Have you ever heard about adverbial phrases? Do you know some Spanish ones? If not, have a look at the post of our Spanish school El Rincón del Tándem and find out how to use them!
The adverbial phrases are a group of words, generally composed of a preposition + noun or adverb or adjective.
They function as adverbs, thus providing a description of the action expressed by the verb, in relation to time, place, manner, quantity, etc.
When we compare Spanish with English, we will find that in Spanish the use of adverbial phrases instead of an adverb is more common than in English. On the contrary, in English single word adverbs are more frequently used.
Spanish language has a very long list of adverbial phrases. Therefore, here below find the ones that you will hear and use more frequently:
Adverbial phrases of MANNER
A ciegas = blindly
A empujones = intermittently
A escondidas = secretely, sneakily
A lo loco = in a crazy way, without thinking
A pie = on foot
A toda prisa = in a hurry
CON + ansiedad/alegría/miedo, etc. = with anxiety, joy, fear
De buena gana / De mala gana = willingly / unwillingly
De costumbre = customarily
De golpe = suddenly
De memoria = by memory
De pie = standing
De puntillas = on tiptoe
De veras = truly
En broma = jokingly
En secreto = secretly
En voz alta / en voz baja = loudly / softly
Por suerte = luckly
SIN + miedo, alegría, etc. = Without fear, joy, etc.
Adverbial phrases of TIME
A diario = daily
A mediodía / a medianoche = at midday / at midnight
A menudo = often
A todas horas = constantly
Al anochecer = at sunset
De inmediato = immediately
De nuevo = again
De pronto = suddenly
De repente = suddenly
Adverbial phrases of PLACE
Por todos lados = everywhere
Por todas partes = everywhere
De cerca / de lejos = close up / from afar
En alto = up high
De por medio = in between
Adverbial phrases of QUANTITY
Ni más ni menos = no more, no less, exactely
A tope = all out
Adverbial phrases of CONFIRMATION
Con seguridad = firmly
Desde luego = of course
Sin duda = doubtlessly
Por cierto = indeed
Adverbial phrases of NEGATION
En absoluto = at all
De ninguna manera = no way, absolutely not
In many cases, the Spanish adverb ending in – mente and the correspondent adverbial phrases can have exactly the same meaning and used in an interchangeable way.
Perfectamente = a la perfección (perfectly)
Alegremente = con alegría (joyfully)
Ciegamente = a ciegas (blindly)
Finally, find here some adverbial phrases that are very typical Spanish expressions:
A salto de mata = recklessly
A ciencia cierta = most certainly
Ni en sueños = no way
Sin ton ni son = without rhyme nor reason
We hope this post will help the students of our Spanish school El Rincón del Tándem learn Spanish grammar and get new insights on the daily use of the language.
If you want to have an overview on adverbs, please have a look at our previous posts.
Till the next blog!
