46 Placement of Adverbs and Adverbial Phrases. Flashcards
Adverbs can often be formed in Spanish by adding -mente to many adjectives, just as “-ly” can be used to form adverbs in English. But the creation of adverbs using -mente has its limits. For one, there are plenty of times where one needs an adverb (a word that modifies a verb, adjective, other adverb or an entire sentence) when there’s no adjective that will do as a root word. Also, sometimes for no apparent reason, some adjectives in Spanish simply aren’t combined with -mente.
The solution is one that is also used in English: use of an adverbial or prepositional phrase. These phrases are typically formed by using a preposition and a noun, sometimes including an article. For example, we might say “anduvo a la izquierda” for “he walked leftward” or “he walked to the left.” In that case, a la izquierda and “to the left” are adverbial phrases. The difference is that in Spanish, there is no one-word adverb that can be used.
Adverbial phrases seem to be more common in Spanish than in English. In many cases, the same thought can be expressed using either an adverb or an adverbial phrase. Spanish tends to prefer the phrase, while English tends to prefer the simple adverb, even though both are grammatically correct. For example, it is possible to say either ciegamente or a ciegas for “blindly” or “in a blind manner.” But Spanish more often uses the phrase, English the one word.
Even so, in most cases there is no practical difference in meaning between a -mente adverb and a corresponding adverbial phrase, so they are freely interchangeable. In many contexts there’s no distinguishable difference, for example, between perfectamente (“perfectly”) and sin errores (“without mistakes”).
What can be particularly confusing for Spanish students who have English as a first language is that the two languages frequently have similar phrases that use different prepositions. For example, the phrase for “on horseback” is a caballo, not the en caballo you might expect if translating the English “on” literally. Similarly, the phrase for “kneeling” or “on the knees” is de rodillas, not the en rodillas that might seem logical.
Spanish has countless adverbial phrases. Here are some of the most common, as well as some that are included simply because they’re interesting or could be confusing for the beginner, or because they provide examples of alternative ways to translate English adverbs:
on board
a bordo
a caballo
a caballo
abundantly
a chorros
conscientiously
a conciencia
right afterward
a continuación
inopportunely, at a bad time
a destiempo
pushingly, intermittently
a empujones
covertly
a escondidas
on hands and knees
a gatas
rightward
a la derecha
necessarily
a la fuerza
leftward
a la izquierda
in the long run
a la larga
clearly
a las claras
finally
al fin
by hand, manually
a mano
by machine
a máquina
frequently
a menudo
primarily
ante todo
on foot
a pie
unwillingly
a regañadientes
