German Adverbs (das Adverb)

Adverbs are words that do not change (they are not declined) and they modify the verb’s meaning, an adjective or other adverb.

Types of adverbs

• Temporal adverbs (Temporaladverbien)
• Adverbs of Frequency
• Locative Adverbs (Lokaladverbien)
• Interrogative Adverbs (Frageadverbien)
• Causal Adverbs (Kausaladverbien)
• Adverbs of Manner (Modaladverbien)
• Pronoun Adverbs

Temporal adverbs

Temporal adverbs dealing with the day

Subjective Temporal Adverbs

Temporal adverb gerade

The adverb gerade is used to make the present continuous in German:

Ich lese gerade die Zeitung
I am reading the newspaper

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of Absolute Frequency

Adverbs of daily frequency

Adverbs of weekly frecuency

Other adverbs of frequency

Forming temporal adverbs by adding an -s

Often, temporal adverbs of frequency are formed from nouns with an "–s" added on. At first, this construction creates a bit of confusion among students of German.

Locative Adverbs

Locative adverbs of place

Locative adverbs with the particles "hin" and "her". The particles "hin" and "her" denote the direction of movement with respect to the person that is speaking. These particles are used often to make adverbs.

Here are some examples so that you understand better:

hinein

If my child and I are outside of the house and I want to tell him to go inside (for example, to do his chores), I’d say:

Geh hinein!
Go inside!

heraus

If I am outside of the house and my child is inside and I want him to come out (for example, to cut the grass), I’d say:

Komm heraus!
Come outside!

herein

If I am inside the house and my son is playing in the garden and I want him to come in (for example, to eat), I’d say:

Komm herein!
Come inside!

hinaus

If my child and I are inside the house and I want to tell him to go out (for example, to play in the garden), I’d say:

Geh hinaus!
Go outside!

Locative adverbs that indicate movement

Construction of locative adverbs by adding an -s

In German, locative adverbs are also formed by adding an "–s" to nouns.

Causal Adverbs

Causal adverbs indicate the reason or origin of an action.

Causal adverbs serve as a connection between two sentences, given that they’re Konjunktionaladverbien

Ich möchte in Deutschland leben, deshalb lerne ich gerade Deutsch
I would like to live in Germany, therefore I am learning German

It must be emphasized that adverbs occupy a position and by placing them at the beginning of a sentence, they move the subject to the 3rd position.

Main Article: Sentence structure

Adverbs of manner

Restrictive adverbs

Adverbs of quantity

gern / gerne

The adverb "gern" is used often in German and it’s equivalent is "gladly".

The construction "Ich hätte gern…" is very common in German and means "I would like to" and is used to politely order something.

gern or gerne are exactly the same but gern is used more often.

Pronoun Adverbs

Pronoun adverbs are the combination of a preposition and a pronoun and are used only to refer to things (not for living things).

Adverbs "da-" + preposition

The adverbs "da-" + preposition are used very often and their translation depends greatly on the context:

Ich habe nicht daran gedacht
I didn’t think about that

The prepositions are not exactly the same in German and English and thus the translation is not exact. Check out prepositions to get the best translation in every case.

Adverbs hier + preposition

The adverbs "hier-" + preposition have practically the same meaning as adverbs da + "preposition" though they are used much less often. Their meaning depends greatly on the context.

Interrogative adverbs

Main article: Interrogative particles

The most important interrogative adverbs are:

Comparative and superlative with adverbs

Some adverbs can make comparatives and superlatives like adjective. This is the case with "bald", "gern", "oft", and "wohl".

Adjectives functioning like adverbs

In many cases, adjectives can function like adverbs:

Das Auto ist schnell [schnell as an adjective]
The car is fast

Sie isst schnell [schnell as an adverb]
She eats fast