enseguida

Enseguida is a Spanish adverb meaning "immediately" or "right away." It denotes that an action should be carried out without delay or that something occurs in the next moment. The word can be used with the verb either before or after it: "Enseguida voy" (I’ll come right away) or "Voy enseguida" (I’ll go right away). In many varieties of Spanish, it also appears in the two-word form "en seguida," though most dictionaries treat enseguida as a single word.

The etymology traces to the preposition en plus seguida, a noun formed from seguir ("to follow") that conveys succession or proximity in time. Through the sense of "in the following moment," the expression came to signify immediacy rather than sequence.

Usage notes: enseguida is common in everyday speech across Spain and Latin America. In more formal writing or in contexts emphasizing lack of delay, synonyms such as "inmediatamente" or "de inmediato" may be preferred, while "seguidamente" or "a continuación" convey succession or the next steps.

See also: Inmediatamente, de inmediato, seguidamente, a continuación.