Adverbs

German does not have the ly distinction in English between an adjective and an
adverb. You can use almost any adjective as an adverb without changing it, as long as it
makes sense:
Das Pferd ist schnell.
The horse is quick.

Er rennt schnell.
He runs quickly.

The only thing in German thats somewhat comparable to our ly is the erweise
fomulation, which modifies an entire clause rather than just a verb or an adjective:
Es ist normal, dass wir um 7 Uhr
essen.
It's normal for us to eat at 7
o'clock.

Normalerweise essen wir um 7

Uhr.
Normally we eat at 7 o'clock.

As in English, there are also some common adverbs that dont map as directly to
adjectives. They all work grammatically in the same way as their English equivalents,
and they dont take any case endings, so you just have to memorize them. Some of them
youve probably seen already:
TIM E

MANNER

PL A CE

anfangs -- at the
beginning
bald -- soon
bereits -- already
damals -- at that time,
then
danach -- afterward
dann -- then
diesmal -- this time
einmal -- once
endlich -- finally, at last
frher -- earlier, previously
gestern -- yesterday
heute -- today
immer -- always
inzwischen -- meanwhile

beinahe -- nearly, almost

besonders -- especially
blo -- merely, simply, just
daneben -- besides, in
addition
ebenfalls -- likewise, also
ebenso -- equally, similarly
eigentlich -- actually, in
fact
fast -- almost
gemeinsam -- in common,
jointly
gern, gerne -- gladly
hoentlich -- hopefully
insgesamt -- in total,
altogether

aufwrts -- upward
auseinander -separated, apart
auen -- outside
da -- here, there
drben -- over there
geradeaus -- straight
ahead
hier -- here
hinten -- in back, at the
back
innen -- inside
links -- left
nebenan -- next door
nirgends/nirgendwo -nowhere

jemals -- ever
jetzt -- now
langsam -- slowly
lngst -- long ago
manchmal -- sometimes
meistens -- mostly, most
often
neulich -- recently
nie -- never
noch -- still
nochmal -- again
nun -- now
oft -- often
schon -- already
sofort -- immediately
vorbei -- over, past
vorher -- previously, before
vorhin -- just now, a short
time ago
wieder -- again
zuerst -- first, at first
zurzeit -- at the moment,
at present

kaum -- hardly
leider -- unfortunately
mindestens -- at least, at
minimum
nmlich -- namely
natrlich -- naturally
nebenbei -- by the way,
incidentally
schlielich -- finally
sehr -- very
sogar -- even
sonst -- otherwise
teilweise -- partially
brigens -- by the way
ungefhr -- approximately
ursprnglich -- originally
vielleicht -- perhaps,
maybe
wahrscheinlich -- probably,
likely
wirklich -- really, truly
ziemlich -- rather, quite
zufllig -- accidentally, by
chance
zurck -- back
zusammen -- together

Continue to next section >>

oben -- above
rechts -- right (left)
rckwrts -- backwards
berall -- everywhere
unten -- under
vorn(e) -- in front, at the
front
vorwrts -- forward