Adverb formation

[Glen]

How do Spanish speakers view the tendency we English speakers have to create adverbs from adjectives by simply attaching -ly, (or in that case, -mente)? When I hear generalmente for example, I wonder whether it would sound more authentic to have used the same number of syllables to say por lo general. There are many other examples of this, and it may be a small thing, but as one who is wary of English habits creeping over into Spanish - and as an absolute hater of Spanglish! - I was just wondering if an overuse of -mente is frowned upon by native speakers.

[pjt33]

CORDE contains 11453 instances of generalmente, in 1795 documents, but only 1837 instances of por lo general, in 479 documents.

[aleCcowaN]

No problem. We tend to avoid redundancy, unintended rhymes and repetition, all for the sake of euphony and good taste, so you might say "generalmente y cotidianamente", but much better if you say "por lo general y cotidianamente".

As a matter of style, people tend to avoid using 6-syllable adverbs or longer as it sounds bookish or excessively formal: "sin duda" (or even the harangue-like phrase "a no dudarlo") instead of the more formal "indudablemente".

The key point is to avoid adding "-mente" to any adjective or to one in the wrong gender -always on feminine because is "la forma" some thing is done-: "malintencionadamente" and not *malintencionadomente. Be sure you have heard the adverb before (*rojamente doesn't exist) or that you have detected they usually narrow the meaning of the adjectives or it even has a new meaning ("propio" means proper or one own's, but "propiamente" means strictly, a 100% pure).

There's always a risk of Spanglish: you can't copy the structure of ready-ly into Spanish "listamente" doesn't exist although it'd suggest smartly. The right translations of readily are "prontamente" (promptly) and "fácilmente" (easily).

Speaking of badly constructed adverbs, in this illiterates-using-keyboards age, when I hear a person saying a piece of willful ignorance (for instance "cómo va a subir el nivel del mar si se derriten los polos ¡el hielo flota por ocupa más lugar!") I reply "¡*Sindudamente!"

[Perikles]

Yes, but there always appears to be an on-going discussion about these -mente adverbs.

I've found this:

Bueno, también existen fanáticos de la abolición de los adverbios terminados en “mente”, desde cuando Gabriel García Márquez la tomó como norma de su estilo, aunque no pase de uno y de no ser más que un botecito salvavidas en medio del mar de la escritura.

And a discussion here.

[aleCcowaN]

Caprichosamente; estilísticamente ... solamente

You always can find another adverb or adverbial phrase to avoid using the suffix -mente:

súbitamente ---> de pronto

But in my experience, a richer and precise vocabulary comes from using more adverbs ended in -mente:

despacio ----> lentamente (slowly), despaciosamente (deliberately slow, or slow in order to be throughly)
a horcajadas (concrete meaning) ---> acabalgadamente (concrete and figurative meaning, learned term)

Avoiding -mente adverbs is like speaking without adjectives ended in -ado or avoiding diminutives: Just a pose and an artificial way to speak Spanish or a way to boast about how flexible and rich Spanish is or how learned the speaker is.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

No problem. We tend to avoid redundancy, unintended rhymes and repetition, all for the sake of euphony and good taste, so you might say "generalmente y cotidianamente", but much better if you say "por lo general y cotidianamente".

Or simply "genaral y cotidianamente"

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

Or simply "genaral y cotidianamente"

Or correctly "general y cotidianamente"

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Or correctly "general y cotidianamente"

Yes..

I am sick as a dog...