Adverbs are words used to modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. An adverb can give information about time, place, manner, or number and answer questions. An adverb is a word that complements or modifies the verb, an adjective or another adverb. They are similar to adjectives, however, adverbs describe how an action is taking place if it is slow, or with difficulty, or fast. Examples of Adverbs are quickly, softly. Notice that most of them end in “-ly.” In Spanish, the ending for the adverb is “mente.”
First you change the adjective to the feminine form of the word, and simply add “mente,” to the end of the word.
| Adjective | Feminine | Add “mente” |
| Rápido – fast | Rápida | Rápidamente |
| Lento – slow | Lenta | Lentamente |
| Suave – soft | Suave | Suavemente |
| Absoluto – absolute | Absoluta | Absolutamente |
There are other adverbs which describe how an action occurs and that are common in Spanish:
Me lo sé de memoria – I know it by heart
Lo hicimos a escondidas – We did it secretly
De repente salimos a correr – Suddenly we went out running
If you want to describe to someone the manner in which something took place, you will use an adverb. They are written in the same form and do not change according to gender or number because they modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, not nouns. Adverbs are usually placed after the verb.
It is easy to identify an adverb in a sentence because all you have to do is ask yourself questions like: when, how, where, how long, how often; and look at your sentence for the answer. Your word which tells you how things happened, is your adverb.
If you want to let someone know when or how often an action occurs, you can use these adverbs:
A menudo – Often
Ella llega tarde a menudo – She is often late
Al final – At the end
Encontrarás una maleta al final de la calle – You will find a suitcase at the end of the street.
De día – During the day
De noche – At night
Voy a la tienda de noche- I go to the store at night
De vez en cuando – Once in a while
Yo voy a la playa de vez en cuando.
Adverbs that describe where an action occurs:
A la derecha – To the right
En ninguna parte – Nowhere
A la izquierda – To the left
En otra parte – Somewhere else
De arriba abajo – Up and down
En casa – At home
Por aquí – This way
Hay parques en todas partes. There are parks everywhere.
Vamos al cine después de estudiar. Let’s go to the movies after studying.
An adverb is a word that complements or can modify a verb, an adjective or even other adverbs. Adverbs are divided according to the change they perform in a sentence. In the following lesson, you will learn about the different types of adverbs in Spanish and how to use them properly.