Adverbs in Spanish

• Adverbs describe a verb and usually end in mente in Spanish. They can be easily formed from the adjective.
• There are some irregular common adverbs which are important to know.
• There are both regular and irregularcomparative adverbs and superlative adverbs.

Adverbs are usually used to describe a verb. In other words, they describe actions and add more detail. Adverbs can describe how something is being done (quickly, badly, etc) and when, where or how often something takes place.

Most adverbs in English end in -ly. For example:

• quickly

• easily

• strangely

Most Spanish adverbs end in mente.

For example:

regularmente - regularly

lentamente - slowly

An adverb can be formed from almost any adjective in Spanish by adding mente to the feminine singular form of the adjective.

Here are some examples:

Most of the time the adverb goes after the verb it is describing.

For example:

Juego al tenis regularmente. - I play tennis regularly.

El tren viaja lentamente. - The train travels slowly.

Adverbs are invariable, which means they only have one form and do not change according to gender or number.

For example:

En España la cena se come tradicionalmente tarde. - In Spain the evening meal is traditionally eaten late.

El chico está gravemente enfermo. - The boy is seriously ill.

Es importante escribir correctamente. - It’s important to write correctly.

When two or more adverbs are used in sequence, add mente only to the last adverb.

For example:

Habla suave pero claramente. - She speaks softly but clearly.

Suave meaning softly and claramente meaning clearly are both adverbs.

Some adverbs are completely irregular, such as bien (well) and mal (badly).

For example:

David habla español muy mal. - David speaks Spanish very badly.

Marta juega muy bien al fútbol. - Marta plays football very well.

Others such as rápido/a (fast) are an adjective as well as an adverb.

For example:

La chica é muy rápida. - The girl is very fast.

Rápida here is an adjective.

El tren viaja muy rápido. - The train travels very quickly.

Rápido here is an adverb.

Regular comparative adverbs are formed in the same way as regular comparative adjectives in Spanish. They are formed by using the word más meaning more or menos meaning less followed by the adverb and the word que meaning than.

For example:

El coche viaja más lentamente que el tren. - The car travels more slowly than the train.

Carlos hace su trabajo menos fácilmente que Ricardo. - Carlos does his work less easily than Ricardo.

To say that one action is the same as another, use the word tan meaning as followed by the adverb and the word como meaning as.

For example:

Julia corre tan rápido como Ana. - Julia runs as fast as Ana.

Superlative adverbs (the most often, the most efficiently, the fastest) are formed in the same way in Spanish as comparative adverbs, using más and menos. In this case más means the most and menos means the least.

For example:

Marta es la que corre más rápido. - Marta is the one who runs (the) fastest.

la chica que sabe más - the girl who knows (the) most

la chica que sabe menos - the girl who knows (the) least

Remember

Comparative and superlative adverbs are usually identical in Spanish so use the context of the rest of the sentence to decide which one is meant.

Irregular comparative and superlative adverbs are usually identical in Spanish and you can tell which one is meant by the rest of the sentence.

For example:

Ana juega al fútbol mejor que tú. - Ana plays football better than you do.

Ahora salgo menos. - I go out less these days.

Practise what you've learned about adverbs in Spanish with this quiz.

Now you have learned about adverbs in Spanish why not explore adjectives in Spanish?