sadly

sadly — 副詞

1. showing unhappiness or sorrow through your expression, voice, or the way you beh

1.副詞B1
釋義

悲傷地

以難過或哀傷的方式動作

showing unhappiness or sorrow through your expression, voice, or the way you behave or perform an action.

例句

Ilan looked at the broken toy and smiled sadly, knowing it could not be fixed.

Ilan 看著壞掉的玩具，悲傷地笑了笑，因為他知道這已經修不好了。

smiled sadly — verb + sadly for showing sorrow in expression

The old pianist played the final piece slowly and sadly, lost in memory.

那位年邁的鋼琴家緩慢而悲傷地彈奏最後一首曲子，沉浸在回憶中。

同義詞
  • mournfully

    stronger sense of grief; more literary or poetic

  • sorrowfully

    more formal and intense; often used in writing

  • woefully

    can imply pitiable inadequacy rather than pure sadness

反義詞
  • happily

    direct opposite; shows joy instead of sadness

  • joyfully

    stronger; suggests great delight or celebration

文法句型

verb + (object) + sadly

sadly + verb of expression

用法筆記

Manner adverb: modifies the verb to describe the emotional quality of the action. Common with verbs of speech (say, speak, whisper), facial expression (smile, look, gaze), and gesture (shake one's head, nod, wave).

常見錯誤

❌She cried sadly all night.
✅She cried all night.
💡'Cry' already expresses sadness; adding 'sadly' is redundant.

2. used to express regret or disappointment about a situation, especially one that

2.副詞B1
釋義

可惜；遺憾

對某件事感到可惜或失望

used to express regret or disappointment about a situation, especially one that is unfortunate or hard to change.

例句

Sadly, the old community centre had to close because there was not enough money.

可惜的是，那間舊社區中心因為經費不足而被迫關閉。

sentence-initial position: "Sadly, + full clause"

The research team was sadly unable to find enough volunteers for the study.

研究團隊遺憾地未能招募到足夠的志願者參與這項實驗。

同義詞
  • unfortunately

    more common in everyday speech; same syntactic role

  • regrettably

    more formal; often used in official announcements

  • alas

    archaic or literary; rare in modern serious writing

反義詞
  • fortunately

    direct opposite; expresses relief about a situation

  • happily

    also used as a sentence adverb expressing satisfaction

文法句型

Sadly, + full clause

subject + sadly + verb phrase

用法筆記

Sentence adverb: modifies the whole clause and expresses the speaker's attitude of regret. Commonly placed at the start of a sentence followed by a comma, or mid-sentence after a conjunction such as 'but' or 'and'. More common in writing than in casual conversation, where 'unfortunately' tends to be preferred.

常見錯誤

❌Sadly, she sang the song.' (when meaning 'in a sad way')
✅She sang the song sadly.
💡Sense 1 places 'sadly' after the verb; Sense 2 (sentence adverb) comes before the clause.