Questions & Answers about Comí la mermelada muy despacito.
Wait, can you put the -ito suffix on an adverb like despacio?
How exactly does the spelling change from despacio to despacito?
If despacito already means "nice and slowly," isn't saying muy despacito repetitive?
It is a bit repetitive, but it's very natural in conversational Spanish! Adding muy (very) next to a diminutive adverb just gives it even more emotional emphasis, similar to saying "really, really nice and slowly" in English.
Why use the preterite comí here instead of the imperfect comía if the action was drawn out and slow?
Even though the eating happened slowly, it's still being reported as a single, finished event from start to finish ("I ate the jam"). If you wanted to describe an ongoing background action, like "I was eating the jam (when you called)," you would use the imperfect form comía.
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