de pronto

[poli]

Un amigo mio dice de pronto en lugar de tal vez o quizas. Nunca oí una otra persona usar de pronto así. Quisiera saber si es correcto usar de pronto así.

Gracias.

[Tomisimo]

How does this person use it in a sentence? It sounds a bit strange to me. To me de pronto would only be used as a synonym of de repente.

[Iris]

I agree with David. To me de pronto means suddenly.

[poli]

It seems strange to me too, but here's an example:

¿Va llover hoy?
De pronto sí. De pronto no.

[Iris]

Funny!(funny weird)

[Tomisimo]

Now that you mention it, I have heard something similar, but with de repente. Something like: De repente voy a jugar al tenis. Which can mean Once in a while I'll play tenis. But it gives it the meaning that it's a spontaneous event. Maybe something similar to this is going on.

[Alfonso]

Originally Posted by poli

Un amigo mio dice de pronto en lugar de tal vez o quizas. Nunca oí una otra persona usar de pronto así. Quisiera saber si es correcto usar de pronto así.
Gracias.

It's a common use among Colombians. I've heard of it a lot of times. First time I was surprised:

-¿Te vienes al cine?
-De pronto sí.
-¿Cómo?
-Que de pronto vamos al sine.
-Ah, bueno.
-O de pronto vamos a jugar bolos.
-Ya, ya, pero...
-De pronto, amor, de pronto...

En cambio, no lo he oído nunca con de repente, pero puede ser el mismo caso.

[Iris]

I have to admit I love your examples.

[silopanna]

People,

There is one thing that I can confirm, and that is that Venezuelans use "de repente" in the sense of maybe. It is as if they were saying "All of a sudden it occurred to me that maybe ...", except they shorten it and just say "de repente." But you could sware that they meant perhaps or maybe.

Dean in São Paulo