Atrás o detrás.
¿Cómo decido usar cuál?
How do I decide when to use which?
Thank you much!
1 Answer
Yes that's a tricky one as both are adverbs and both can be translated as behind. One clue is that atrás often indicates motion and can often be translated as backwards,
El niño fue atrás. The boy went backwards.
Miraba hacia atrás. He was looking backwards.
while detrás is often used to refer to the actual location:
Detrás de la puerta. Behind the door.
Detrás also is often used with 'de'.
Detrás de mi. Behind me.
Having said all that, there will always be exceptions and although this is a good general rule and a good place to start, atrás can also be used as an adverb of place or time when it follows certain nouns:
dar marcha atrás, (reverse), un paso atrás (one step back) , un tiempo atrás, (some time back) años atrás (years ago) etc.
