grammatik
Adverbs are used to describe verbs. They can describe where, how and how often something happens.
Adverbs of time, manner and place
Adverbsare short phrases or words which can be added to sentences to give more information about the action. Adverbs tell us:
- When or how often something happens (every day, often, after school etc)
- How the action is done (quickly, well etc) - including what the person doing the action thinks of it
- Where it takes place (in town, here, nearby etc)
When and how often
| When | Translation | How often | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| manchmal | Sometimes | nächsten Sommer | Next summer |
| oft | Often | am Samstag | On Saturday |
| meistens | Most of the time | samstags | On Saturdays |
| normalerweise | Normally, usually | morgens | In the mornings |
| immer | Always | nachmittags | In the afternoons |
| jeden Tag | Every day | abends | In the evenings |
| gestern | Yesterday | nach dem Film | After the film |
| heute | Today | vor der Schule | Before school |
| morgen | Tomorrow | während der Woche | During the week |
| letzte Woche | Last week | jetzt | Now |
| dieses Jahr | This year | um 7 Uhr | At 7:00 |
| nie | Never | später/ spät | Later/late |
| schon | Already | ||
| sofort | Immediately |
How and the likelihood, when, or who with
| How | Translation | Likelihood, when, or with | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| gern | Gladly ('like') | vielleicht | Maybe |
| nicht gern | Not gladly ('don't like') | natürlich | Of course |
| sehr gern | Very gladly ('like very much') | wahrscheinlich | Probably |
| schnell | Quickly | sicher | Certainly |
| langsam | Slowly | nicht | Not |
| gut | Well | noch nicht | Not yet |
| schön | Beautifully | mit Freunden | With friends |
| leider | Unfortunately | zusammen | Together |
| hoffentlich | Hopefully | mit Sarah | With Sarah |
Where and the specific location
| Where | Translation | Location | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| hier | Here | in der Stadt | In town |
| dort/da | There | auf der Straße | In the street |
| in der Nähe | Nearby | zu Hause | At home |
| in der Schule | At school | bei mir | At mine (my house) |
| in meinem Zimmer | In my room | bei meinem Freund | At my friend's house (male) |
| im Park | In the park | draußen | Outside |
| in der Kneipe | In the pub | drinnen | Indoors |
Word order with adverbs
In German the word order always stays the same.
The adverb comes immediately after the verb.
- Ich spiele gern Fußball -> (I gladly play football) I like playing football
- Wir gehen jeden Tag zur Schule -> (We every day go to school) We go to school every day.
- Meine Freundin sieht bei mir fern -> (My friend watches at mine TV) My friend watches TV at mine.
- Mein Bruder geht wahrscheinlich zur Universität -> (My brother is going probably to university) My brother is probably going to university.
Time, manner and place
You may want to include more than one adverb in your sentence. When this happens, there is a strict order:- Time (when)
- Manner (how)
- Place (where)
Examples of time, manner and place in use
- Time and place: Wir werden morgen nach der Schule in der Stadt ins Kino gehen -> We're going to go to the cinema in town tomorrow after school.
- Time and manner: Meine Schwester kann normalerweise gut singen -> My sister can usually sing well.
- Time, manner and place: Ich spiele jeden Tag mit meinem Bruder im Park Fußball -> I play football every day in the park with my brother.
Higher students
In more complex sentences like these it can sound cluttered with three or more adverbs, all together, straight after the verb. It is possible to spread the adverbs out throughout the sentence to make it sound better but the time-manner-place order has to remain intact, eg 'I play football every day in the park with my brother' can be translated as follows:- Ich spiele jeden Tag mit meinem Bruder im Park Fußball.
- Jeden Tag spiele ich mit meinem Bruder Fußball im Park.
- Jeden Tag spiele ich Fußball mit meinem Bruder im Park.
Common mistakes made by English speakers
- Putting the adverb before the verb (like in English).
- Getting the time-manner-place adverb order wrong.
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