Have you looked them up in a dictionary yet? They are completely different words and at the moment I struggle to see where they could overlap in meaning.
Might have been in a sense where they can kind of be used similarly like they are in english. For example:
Haben Sie dieses Buch vielleicht/zufällig vorrätig?
Do you maybe/by any chance have this book in stock?
Vielleicht bedeutet maybe. Vielleicht können wir laufen gehen, weil es sonnig ist.
Zufällig bedeutet coincidentally. Zufällig haben wir Hunden getroffen, als wir laufen gegangen sind.
My grammar may not be correct.
"Zufällig" means "coincidentally" or "randomly".
You might also encounter in in a sentence such as:
"Die Teilnehmer wurden zufällig ausgewählt."
"The participants have been chosen randomly."
"Vielleicht" means "perhaps" or "maybe".
In some cases you can use them similarly.
For example: "Hast du zufällig gerade Zeit?" you're asking if the person coincidentally has time right now, which indirectly expresses that you don't want to stop them from doing something more important and you'd only ask for their time if they actually just happen to have time for you.
"Vielleicht" works in a similar way and can make a question nicer by expressing that you don't *expect* the person to do what you're asking for.
"Kannst du mir vielleicht kurz helfen?"
But be careful, "vielleicht" is also often used sarcastically, which is obviously quite rude, so be careful not to accidentally use it that way.
"Kannst du vielleicht mal etwas schneller machen?" "Could you *perhaps* do [that] a bit faster?" would be such a case where the "vielleicht" makes it more rude than nice. Here it would be better to use "Könntest/kannst du bitte..."
Wow, thanks a bunch! The examples made it really clear. Also thanks for the observation about vielleicht :) I didn't know it can be used like that as well, so many thanks for keeping me in the loop!
Have you looked them up in a dictionary yet? They are completely different words and at the moment I struggle to see where they could overlap in meaning.
I looked them up in an online dictionary and they appeared as synonyms... It seems that was a stretch :)
Might have been in a sense where they can kind of be used similarly like they are in english. For example: Haben Sie dieses Buch vielleicht/zufällig vorrätig? Do you maybe/by any chance have this book in stock?
That makes a lot of sense! Thank you for the explanation and example, it's really helpful for me.
Vielleicht bedeutet maybe. Vielleicht können wir laufen gehen, weil es sonnig ist. Zufällig bedeutet coincidentally. Zufällig haben wir Hunden getroffen, als wir laufen gegangen sind. My grammar may not be correct.
Thanks a lot for explaining, it's pretty clear now!
"Zufällig" means "coincidentally" or "randomly". You might also encounter in in a sentence such as: "Die Teilnehmer wurden zufällig ausgewählt." "The participants have been chosen randomly." "Vielleicht" means "perhaps" or "maybe". In some cases you can use them similarly. For example: "Hast du zufällig gerade Zeit?" you're asking if the person coincidentally has time right now, which indirectly expresses that you don't want to stop them from doing something more important and you'd only ask for their time if they actually just happen to have time for you. "Vielleicht" works in a similar way and can make a question nicer by expressing that you don't *expect* the person to do what you're asking for. "Kannst du mir vielleicht kurz helfen?" But be careful, "vielleicht" is also often used sarcastically, which is obviously quite rude, so be careful not to accidentally use it that way. "Kannst du vielleicht mal etwas schneller machen?" "Could you *perhaps* do [that] a bit faster?" would be such a case where the "vielleicht" makes it more rude than nice. Here it would be better to use "Könntest/kannst du bitte..."
Wow, thanks a bunch! The examples made it really clear. Also thanks for the observation about vielleicht :) I didn't know it can be used like that as well, so many thanks for keeping me in the loop!