grammar.adverbs.place

Place adverbs: aquí, ahí, allí, acá, allá

Three distances: aquí (here), ahí (there, near you), allí (over there). Latin America favors acá and allá, often with motion or vagueness.

grammarA1✓ Reviewedv0.1.0

Explanation

Place adverbs locate things relative to the speaker, mirroring the demonstratives: aquí ('here', by me (like este), ahí ('there', by you or nearby) like ese), allí ('over there', far, like aquel). Acá and allá are looser, zone-like variants that dominate much of Latin America and pair naturally with movement: vení acá, se fue para allá.

Only acá/allá take degrees (más acá, más allá); aquí/allí don't. Ahí is the everyday middle distance and the most frequent of the set: ahí está, dejalo ahí.

Beyond the here/there set, the main place adverbs are cerca/lejos ('near/far'), arriba/abajo ('up/down'), adentro/dentro and afuera/fuera ('inside/outside'), adelante/atrás ('ahead/behind'), and enfrente ('opposite'). With motion verbs the a- forms are preferred: vamos adentro, corré para adelante.

Examples

El supermercado está aquí cerca.
The supermarket is near here.

Region: global

Vení acá un segundo.
Come here a second.

Region: global

El baño está allí, al fondo, y la salida, aquí cerca.
The bathroom is over there, at the back, and the exit is near here.

Related rules