German adverbs are a flexible tool you can use to express yourself more naturally as you learn how to speak German. They’re a part of speech used to give more information about other elements of your sentences in ways that adjectives can’t. While English has its own adverbs, German Adverbien (adverbs) don’t always behave the way their English counterparts do. Learn all about these differences and find practical examples of adverbs in action with dozens of examples you can use immediately!
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What are German adverbs and why are they important?
Adverbs in German are a versatile part of speech that allows you to give extra details about other elements in your sentences such as verbs. You can use them to describe when something happens, where it happens, how it happens, or to what extent or degree something occurs. While adjectives modify nouns, adverbs can modify many parts of speech from verbs to adjectives and even other adverbs.
Understanding what German adverbs are and how to use them is important for achieving fluency in German because they give nuance and specificity to your communication. For example, if you were a coach for a track team, you would need to know if your athletes ran schnell (quickly) or langsam (slowly). Both these terms are considered adverbs, so it’s easy to see how other German adverbs can impact the information you’ll need in daily German conversation and writing.
The 4 main types of German adverbs
German adverbs can be broken down into four groups. Since all adverbs are meant to answer either “when,” “where,” “how,” or “to what extent,” then we can group German adverbs into Temporaladverbien (adverbs of time), Lokaladverbien (adverbs of place), Modaladverbien (adverbs of manner), and Gradadverbien (adverbs of degree) accordingly.
Temporaladverbien (adverbs of time)
Like a grammatical sundial, Temporaladverbien (adverbs of time) let your audience know when or how often the action being performed occurs.
You can use this chart of 26 Termporaladverbien to get you started:
| German Adverb of Time | English Translation |
| abends | in the evening |
| bald | soon |
| damals | back then |
| früher | earlier |
| gestern | yesterday |
| gleich | in a moment |
| häufig | frequently |
| heute | today |
| immer | always |
| jährlich | yearly |
| jetzt | now |
| manchmal | sometimes |
| mittags | at noon |
| mittlerweile | meanwhile |
| monatlich | monthly |
| morgen | tomorrow |
| nachts | at night |
| nie | never |
| noch | still, yet |
| schon | already |
| selten | rarely |
| sofort | immediately |
| später | later |
| tagsüber | during the day |
| vorhin | a moment ago |
| wöchentlich | weekly |
See these Temporaladverbien in action with the example sentences below:
- Ich gehe jetzt ins Kino. = I’m going to the cinema now.
- Ich habe das schon gesehen. = I’ve already seen that.
- Bald werden wir die Ergebnisse wissen. = Soon we’ll know the results.
Lokaladverbien (adverbs of place)
You can use Lokaladverbien (adverbs of place) to give spatial context to the actions in our expression. In other words, they describe “where” the action is taking place.
Here are 25 Lokaladverbien along with their English translations:
| German Adverb of Place | English Translation |
| da | there |
| dahin | to there |
| darüber | over there |
| darunter | underneath |
| dort | there |
| draußen | outside, outdoors |
| drinnen | indoors |
| entlang | along |
| fern | far |
| hier | here |
| hierhin | to here |
| hinten | behind |
| innen | inside |
| irgendwo | somewhere |
| links | to the left |
| nah | near |
| nirgendwo | nowhere |
| oben | above |
| rechts | to the right |
| rückwärts | backwards |
| überall | everywhere |
| überallhin | to everywhere |
| unten | below |
| vorn | in front |
| vorwärts | forwards |
Here are a few examples using Lokaladverbien in sentences:
- Er steht vorne in der Schlange. = He’s standing at the front of the line.
- Das Buch liegt hier auf dem Tisch. = The book is lying here on the table.
- Sie ist draußen im Garten. = She is outside in the garden.
Modaladverbien (adverbs of manner)
If you want to specify the way an action was done, you can use Modaladverbien (adverbs of manner). They answer the question of “how” an action was performed. While many Modaladverbien in English end in -ly, they can have a wide range of end spellings in German including -ig, -lich, and more.
Confidently give your German verbs depth with the Modaladverbien in this chart:
| German Adverb of Manner | English Translation |
| absichtlich | intentionally |
| anders | differently |
| besonders | especially |
| deutlich | clearly |
| einfach | simply |
| einzeln | individually |
| ernsthaft | seriously |
| gemeinsam | together |
| genauso | just as |
| gerne | gladly |
| heimlich | secretly |
| höflich | politely |
| langsam | slowly |
| laut | loudly |
| liese | quietly |
| offen | openly |
| plötzlich | suddenly |
| schnell | quickly |
| schwierig | difficultly |
| sorgsam | diligently |
| ungefähr | approximately |
| ungern | reluctantly |
| vorsichtig | carefully |
| widerwillig | unwillingly |
| zufällig | by chance |
Try a few German sentences with Modaladverbien to learn how to use them:
- Bitte antworten Sie höflich. = Please reply politely.
- Ich habe es absichtlich gemacht. = I did it on purpose.
- Sie sang leise ein Lied. = She quietly sang a song.
Gradadverbien (adverbs of degree)
Use Gradadverbien (adverbs of degree) when you want to tell the reader or listener to what extent something happened. For example, you could say that you’ve either memorized the following list of adverbs in German völlig (completely) or only halbwegs (partially) if you want to come back to them later.
The chart below provides a few examples of Gradadverbien you can use to expand your vocabulary:
| German Adverb of Degree | English Translation |
| absolut | absolutely |
| ausschließlich | exclusively |
| äußerst | extremely |
| dermaßen | to such an extent |
| etwas | a little |
| fast | almost |
| geradezu | virtually |
| halbwegs | partly |
| hinreichend | sufficiently |
| höchstens | at most |
| intensiv | intensely |
| kaum | hardly |
| mehr | more |
| mindestens | at least |
| nur | only |
| sehr | very |
| so | so |
| sozusagen | so to speak |
| total | totally |
| überaus | exceedingly |
| überhaupt | at all |
| unzureichend | inadequately |
| völlig | completely |
| ziemlich | quite |
| ziemlich | fairly |
If you’d like to see how Gradadverbien are used in a sentence, check out these examples:
- Ich bin sehr müde. = I am very tired.
- Das war absolut fantastisch! = That was absolutely fantastic!
- Das Haus ist ziemlich alt. = The house is quite old.
Recognizing adjectives vs. adverbs in German
There’s a lot of confusion about the differences between adjectives and adverbs in German since they’re both parts of speech used to describe other elements in a sentence. Here is a quick tip for knowing whether it’s an adverb or an adjective:
- Adjectives are used to modify nouns and must change their form to agree with grammatical gender, German case, and the number of the noun they’re describing.
- Adverbs do not adapt their spelling for any words they modify, regardless of the context of the sentence. They are used to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs in a sentence.
For example, in ein schneller Hund (the fast dog), “schneller“ (fast) is an adjective that changes its ending to -er because it’s modifying the masculine, nominative singular noun Hund (dog). That -er ending added to schnell is a dead giveaway that this is an adjective and not an adverb.
In contrast, we can identify the adverb in Der Hund läuft schnell (The dog runs quickly) as the word “schnell” because it gives us more information on the conjugated verb läuft (to run) and has no special ending.
How to use adverbs in German sentences
Using adverbs in German sentences is all about understanding their placement in a sentence since, luckily, you don’t have to adjust the form of the adverb to agree with any other parts of speech. Generally speaking, German adverbs are found close to the words they modify, but specific word order depends on what type of adverb with which you’re dealing.
- Temporaladverbien (adverbs of time) are usually found near the start of the sentence to help set the scene for your audience.
- Modaladverbien (adverbs of manner) can often be seen following right after the verb of the sentence towards the end of a clause.
- Gradadverbien (adverbs of degree) always come just before the word they modify.
- Lokaladverbien (adverbs of place) generally appear after the verb or object of the sentence.
Here are a few practical sentence examples showing positioning for each of these four types of German adverbs:
- Temporaladverbien (near the start of the clause):
- Heute gehe ich einkaufen. = Today, I am going shopping.
- Wir sind gestern ins Kino gegangen. = We went to the cinema yesterday.
- Modaladverbien (immediately after the verb):
- Die Kinder haben ruhig gespielt. = The children played quietly.
- Du sprichst deutlich Deutsch. = You speak German clearly.
- Gradadverbien (just before the word it modifies):
- Sie hat uns vollständig überzeugt. = She completely convinced us.
- Ich war kaum müde. = I was hardly tired.
- Lokaladverbien (after the word it modifies):
- Ich bleibe hier. = I am staying here.
- Er arbeitet drinnen im Büro. = He is working inside the office.
Tips for modifying adjectives and infinitives with German adverbs
In German, an adverb modifying an adjective always precedes the adjective it modifies. For example, in the sentence Adverbien sind sehr wichtig (Adverbs are very important) sehr (very) is an adverb modifying the adjective wichtig (important), so it’s placed just before the adjective.
Similarly, adverbs that modify infinitives in German typically appear immediately before the infinitive or infinitive phrase of the expression. If you take a look at Er versucht, schnell zu arbeiten (He tries to work quickly) you’ll see the adverb schnell (quickly) just before the infinitive phrase zu arbeiten (to work).
Follow these rules to maintain clarity in your German sentences, help clarify the adverb’s intent, and identify which word you want to modify. By practicing using German adverbs in sentences, particularly with Rosetta Stone tutoring, you can give your communication in German nuance with precise meaning.
Frequently asked questions about German adverbs
Look no further for the answers to the four most frequently asked questions about German adverbs.
What are German adverbs?
German adverbs are a part of speech that gives more information about other elements in a sentence such as verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. This versatile grammatical tool helps your audience answer the questions “when,” “where,” “how,” or “to what extent” about the word you’re modifying with an adverb. For example, in the sentence “Ich werde bald antworten,” (I will answer soon) the German adverb bald (soon) lets the reader know “when” you plan to answer.
How many kinds of German adverbs are there?
There are four types of German adverbs based on what question they answer about the word they’re modifying: Temporaladverbien (adverbs of time), Lokaladverbien (adverbs of place), Modaladverbien (adverbs of manner), and Gradadverbien (adverbs of degree). These groups are helpful because they help narrow down positioning rules for each German adverb based on what kind of information they’re providing.
What are causal adverbs in German?
German causal adverbs explain the reasons or causes behind actions. They include such terms as deshalb (therefore), deswegen (because of this), and darum (that is why). These adverbs connect actions and ideas, showing cause-and-effect relationships in sentences. Causal adverbs often appear in German towards the beginning or middle of a sentence following a comma.
Are there comparative and superlative forms of adverbs in German?
Yes, some German adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms just like German adjectives. For the comparative, simply add an -er suffix as in schneller (more quickly) for the most part. Some comparative adverbs, however, undergo a stem change such as hoch (highly) changing to höher (more highly).
When you want to use a superlative German adverb, use the word am (on the) along with adding the suffix -sten to the base adverb. For example, schnell (quickly) becomes am schnellsten (the quickest) and hoch becomes am höchsten (the highest).
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