Adverbs of place and time: aquí, ya, todavía

The commonest Spanish adverbs never take -mente. They are short, they top the frequency list, and they sort into families:

• Ya he comido. - I've already eaten.
• Es muy caro. - It's very expensive.

Spanish adverbs at a glance

The whole page on one screen:

For adverbs built with -mente (rápidamente, claramente), see Spanish adverbs in -mente.

Place: aquí, ahí, allí

Spanish has three distances where English has two:

123

1. 1aquí
2. 2ahí
3. 3allí

Aquí (here): the café right by the speaker. Ahí (there): the shop across the road. Allí (over there): the church far away on the hill.

They match the demonstratives: este libro de aquí, aquel libro de allí (demonstratives). Acá and allá are their cousins: everyday for here and there in Latin America, and used in Spain mostly after verbs of motion:

• Ven acá. - Come here.

Time: ya, todavía, aún

The pair that trips learners is ya no against todavía no. Ya no is something that has stopped; todavía no is something that has not started:

• Ya no trabajo. - I'm not working any more.
• Todavía no trabajo. - I'm not working yet.

Aún or aun

Aún means the same as todavía, and aún no the same as todavía no. Without its accent, aun is a different word, even:

The test: if todavía fits, write aún; if incluso fits, write aun.