Adverbs in German Grammar
Adverbs provide details about the place, time, reason or manner of an action. They refer to the verb and are used to describe when, how, where or why something happened.
There are several types of adverbs: place adverbs, time adverbs, cause adverbs and modal adverbs.
Besides, adverbs can be formed from other types of words (nouns or adjectives). Normal adjectives can also be used as adverbs. The difference is that, unlike an adjective, the adverb does not describe a noun but a verb ( adverbial use of adjectives).
Formation of adverbs
Part of adverbs are derived from other kinds of words through the addition of suffixes.
· Derivation from nouns with an ending:
Derivation from some adjectives with an ending:
Place adverbs
Time adverbs
Cause adverbs
Modal adverbs (adverbs of manner)
Comparison of adverbs
Barring a few exceptions, adverbs are not compared. The adverbs oft (= often) and wohl (= well) have two comparison forms:
The irregular adverbs gern (= with pleasure) , bald (= soon) and sehr (= very) are also compared.
Comparison of adjectival adverbs
Adjectives used as adverbs can also be compared. In this case, the uninflected form of the comparative and the superlative with am + sten are used:
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For many adverbs without a comparison form, the comparison can be formed by combining mehr (= more) or weiter (= further) (comparative) with am meisten (= at most) or am weitesten (= furthest) (comparative), e.g.:
