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How to Say "strangely" in Spanish

The most common Spanish word for “strangely” is “extrañamente” — use this when describing an action or situation that is unusual or unexpected..

English → Spanish

extrañamente

/eks-tra-nya-MEN-te//estɾaˈɲamente/

adverbB1general
Use this when describing an action or situation that is unusual or unexpected.
A purple cat with small wings sitting on a bright blue cloud.

Examples

Extrañamente, nadie vino a la fiesta.

Oddly enough, nobody came to the party.

Él me miró extrañamente antes de irse.

He looked at me strangely before leaving.

La casa estaba extrañamente silenciosa esa noche.

The house was strangely quiet that night.

The '-mente' ending

In Spanish, adding '-mente' to the end of a feminine adjective (like 'extraña') is just like adding '-ly' in English to describe how something is done.

Starting a sentence

When you put this word at the very beginning of a sentence followed by a comma, it acts like a comment on the whole situation, similar to saying 'It is strange that...'

Using the adjective instead

Mistake: “Él habla extraño.”

Correction: Él habla extrañamente.

raramente

/rah-rah-MEN-teh//raɾaˈmente/

adverbB2general
Choose this when referring to someone or something behaving in an odd or peculiar way.
A cat wearing a tiny top hat and colorful polka-dot bow tie.

Examples

Esa noche, el perro se comportó raramente.

That night, the dog behaved strangely.

Me miró raramente antes de irse.

He looked at me oddly before leaving.

Extrañamente vs. Raramente

Learners often confuse these when describing something unusual. Remember: 'extrañamente' refers to the situation itself being odd, while 'raramente' describes the *manner* of an action or behavior as being odd.

Related Translations

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