# Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt.



## Alan Evangelista

Hallo Leute!

Ich habe gelesen den folgenden Satz:

Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt. 

Was bedeutet "nur" genau hier? "only slowly we had gotten used to the heat on  vacation" klingt ein bisschen seltsam auf Englisch. Vielleicht bedeutet der Satz, dass wir mehr Zeit als erwartet gebraucht haben, um uns an die Hitze zu gewöhnen?

Danke im Voraus!


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## Frieder

_Nur _bedeutet hier tatsächlich so etwas wie _only_. Es ging nicht schnell, nicht durchschnittlich, sondern _nur _langsam.

_Nur langsam_ ist ein fester Begriff, der ausdrückt, dass etwas normalerweise auch schneller geht - _nur _eben in diesem Falle nicht.


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## Jektor

"only slowly we had gotten used to the heat on vacation" 
"only slowly did we get used to the vacation/holiday heat" 
"it took us a long time to get used to the heat when we were on vacation/holiday" 
.


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## elroy

I think this use of “only” is Germanic; I don’t think Romance languages have it.


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## Alan Evangelista

Thanks for all the help!



Jektor said:


> "only slowly we had gotten used to the heat on vacation"
> "only slowly did we get used to the vacation/holiday heat"
> "it took us a long time to get used to the heat when we were on vacation/holiday"



Thanks for the corrections in the translation. Some points:

- AFAIR I have never seen "only slowly" used like that in English. It may even be correct, but it is certainly not usual. Right?

- im Urlaub an die Hitze = an die Urlaubshitze  ? If so, I hope that the latter is more usual?

- what "did we get used" means? I only know "we did get used", in which "did" is used for emphasis. If it is the same meaning, I assume that the German Plusquamperfekt (hatte gewöhnt) is used for this purpose in the given sentence. Is that usual?



elroy said:


> I think this use of “only” is Germanic; I don’t think Romance languages have it.



I agree, therefore my difficulty to understand it. Your comparisons with the  languages spoken by the OP make learning much easier and are always welcome, @elroy !


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## JClaudeK

elroy said:


> I think this use of “only” is Germanic; I don’t think Romance languages have it.


Doch, auf F. gibt's das auch:
"Ce *n*'est *que* (= nur) petit à petit que nous nous étions habitués / qu'on s'était habitué(s) à  la chaleur.

Oder


Jektor said:


> "it took us a long time to ....



=> "On avait mis du temps (= beaucoup de temps) pour ....


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## elroy

Alan Evangelista said:


> It may even be correct, but it is certainly not usual.


 It’s correct, and common enough in writing. 


JClaudeK said:


> "Ce *n*'est *que* (= nur)


 Du hast mich wohl missverstanden. Natürlich kann man die _Bedeutung_ ausdrücken. Aber man sagt eben nicht „seulement“ / „uniquement“ — daher könnte dieses „nur“ / „only“ verwirren.


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## JClaudeK

elroy said:


> Du hast mich wohl missverstanden. Natürlich kann man die _Bedeutung_ ausdrücken.


Gar nicht missverstanden.
Für "ne ... que" gibt es nur eine Übersetzung > only.
Siehe hier. 



elroy said:


> Aber man sagt eben nicht „seulement“


Doch, kann man auch (siehe hier)
- C'est _seulement petit à petit_ qu'ils acquièrent l'impression que certains paquets
- les corps prennent _seulement petit à petit_ la nourriture
_- Seulement petit à petit_ elle s'en rend compte
.....

und
Google Ngram Viewer


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## elroy

JClaudeK said:


> - C'est _seulement petit à petit_ qu'ils acquièrent l'impression que certains paquets
> - les corps prennent _seulement petit à petit_ la nourriture
> _- Seulement petit à petit_ elle s'en rend compte


 Dann geht es halt eben mit "seulement" und ich lag da falsch. Da stellt Französisch eine Ausnahme dar, würde ich schätzen, denn ich glaube nicht, dass das im Spanischen und im Italienischen geht (@Alan Evangelista hat implizit bestätigt, dass es im Portugiesischen nicht geht).

Ich weiß, was "ne...que" bedeutet. Mir ging es um Wörter, die _etymologisch_ "only / nur" bedeuten.


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## Alan Evangelista

elroy said:


> Da stellt Französisch eine Ausnahme dar, würde ich schätzen, denn ich glaube nicht, dass das im Spanischen und im Italienischen geht (@Alan Evangelista hat implizit bestätigt, dass es im Portugiesischen nicht geht).



Ich bin mir sicher, dass es geht nicht in Portugiesischen und Spanischen.



JClaudeK said:


> Doch, kann man auch (siehe hier)
> - C'est _seulement petit à petit_ qu'ils acquièrent l'impression que certains paquets
> - les corps prennent _seulement petit à petit_ la nourriture
> _- Seulement petit à petit_ elle s'en rend compte



Ich wusste nicht, dass Französisch einen solchen Ausdrück hatte. Danke für die Erklärung, @JClaudeK  !


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## JClaudeK

Alan Evangelista said:


> Ich wusste nicht, dass Französisch einen solchen Ausdruck hatte.


Eh oui, on en apprend tous les jours avec WR. 

Ich habe vergessen, ein weiteres Beispiel zu erwähnen:

_"C'est *seulement* petit à petit que nous nous étions habitués  à  la chaleur._


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## anahiseri

Alan Evangelista said:


> - what "did we get used" means? I only know "we did get used", in which "did" is used for emphasis. If it is the same meaning, I assume that the German Plusquamperfekt (hatte gewöhnt) is used for this purpose in the given sentence. Is that usual?


this is a special construction, called inversion. 
It's never obligatory. It can be used after a negative particle, or a particle with negative overtones, like here "only slowly",  which is placed at the beginning, and consists in putting the verb before the subject, using an auxiliary verb is necessary (the rules are the same as for questions).Examples:
*Never* was he seen again = He was never seen again
*Hardly ever* did she cook. = She cooked hardly ever.
*Nothing* will she do for us. = She will do nothing for us.
*Only slowly* did we get used to it. We got used to it only slowly.


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## elroy

anahiseri said:


> 1. *Never* was he seen again
> 2. *Hardly ever* did she cook.
> 3.* Nothing* will she do for us.


 1 is okay; it sounds literary.  2 and 3 -- especially 3 -- I find unidiomatic.


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## anahiseri

I suppose you are right, elroy, I improvised the examples a bit too quickly. But they are just for Alan to understand how it works.


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## Jektor

elroy said:


> Dann geht es halt eben mit "seulement" und ich lag da falsch. Da stellt Französisch eine Ausnahme dar, würde ich schätzen, denn ich glaube nicht, dass das im Spanischen und im Italienischen geht (Alan Evangelista hat implizit bestätigt, dass es im Portugiesischen nicht geht).



"solo" and "solamente" (only) can be used in Spanish:

El restaurante abre _solo_ por la noche
The restaurant opens _only_ in the evening
linguee.com - spanish-english - solo

El músico toca _solamente_ sus propias composiciones
The musician _only_ plays his own compositions
linguee.com - spanish-english - solamente
.


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## Alan Evangelista

anahiseri said:


> this is a special construction, called inversion.
> It's never obligatory. It can be used after a negative particle, or a particle with negative overtones, like here "only slowly", which is placed at the beginning, and consists in putting the verb before the subject, using an auxiliary verb is necessary (the rules are the same as for questions)



Thank you very much, @anahiseri ! I think I have already seen this used in a literary context, but I honestly did not remember it.



Jektor said:


> "solo" and "solamente" (only) can be used in Spanish:
> 
> El restaurante abre _solo_ por la noche
> The restaurant opens _only_ in the evening
> linguee.com - spanish-english - solo



Sorry, I do not understand what you meant here. We are all aware how to say "only" in Spanish, what @elroy meant is that "sólo"/"solamente" are not used as "nur" in my original sentence (Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt) in Spanish.

Sólo lentamente nos acostumbramos al calor de las vacaciones.

This is not usual in Spanish at all. Instead, something like this would be used:

Nos llevó un buen rato/más de lo  esperado para acostumbrarnos al calor de las vacaciones*.*


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## elroy

Exactly.


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## JClaudeK

Alan Evangelista said:


> We are all aware how to say "only" in Spanish, what @elroy meant is that "sólo"/"solamente" are not used as "nur" in my original sentence (Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt) in Spanish.


Was auch im Französischen  nicht funktionieren würde, wären zwei Adverbien hintereinander: "seulement lentement" .

In diesem Kontext passt nur _"seulement petit à petit"._


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## berndf

JClaudeK said:


> Was auch im Französischen  nicht funktionieren würde, wären zwei Adverbien hintereinander: "seulement lentement" .
> 
> In diesem Kontext passt nur _"seulement petit à petit"._


Exactly. That was @elroy's point. Adverbs attributing adverbs works in Germanic but not in Romance languages.


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## elroy

Actually, I was thinking of the meaning (using “only” with this meaning).  I didn’t notice the double-adverb thing!


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## berndf

elroy said:


> Actually, I was thinking of the meaning (using “only” with this meaning).  I didn’t notice the double-adverb thing!


Oh!


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## elroy

Yes, I’m surprised “seulement” works in French, but French is the oddball Romance language, so... 

I do wonder, though, if this use is as widespread as it is in German and English, or perhaps more limited?


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## berndf

elroy said:


> Yes, I’m surprised “seulement” works in French, but French is the oddball Romance language, so...
> 
> I do wonder, though, if this use is as widespread as it is in German and English, or perhaps more limited?


I am not sure you are on the right track. I don't think the meaning of _nur_ is the problem here but I think it is really the grammatical form adverb attributing adverb. Adverbs attributing adverb*ial*s works in other Romance languages as well (e.g. _solamente un poco_).


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## Hutschi

Alan Evangelista said:


> ...
> 
> - im Urlaub an die Hitze = an die Urlaubshitze  ? If so, I hope that the latter is more usual?



The topic here is what kind of weather there was during the holidays. It was too hot.

We had holidays but it took a long time during the holidays to get used to it.

Urlaubshitze - this would be the heat of holidays, literally or figurative, caused by the holidays - or the heat that is usually expected there during holidays. This is another meaning.

In the original sentence they did not expect the heat and had to get used to it.

I will restructure the original sentence, so you can better see it:

_Im Urlaub  hatten wir uns nur langsam an die Hitze gewöhnt.  
Wir hatten Urlaub und brauchten einige Zeit/viel Zeit, um uns an die Hitze zu gewöhnen._


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## elroy

berndf said:


> Adverbs attributing adverb*ial*s works in other Romance languages as well (e.g. _solamente un poco_).


 Did I say it didn’t?   I said nothing about grammar.

I said “solamente” etc. are not used with this particular meaning.  See Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt..


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## berndf

elroy said:


> I said “solamente” etc. are not used with this particular meaning.


Yes. And I said I doubt you are right.


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## elroy

@Alan Evangelista has already told us it doesn't work in Portuguese, his native language.  He's also very confident (as am I) that it doesn't work in Spanish.  Perhaps @anahiseri can settle it for us, and perhaps @bearded can tell us if it works in Italian.


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## Hutschi

Hallo, ich möchte es mal im Kontrast erklären, warum "nur" gebraucht wird, ich hoffe, es funktioniert so:

_Langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt. 
Es dauerte einige Zeit, aber dann hatten wir uns an die Hitze gewöhnt, die im Urlaub herrschte. 
(_*Fokus*: Es dauerte lange, aber der Gewöhnungsprozess ist *abgeschlossen*. Es ist ein Idiom, also nicht aus den Einzelheiten direkt erkennbar.)

_Nur langsam hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt. 
Wir brauchten recht lange, bis wir uns an die Hitze im Urlaub gewöhnt hatten. _*Fokus*: *Es dauerte lange*, es ging langsam. Diese Wichtung ist im Satz ohne "nur" blockier. Die Bedeutung ist gleich, aber der Fokus liegt auf der langen Zeit, die für die Gewöhnung gebraucht wurde, -- er liegt nicht darauf, dass es abgeschlossen ist. Es wird ein anderer Aspekt betont.


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## berndf

elroy said:


> @Alan Evangelista has already told us it doesn't work in Portuguese, his native language.


Yes. And my hypothesis was (and still is) that this was so because adverb attributing adverb didn't work in Romance languages but not because the meaning didn't exist.

_La posición común es solamente un poco más ambiciosa que ese Protocolo._
This sentence is the Spanish translation of a Dutch language contribution in a debate in the EU parliament. The original Dutch adverb translated _solamente un poco_ is _nauwelijks_, which translates into German as _kaum_ or as _nur wenig_ (_solamente un poco_). To me this is precisely the same meaning of _nur_ as in our sentence.


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## JClaudeK

berndf said:


> which translates into German as _kaum_ or as _nur wenig_ (_solamente un poco_). To me this is precisely the same meaning of _nur_ as in our sentence.



I don't understand your statement.
_kaum_ or a _nur wenig _wouldn't work  in our sentence.

_Kaum_ / _Nur wenig  langsam_ hatten wir uns im Urlaub an die Hitze gewöhnt.


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## anahiseri

As elroy has correctly guessed, in Spanish you wouldn't use "solamente" to express the idea of something taking more time than expected.



berndf said:


> _La posición común es solamente un poco más ambiciosa que ese Protocolo._
> This sentence is the Spanish translation of a Dutch language contribution in a debate in the EU parliament. The original Dutch adverb translated _solamente un poco_ is _nauwelijks_, which translates into German as _kaum_ or as _nur wenig_ (_solamente un poco_). To me this is precisely the same meaning of _nur_ as in our sentence.


Here I don't agree. "solamente un poco" can be used in connection with a comparative adjective, but this has nothing to do with "our sentence".


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## berndf

JClaudeK said:


> I don't understand your statement.


In _nur wenig, nur_ modifies _wenig_ in exactly the same way as _nur_ modifies _langsam_ in our sentence.


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## JClaudeK

Ah, ok.


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## berndf

anahiseri said:


> Here I don't agree. "solamente un poco" can be used in connection with a comparative adjective, but this has nothing to do with "our sentence".


I think it does:


berndf said:


> In _nur wenig, nur_ modifies _wenig_ in exactly the same way as _nur_ modifies _langsam_ in our sentence.



You indirectly confirmed my suspicion that it is a syntax ("can be used in connection with a comparative adjective") and not a semantics issue.


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## anahiseri

///berndf said:
In _nur wenig, nur_ modifies _wenig_ in exactly the same way as _nur_ modifies _langsam_ in our sentence.///

I don't agree. First of all, "langsam" and "wenig" are very different words functionally.
Second, "solamente" modifies "un poco", but more importantly,
_"solamente un poco" modifies the comparative adjective "más ambiciosa"_


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## berndf

anahiseri said:


> First of all, "langsam" and "wenig" are very different words functionally.


In which way? They are both adverbs. The difference is that one modifies a verb (_gewöhnen_) and the other an adjective (_ambitionierter_). But why is that important concerning the meaning of _nur_?


anahiseri said:


> Second, "solamente" modifies "un poco", but more importntly,


Can you explain why this is important in our context?


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## anahiseri

Well . . . . 
1)  IMHO "Solamente nos acostumbramos despacio al calor" or "Solo  despacio nos acostumbramos al calor" or any variation of these sound strange, not idiomatic. But that's just a "feeling" I have as a native Spanish speaker.
2) The explanations I  have given, which berndf seems to have difficulties understanding, are just an attempt to analyse why the sentence in question is strange. I am not an expert in Spanish grammar or semantics.


> ////Second, "solamente" modifies "un poco", but more importantly,





> _"solamente un poco" modifies the comparative adjective "más ambiciosa"_


Can you explain why this is important in our context?/////

Well, we are looking at the word "solamente" in two completely different grammatical contexts. "Solamente despacio" is solamente + adverb, while _"solamente un poco más ambiciosa" is solamente + un poco + a comparative adjective._


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## berndf

anahiseri said:


> Well, we are looking at the word "solamente" in two completely different grammatical contexts. "Solamente despacio" is solamente + adverb, while _"solamente un poco más ambiciosa" is solamente + un poco + a comparative adjective._


That was my whole point: In Spanish _solamente_ does not work with an adverb (_despacio_) but it does work with an adverb*ial* (_un poco_). In German this difference doesn't matter*. I am still not sure what you are disagreeing with.

____________
*Whether it modifies a verb or a comparative adjective doesn't matter either. The phrase _nur langsam_ can easily be applied in the same meaning as in our sentence to a comparative adjective: _Der Ballon wird nur langsam größer. _The problem in translating this to Spanish remains the same.


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## bearded

elroy said:


> perhaps @bearded can tell us if it works in Italian.


In Italian the sentence _Solo lentamente ci eravamo abituati al calore _is understandable and grammatically correct, but not idiomatic.  A little better would be _È solo con lentezza che ci eravamo abituati al calore, _but it would still sound as a translation from some foreign language.  The really idiomatic phrase is _Ci avevamo messo già tanto ad abituarci al calore (*)  _In this phrase, 1) tanto = tanto tempo/(such)a long_ time_ (ellipsis in colloquial), and 2) the meaning 'nur/only' is lost, but the word 'già' reinforces 'tanto'.

(*) literally ''we had taken already so much (time) to get used to the heat'' - of course bad English.


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## anahiseri

I think "solo" or "solamente" are only used in Spanish to express a "lack of quantity or degree, or a restriction"
solo tres personas (no 4 ni 5)
solo  un litro (no 1.5 litros)
*solo un poco *(no mucho)
solo en mi casa (no en otras casas)

but not with an adverb or an adjective:
solamente rápido
solamente despacio
solamente grande
solamente azul


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## berndf

Thank you. Now I understand what you meant. That is indeed different from French or Italian.


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## elroy

berndf said:


> To me this is precisely the same meaning of _nur_ as in our sentence.


 To me, they are totally different meanings.  What would you replace both of them with?

_solamente un poco = no más de un poco _
This is the usual meaning of “only.”

_nur langsam ≠ nicht mehr als langsam _
This is not the usual meaning of “nur.”



JClaudeK said:


> _kaum_ or a _nur wenig _wouldn't work in our sentence.


 


berndf said:


> that this was so because adverb attributing adverb didn't work in Romance languages


 No.  In Spanish (to my knowledge) there is no way you can use “solamente” to translate our sentence even if you reword. 

_Solamente poco a poco nos acostumbramos al calor. _

@anahiseri, can you confirm?


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## anahiseri

berndf said:


> The phrase _nur langsam_ can easily be applied in the same meaning as in our sentence to a comparative adjective: _Der Ballon wird nur langsam größer. _The problem in translating this to Spanish remains the same.


the problem remains the same because "*nur" *once again refers to the adverb "langsam"


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## anahiseri

elroy, I confirm. It's a relief for me that there is at least one person here who understands what I mean! 
I won't say there is *only * one person . . . . .


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## bearded

elroy said:


> _Solamente poco a poco nos acostumbramos al calor. _


But perhaps _Solo fue poco a poco que nos acostumbramos al calor.._?


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## anahiseri

I know little Italian, but I can see from Bearded's post that you have to rephrase the sentence in a similar way as in 
Spanish. Same as in Italian (according to him, at least), in Spanish I  would qualify the sentence as *not idiomatic. *(rather than wrong or unintelligible)


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## berndf

anahiseri said:


> the problem remains the same because "*nur" *once again refers to the adverb "langsam"


I think I have understood you now with what you wrote in #40:


anahiseri said:


> but not with an adverb *or an adjective*:


In French or Italian it works with adjectives, just not with adverbs ("understandable but not idiomatic", as @bearded said). That seems to be the important difference.

(Crossed with above)


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## anahiseri

"solamente  poco a poco" no suena mal . . . .
Hm

Now that I have almost persuaded berndf, elroy and bearded come up with something with threatens to do away with my explanations and interpretations.....


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## Perseas

anahiseri said:


> I think "solo" or "solamente" are only used in Spanish to express a "lack of quantity or degree, or a restriction"
> solo tres personas (no 4 ni 5)
> solo  un litro (no 1.5 litros)
> *solo un poco *(no mucho)
> solo en mi casa (no en otras casas)
> 
> but not with an adverb or an adjective:
> solamente rápido
> solamente despacio
> solamente grande
> solamente azul


What about "Solo entonces" - "Only then"? Both are adverbs, aren't they?


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## bearded

berndf said:


> In…. Italian it works with adjectives, just not with adverbs


But there are many exceptions to that rule: adverbs of time (solo domani = nur morgen), of place (solo qui = nur hier)...


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## Alan Evangelista

anahiseri said:


> "solamente poco a poco" no suena mal . . . .



"solamente poco a poco" sounds possible to me in Spanish too, although not usual. Same for "somente pouco a pouco" (the equivalent in Portuguese). What sounds really bad in Portuguese and Spanish is putting 2 adverbs of manner which end in -mente together.


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## berndf

Alan Evangelista said:


> "solamente poco a poco" sounds possible to me in Spanish too, although not usual. Same for "somente pouco a pouco" (the equivalent in Portuguese). What sounds really bad is putting 2 adverbs of manner which end in -mente together (eg somente lentamente).


Irrespective of the subtleties in Romance languages, does knowing that _nur_ modifies _langsam_ solve your original problem?


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## Alan Evangelista

berndf said:


> Irrespective of the subtleties in Romance languages, does knowing that _nur_ modifies _langsam_ solve your original problem?



Yes, it does. Thank you all for the contributions!


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## berndf

Alan Evangelista said:


> Yes, it does.


That is good to know.


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## anahiseri

I begin to doubt at everything. . .


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## Jektor

"El Banco de España dice el exceso de stock de pisos se absorbe *sólo lentamente*...
(The Bank of Spain says that the excess stock of apartments is being taken up _only slowly_ _(nur langsam)_...
es.investing.com - exceso-de-stock-de-pisos

"...sin embargo, *sólo lentamente*, y de uno en uno, recuperan la sensatez...
(...however, _only slowly_ (_nur langsam_), and one by one, do they recover their sanity)...
cincodias.elpais.com - mercados
.


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