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What’s the difference in Spanish between encima and además? Let’s learn a bunch of new Spanish adverbs, including the words for “besides”, “around”, and “including”.
Es simplemente la mejor.
Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.
Today we’re going to learn a bunch of new adverbs, including the words for “around”, “besides”, and “including”.
Let’s start with some really easy ones. Remember that sometimes, an English adverb turns into a Spanish adverb when the l-y at the end is replaced with “mente”. We saw that with the word “really”, which is sometimes translated into Spanish as realmente, and “exactly”, which is exactamente. This trick doesn’t always work, but it sometimes does.
The words in Spanish for “probably” and “simply” do work for this. So “probably” is probablemente, and “simply” is simplemente. These words are pretty long, but it helps to break down the rhythm of the words into their stressed syllables. Both words stress “MEN-te” at the end. In the case of probablemente, it might help to put a slight stress on “bab” and a strong stress on “ment”: pro-*bab*-le-MEN-te. And for simplemente, put a slight stress on “simp” and a strong stress on “ment”: *sim*-ple-MEN-te.
Here are a couple of examples.
This view is simply the best.
Esta vista es simplemente la mejor.
It probably won’t occur again.
Probablemente no vuelva a suceder.
Notice that after “probably” we have a subjunctive, vuelva instead of vuelve. So in this way it’s very much like the adverb quizás. This is normally the case with this adverb. However, sometimes there will be a simple present-tense verb after probablemente, about 25% of the time. There’s no hard-and-fast rule about this, so just be aware that both are accurate.
Our next word is incluso, which means “including”. For example:
Everyone was there, including my grandparents.
Todos estaban allí, incluso mis abuelos.
So this word is used just like the word hasta when it’s used as an adverb. In this sentence, we could have said “everyone was there, even my grandparents”, or Todos estaban allí, hasta mis abuelos. In fact, the word incluso doesn’t exactly just mean “including”, it means something more like “even including”, which makes it very similar in meaning to the word hasta. Try it yourself in this next example.
I like all dogs, including my girlfriend’s very mean dog.
Me gustan todos los perros, incluso el perro muy malo de mi novia.
And then here’s a pretty simple adverb: The word for “last night” is anoche. For example:
I saw her at the party last night.
La vi en la fiesta anoche.
And this is kind of nerdy, but it’s kind of interesting that English doesn’t have an adverb for “last night”, so you have to use two words to say it. But English does have an adverb for “tonight”, but Spanish doesn’t; in Spanish you have to use two words, esta noche.
Anyway, let’s go ahead and get some practice with probablemente, simplemente, incluso, and anoche.
I simply didn’t want to go last night.
Simplemente no quise ir anoche.
I want her to eat all the food, including that.
Quiero que coma toda la comida, incluso eso.
If I lose, I will probably go home.
Si pierdo, probablemente vaya a casa.
Last night I simply didn’t want to eat.
Anoche simplemente no quise comer.
You would probably be able to lose it all, including your house.
Probablemente podrías perderlo todo, incluso tu casa.
All right, next let’s learn some new adverbs that refer to location. We’ve already learned a bunch of these — words like dentro, atrás, arriba, and afuera. We have just three more to learn today.
Let’s start with the word detrás, which means “behind” or “in the back”. For example:
The house has another very small house behind it.
La casa tiene otra casa muy pequeña detrás.
So in English we say “behind it”, because our word for “behind” is a preposition, which demands to have some sort of noun after it. But detrás is an adverb, so we’re able to use it by itself. However, we ARE able to put a noun after detrás if we use detrás de, which is the most common way to use this adverb. For example:
Search behind the door.
Busca detrás de la puerta.
Now of course this begs the question of why Spanish has both atrás and detrás. We’ve already been using atrás and atrás de to mean “behind”. The thing is, technically, atrás is really supposed to be used for backwards motion, for example taking a step “back” or “backwards”. And detrás is the technically *correct* word for “behind”. In common speech, atrás is often used for both purposes, but going forward, we’re going to practice detrás as our word for “behind”. So we’ll be using detrás de a lot in our quizzing going forward.
Next, here’s another word that’s very similar to a word we previously learned: adentro means “inside”. For example:
Go inside!
¡Ve adentro!
So this word is basically a synonym for dentro, which means “inside”. However, adentro is more often used to indicate motion inside somewhere, whereas dentro more often refers to just the state of being inside somewhere. But actually, very often, adentro is used for both purposes.
And then our last location adverb is alrededor, which means “around”. This is a long word with four syllables, but to help pronounce it, think of a red door, maybe one that swings around in circles. The word is pronounced al-*red*-e-DOR.
To make it even more of a mouthful, alrededor as an adverb is almost always followed by de. So here’s an example:
There are many animals around the house.
Hay muchos animales alrededor de la casa.
Note that the specific meaning here is “surrounding”. In English sometimes we say “around the house” to mean that something is all over inside of the house, but alrededor points outwards.
Let’s get some practice with detrás, adentro, and alrededor.
Is it behind the house or around the house?
¿Está detrás de la casa o alrededor de la casa?
I’m going inside, because he wants me to eat.
Voy adentro, porque él quiere que yo coma.
You lost your phone somewhere around the house.
Perdiste tu teléfono en algún lugar alrededor de la casa.
If you go inside the house, you’ll find it behind the door.
Si vas adentro de la casa, lo encontrarás detrás de la puerta.
All right, to wrap up this episode, let’s learn some fun adverbs that you can use to provide some sort of filler information in a sentence. For example, check out this English sentence:
He arrived late, and on top of that, he left thirty minutes early.
So in this sentence the phrase “on top of that” is a fun expression to provide a very specific type of emphasis. In Spanish, you can say this with just one word, the adverb encima. Encima actually means “on top” or “upon”, and it can be used to refer to location. So for example:
There was a very small dog on top of the table.
Había un perro muy pequeño encima de la mesa.
Of course, we now have several terms that mean “on top of”, including sobre, arriba de, and encima de. In our quizzing today, you can expect encima de any time we say “on top of”.
But again, encima by itself, without de, is often used to mean “on top of that” in a figurative sense. Try it yourself in this next example:
They didn’t work and on top of that they said something mean.
No trabajaron y encima dijeron algo malo.
And our last word is used in a similar way. The adverb además means something like “besides” or “moreover”. For example:
She isn’t here. Besides, you don’t know her.
Ella no está aquí. Además, no la conoces.
Let’s practice encima and además.
Eat what is on top of the table!
¡Come lo que está encima de la mesa!
I don’t know what occurred. Besides, I wasn’t there.
No sé qué sucedió. Además, yo no estaba ahí.
He didn’t come and on top of that he didn’t call.
No vino y encima no llamó.
I don’t know who was there besides him.
No sé quién estaba ahí además de él.
You always lose and on top of that you’re always sad.
Siempre pierdes y encima siempre estás triste.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/178. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m going to eat.
No sé qué sucede, pero voy a comer.
Lose this game, but don’t lose the next one!
¡Pierde este juego, pero no pierdas el próximo!
I saw that they lost it last night inside that place.
Vi que lo perdieron anoche adentro de ese lugar.
I always listen to everyone, including people with other points of view.
Siempre escucho a todos, incluso a gente con otros puntos de vista.
He has your attention when he’s around the house.
Tiene tu atención cuando está alrededor de la casa.
Did you see what’s behind the door and on top of the table?
¿Viste lo que está detrás de la puerta y encima de la mesa?
There is nothing around here besides the hospital.
No hay nada alrededor de aquí además del hospital.
That is probably what is going to occur.
Eso es probablemente lo que va a suceder.
I don’t eat that simply because I don’t like it.
No como eso simplemente porque no me gusta.
Have you eaten what was on top of the table?
¿Has comido lo que estaba encima de la mesa?
If we lose, it’s none of your business.
Si perdemos, no es asunto tuyo.
I don’t want this to happen, because it’s a difficult situation.
No quiero que esto suceda, porque es una situación difícil.
She probably lost the message with the information.
Probablemente perdió el mensaje con la información.
I talked to everyone last night, including my aunt.
Hablé con todos anoche, incluso con mi tía.
I simply don’t want to go; besides, I don’t like your house.
Simplemente no quiero ir, además, no me gusta tu casa.
If they eat, they have to go inside.
Si comen, tienen que ir adentro.
I lost my phone; I thought I put it on top of the table.
Perdí mi teléfono, creí que lo puse encima de la mesa.
Nothing has happened.
No ha sucedido nada.
She doesn’t have anything on top of the table besides her food.
No tiene nada encima de la mesa además de su comida.
I give you permission to look behind that door.
Te doy permiso para mirar detrás de esa puerta.
I’m not losing, I have already lost.
No estoy perdiendo, ya he perdido.
He always eats with a gorgeous view.
Siempre come con una vista hermosa.
That’s not happening, we’re only eating.
Eso no está sucediendo, solo estamos comiendo.
We lost, that's why I don’t want you to lose too.
Perdimos, por eso no quiero que tú pierdas también.
She never loses her phone.
Nunca pierde su teléfono.
I wasn’t there. Besides, he doesn’t want me to be there.
No estaba ahí. Además, él no quiere que yo esté ahí.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/178.
In tomorrow’s episode, we’ll learn a bunch of nouns to talk about things you can feel, including pain, pleasure, hunger, and cold.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Ximena Lama-Rondón. Our music was performed by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today at LCSPodcast.com.