generalmente, usualmente and normalmente
Could someone please explain if there is an important difference between using generalmente, usualmente and normalmente? Same as in English where the difference is not that great? Thanks very much
3 Answers
Hi Matilda - welcome to the Forum. I would venture to say they are pretty well exactly what they say - if you double click on each word you will get a good translation - if you want to post entire sentences with each word that might be a good exercise for you?
Welcome to the forum. Good question. I was just asking myself that the other day. I think that technically these three words mean the same as generally, usually and normally in English. However, it's been my observation that "normalmente" is used more often in Spanish and "usually" is used more often in English. I think that is why "normalmente" is translated to mean "normally" and "usually" in the dictionary.
I googled the words (not a particularly scientific approach, I know):
normalmente - 12,900,000 hits
usualmente - 2,170,000
normally - 116,000,000
usually - 413,000,000
I think that the high number of hits on generalmente (14,600,000) and generally(289,000,000) is due to the fact that they can also be used in the context of "for the most part" or "not precisely".
I don't think that you'd be in any danger of being misunderstood if you used them interchangably, so in that sense, I think you'd be just fine.....usually!
