.
(So much for him if he doesn´t want to go with us.)
Allá tú si no me haces caso.
(So much for you if you don´t listen.)
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