Plain and simple, adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They don't modify nouns. If a word modifies a noun, it's an adjective.
Keep in mind that adverbs and adjectives can often take the same form in English. This doesn't happen in Spanish because adjectives agree in gender with the nouns that they modify. Here's an example:
English
- The service is fast. (adjective)
- Juan ran fast. (adverb)
Spanish
- El servicio es rápido. (adjective)
- Juan corrió rapidamente. (adverb)
You can easily distinguish between adverbs and adjectives in Spanish, but in English, you often need to rely on context.
Lucky for you, adverbs do have a consistent form when they're not adjectives.
The -ly Form
When you see a word that ends in -ly, it's probably an adverb. This is basically the same thing as -mente in Spanish, except English uses -ly adverbs more often.
Spanish, on the other hand, uses adverbial phrases more often than words with -mente endings, so keep this in mind while translating in your head.
Here are some of the most common adverbial phrases in Spanish that have equivalents with -ly endings:
- de prisa = quickly
- con alegría = happily
- con facilidad = easily
- de pronto = suddenly
- por desgracia = unfortunately
- de golpe = suddenly
Spanish does not arrange modifiers the way English does. That's why you hardly ever see an adverb that modifies another adverb side-by-side in Spanish. Sentences with multiple modifiers are organized differently in Spanish.
When translating from English to Spanish, you usually need to use more words. Watch out for bad translations, ELLs.
How Adverbs Are Used
Grammarians and linguists tend to dump every other modifier that's definitely not an adjective into the "adverb" category. It can get pretty confusing.
It's especially confusing since phrases and clauses can also have adverb-like qualities. For example, some adverbs can be rewritten as prepositional phrases (cheerfully becomes in a cheerful way).
You see this in Spanish too, as we outlined above.
To keep things simple, we'll just go over the most common ways that adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Manner (how?)
These adverbs give you more info about an action. They tell you how or in what manner something happened.
Modifying a Verb
- The modifier dangled precariously.
How did the modifier dangle? It dangled precariously. The adverb precariously modifies the verb dangled.
Modifying an Adjective
- His model airplane was badly built.
How was the airplane built? Badly. The adverb badly modifies the adjective (or verbal) built.
Modifying an Adverb
- His model airplane was unusually badly built.
How was the airplane badly built? Unusually. The adverb unusually modifies the adverb badly.
Frequency (how often?)
These adverbs tell you how often something happened.
Modifying a Verb
- Her mother calls her daily.
How often does her mother call? Daily. The adverb daily modifies the verb calls.
Modifying an Adjective
- The frequently upset child started crying.
How often is the child upset? Frequently. The adverb frequently modifies the adjective upset.
Modifying an Adverb
- Breaks are seldom quickly taken.
How often are breaks quickly taken? Seldom quickly. The adverb seldom modifies the adverb quickly.
Time (when?)
These adverbs tell you when something happened.
Modifying a Verb
- Marta baked yesterday.
When did Marta bake? Yesterday. The adverb yesterday modifies the verb baked.
Modifying an Adjective
- Mario flushed his now-deceased goldfish.
The adverb now modifies the adjective (or verbal) deceased. It tells us when the fish was deceased.
Modifying an Adverb
- I had never had chicken before today.
The adverb before modifies the adverb today. It gives us more info about today.
Degree and Extent (how much?)
These adverbs tell you how much something happened. They're usually called intensifiers.
Modifying a Verb
- Cruella absolutely adores her fur coat.
How much does Cruella adore her fur coat? Absolutely. The adverb absolutely modifies the verb adores.
Modifying an Adjective
- Lee's skit was very funny.
The adverb very modifies the adjective funny. It tells us to what extent Lee's skit was funny.
Modifying an Adverb
- Arnold's walls were almost completely torn down.
The adverb almost modifies the adverb completely. It tells us to what extent Arnold's walls were completely torn down.
Place (where?)
These types of adverbs talk about location.
Modifying a Verb
- We walked upstairs.
Where did we walk? Upstairs. The adverb upstairs modifies the verb walked.
Modifying an Adjective
- The backwards-placed portrait was abstract.
The adverb backwards modifies the adjective (or verbal) placed.
Need some extra help identifying adverbs? Try making flashcards with these sentences.