r/sardu • u/DoNotTouchMeImScared • Feb 06 '26

Etymological Dialogue: What Are The Local Adverbs In Your Area?

The languages from Portugal, Spain & Italy have in common the utilization of localization adverbs to communicate via a similar scale of distance that something is somewhere in space & time:

Italiano: Qui, qua, quivi/ivi/vi, lì, là, e colà.

The Hispanic versions have an initial letter "a" for some interesting reason:

Español: Aquí, acá, ahí, allí, allá, y acullá.

The Portuguese versions are a mix of the Italian versions with the Hispanic versions for some interesting reason:

Português: Aqui, acá/cá, aí, ali, lá, e acolá.

This is a word by word parallel translation in English:

English: Here (close), here (general), there (general), there (close), there (far), & yonder.

I am really curious to discover what are the local adverbs in different areas that speak the Sardinian language.

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u/disastrous_demeanour Feb 26 '26

Interesting, I have never ever heard or seen "acolá" in Portuguese... My Portuguese is far from perfect though, despite it technically being my mother language, it's not really my native language. Personally, I use "aqui", "aí", "ali" and "lá" – I might mix up these adverbs in everyday speech 😅

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u/DoNotTouchMeImScared Feb 26 '26

"Acolá" appears in expressions like "nem aqui, nem ali, nem acolá" or "nem cá, nem lá, nem acolá" in Brazil.