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What is an adverb? How they are used and how to recognise them. |
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How adverbs ending in -ly like in the English word 'easily' are formed in Spanish using -mente. A look at some basic formation rules. |
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101 adverbs that don’t end in -mente. Making sentences and a closer look at the adverbs 'aun' and 'aún'. |
| What you can learn from this lesson | |
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Being comfortable with the concept of how adverbs are used in conversation. |
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Being able to identify adverbs in sentences by understanding how and why they are used. |
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Understanding how -mente- is used in Spanish to formulate adverbs that when translated into English end in -ly. Knowing how to form adverbs that end in -mente depending on whether the adverb is based on a masculine or feminine adjective. |
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Having a sound knowledge of the most common adverbs that don't end in -mente. Understanding what they mean, how they are used and being able to explain how they add information to the word or phrase they are used with. |
Affiliates |
SPANISH COMPLETE EDITION |
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START SPANISH |
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PART 1
The first part of this lesson explains what adverbs are and when they might commonly be used in conversation in both Spanish and English.
What are adverbs?
Adverbs, as the word suggests are words that add extra information about other words that they might be used with. They are not just used to add extra information about verbs, they can also commonly used with adjectives, or other adverbs. They can also be used with nouns although this is much less common!
| Adverbs with verbs. | To talk slowly. | Hablar lentamente.
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| Adverbs with adjectives. | It became dark quickly. | Se pone oscuro rápidamente.
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| Adverbs with nouns. | Definitely custard. | Definitivamente natilla. |
| Adverbs with adverbs. | Very frequently. | Muy frecuentemente.
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You can see that each of the underlined adverbs above in both English and Spanish add information to the other words they are used with. Adverbs can also be used by themselves.
| ¿(Tú) terminaste el trabajo en tiempo? | Fácilmente.
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| Did you finish the work in time? | Easily.
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You will probably have noticed that most of the English adverbs in the examples above end in -ly and most of the Spanish ones end in -mente. The only exception is the adverb ‘very’ (muy). The adverbs that take these endings are looked at in more detail in part 2 of the lesson.
There are too however a large number of adverbs that don’t end in -ly or -mente. These will be looked at in part three of the lesson.
PART 2
The second part of this lesson looks specifically at those adverbs that end in -ly in English and -mente in Spanish. Most of the time if an English adverb ends with -ly you will know that the equivalent Spanish adverb should end with -mente. This is not always the case however.
Forming Spanish adverbs ending in -mente
Spanish adverbs that end in -mente are formed by changing adjectives into adverbs. The ending -mente is added to the end of the adjective. If the adjective takes both a masculine and feminine ending it is always the feminine ending that is added to. If the ending of a masculine and feminine adjective is formed in the same way then -mente is simply added to the end of it with no further change.
| masculine adjective | feminine adjective | adverb |
| raro (rare/strange) | rara | raramente |
| ligero (light – of weight) | ligera | ligermente |
| oficial (official) | oficial | oficialmente |
| normal (normal) | normal | normalmente
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When the ending -mente might
not be used
Sometimes English words ending in -ly are not always translated into Spanish by using an adverb that ends with -mente. These can occur in the following situations:
1) When forming sentences with more than one adverb. In these situations in Spanish only the last adverb is formed with -mente.
| He can talk quickly, loudly or softly. | Él puede hablar rápido, fuerte o
suavemente.
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2) Sometimes the adjectives or nouns are used in Spanish with phrases like ‘con’ (with), ‘sin’ (without), or ‘de manera’ (by way of).
| Ellos pisaron con cuidado. | They trod carefully. |
| Ella terminó con prisa. | She finished hastily. |
| Háblame de manera verdadera. | Talk to me truthfully.
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| Ellos lucharon de manera valiente. | They fought bravely.
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3) The English adverb ‘recently’ is used differently in Spanish. (The word ‘recién’ is frequently used with perfect tenses.)
| Ellos recién han llegado. | They recently arrived. |
| No le he visto últimamente a él. | I haven’t seen him recently. |
PART 3
The third part of the lesson looks at some of the most common Spanish adverbs that don’t end in -mente. Many of these adverbs in English do not end in -ly either.
100 adverbs that don't end in -mente.
| abajo | below, downstairs |
| acá | here, over here |
| acaso | perhaps, maybe |
| además | besides / furthermore |
| adentro | in, inside |
| ¿Adónde? | To where? |
| afuera | outside |
| ahí | there |
| ahora | now |
| ahora mismo | right now |
| algo | somewhat |
| alguna parte | somewhere |
| allá | there / over there |
| allí | there / over there |
| allí mismo | right there |
| alto | loudly |
| anoche | last night |
| anteanoche | the night before last |
| anteayer | the day before yesterday |
| antes | before, previously |
| apenas | hardly, barely |
| aprisa | quickly |
| aquí | here |
| arriba | above, upstairs |
| así | like this, like that, so, this way |
| atrás | behind |
| aun | even |
| aún | still, yet |
| ayer | yesterday |
| bajo | softly, quietly |
| barato | cheaply |
| bastante | quite, enough, very |
| bien | well |
| casi | almost |
| cerca | near, nearby |
| claro (also claramente) | clearly |
| ¿Cómo? | How? |
| como | like, as, such as |
| ¿Cuál? | Which one? |
| ¿Cuándo? | When? |
| ¿Cuánto? | How much/many? |
| debajo | underneath |
| delante | ahead, in front |
| demasiado | too |
| dentro | inside |
| derecho | straight |
| despacio | slowly |
| después | after |
| detrás | behind |
| ¿Dónde? | Where? |
| duro | hard |
| encima | on top, above |
| enfrente | in front of |
| enseguida | straightaway |
| entonces | then, next |
| excepto | except for |
| fuera | outside, out |
| fuerte (also fuertemente) | loudly, hard |
| harto | enough, sufficiently |
| hasta | even, until |
| hoy | today |
| hoy en día | nowadays |
| jamás | never |
| lejos | away |
| lento (also lentamente) | slowly |
| luego | soon |
| mal | badly |
| mañana | tomorrow |
| más | more |
| mejor | better |
| menos | less |
| mientras | while |
| mismo | even |
| mucho | a lot |
| muy | very |
| ni | neither |
| no | no |
| nunca | never |
| peor | worse |
| poco | few, little |
| ¿Por qué? | Why? |
| pronto | soon |
| quizás | perhaps, maybe |
| rápido | quickly |
| recio | hard |
| sereno | calmly |
| sí | yes |
| siempre | always |
| sino | but |
| sólo (also solamente) | only |
| tal vez | maybe, perhaps |
| también | also, too |
| tampoco | neither |
| tan | so, very |
| tanto | so, as much, many |
| tarde | late |
| temprano | early |
| todas partes | everywhere |
| todavía | still, yet |
| ya | already |
The following are some example sentences that use some of the adverbs in the above list.
| No puedo ahora. | I cant now.
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| Nos quedabamos en un hotel anteayer. | We stayed in a hotel the day before yesterday.
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| Hace bastante calor. | It’s very hot. |
| ¿Dónde vas? Delante de ellos. | Where are you going? In front of them. |
| Está nevando hasta ahora. | It’s snowing even now. |
| Es mejor que no me preguntes. | Its better that you donçt ask me.
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| (Yo) lo vi allá. | I saw it there.
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| Nosotros sólo queremos verlo. | We only want to see it. |
| Ya vosotros regresáis por más. | Already you (all) come back for more. |
Using the adverb aun or aún
| aun | even |
| aún | still or yet |
| Aun Diego puede hacerlo. | Even Diego can do it. |
| Aún tenemos tiempo. | We still have time. |
| Aún no. | Not yet. |
That concludes this lesson on the adverbs part 1. If you
have not done so already watch the actual video for this lesson and then try
one of the associated quizzes to test your understanding.
