Tuesday Quick Tip: What's the difference? Actually vs. Actualmente

Good morning, dear students!

So what's the real difference between the words ''Actually'' and ''Actualmente''?

These words are hard for both English speakers and Spanish speakers.  

They are considered false cognates-- both of them look very similar, so it's easy to think they mean the same thing.  However, in this case it isn't true!

Check it out:

If you want to talk about what you're doing at the moment, ''actualmente'' in Spanish should be translated as ''currently''.

The same is true for the words ''actual'' and ''current''-- these are the adjectives.

For example:

Barack Obama es el presidente actual de los Estados Unidos.
Barack Obama is the current president of the United States.

If you use ''actually'' the same way as ''actualmente'' is used, the listener will not understand that you are talking about ''right now'' or ''current'' things.


Additionally, if you want to emphasize the truthfulness of something, or make a correction, ''Actually'' is a great way to start your sentence.

For example, if someone tells you that Valparaiso is the largest city in Chile, you should respond,
''Actually, Santiago is the biggest city.  It has 7 million residents.''

''Actually'' in this case doesn't mean ''currently''.  It's similar to saying ''De hecho''.

Got it?  Try out a few sentences on your own!  Bring them with you to class or leave them here in the comments!

Happy Tuesday and happy studying!