Adverbs are often combined with prepositions, which refer either to the dative or the accusative object. Let’s look at some of the “temporal” adverbs (adverbs describing time).
Adverbs help us explain the circumstances at which a verb is done, but they can also be used to describe other adverbs and adjectives. In German, we differentiate between adverbs of place (Lokaladverbien), adverbs of time and frequency (Temporaladverbien), adverbs of cause (Kausaladverbien), and adverbs of manner (Modaladverbien).
Adverbs of time and/or frequency are used to demonstrate how often, or how frequently something is done, or at what point in time something is done.
Examples:
Ich gehe ins Kino. (No adverb/element of time or frequency).
I go to the movie theater.
Ich gehe oft ins Kino. (“oft” describes the frequency)
I often go to the movie theater.
Adverbs can be placed at the very beginning of the sentence for emphasis, but remember that putting something other than the subject in position one will create inverted word order. In the middle of a sentence, adverbs are typically placed behind the verb, before the direct object, and after the indirect object. They will also precede prepositional phrases. If different kinds of adverbs appear in one sentence, we usually put adverbs of time/frequency first, then adverbs of cause, then adverbs of manner, and lastly, adverbs of place.
1. Adverbs of Frequency
Depending on the degree of frequency, we can use any of the following adverbs of frequency, starting with the least frequent “nie” (never).
Examples:
Stephan isst selten Fleisch. or Selten isst Stephan Fleisch. (no comma!)
Stephan seldom eats meat. or Seldom does Stephan eat meat.
2. Days of the week as adverbs of time
When referring to individual days of the week, typically we use them as nouns. In German, all days of the week are masculine (der Montag, der Dienstag, etc). We can refer to a specific moment in time that occurs on a specific day, in which case we use the preposition (because we are using a noun!) “an”, which can be contracted to “am” (an dem), but we can also use “nächst-” (next), or “jed-” (every). Remember that prepositions trigger cases!
Examples:
Am Donnerstag habe ich eine Prüfung. (One time event, “Thursday” is used as a noun)
On Thursday I have an exam.
Er arbeitet jeden Montag von zu Hause.
He works from home every Monday.
If we want to express frequency using the days of the week, we can make adverbs out of the nouns. Adverbs are always lower case (unless they are the first word of the sentence). We also drop the preposition “am”, because we are no longer dealing with a noun, and we add an “s”. Words like “tomorrow”, and “yesterday” are also adverbs of time.
Examples:
Ich gehe am Montag zur Arbeit. (“Montag” is used as a noun with “am”)
I (will) go to work on Monday.
Ich gehe montags zur Arbeit. (“montags” is an adverb, so no “am” but an extra “s”)
I go to work on Mondays/every Monday.
3. Time of Day
The exact same rules apply to the different times of day. With the exception of “die Nacht” (the night), all times of day are masculine, and need a preposition (“am”) when used as a noun. If they are used as an adverb (to express habit vs. a one time event), we drop the preposition, add the extra “s” to the end, and lower-case the first letter.
Examples:
Ich habe am Nachmittag ein Meeting. (“Nachmittag” is a noun and needs “am”)
I have a meeting in the afternoon.
Ich habe nachmittags ein Meeting. (“nachmittags” is an adverb)
I have a meeting in the afternoons/every afternoon.
Adverbs are words which describe verbs, and they generally follow the verb. They add to the overall meaning of a sentence. Adverbs are not declined. Here are some more common adverbs of time and frequency.
- Time: abends, heute, jetzt, gerade; morgens, mittags, nachts; gestern, früher, einmal, damals; seither, inzwischen; morgen, bald, demnächst, nachher, später
- Frequency: immer, meist(ens), manchmal, selten, nie, niemals