German Adverbs (Adverbien)

German Grammar

Adverbs (Adverbien) are unchangeable words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Unlike English, German has no special adverb ending like "-ly" and most adjectives can function as adverbs without any changes.

Examples:

• Er läuft schnell. (He runs quickly.)
• Sie ist sehr intelligent. (She is very intelligent.)

German adverbs fall into four main categories: place, time, manner, and reason.

Local Adverbs (Place)

Local adverbs (Lokaladverbien) answer the question where? (wo?), where to? (wohin?), or where from? (woher?). They indicate location, direction, or origin. Here are some common local adverbs.

Adverb	Translation	Example	English
hier	here	Ich wohne hier.	I live here.
dort	there	Dort ist das Museum.	The museum is there.
oben	up/above	Die Katze ist oben.	The cat is upstairs.
unten	down/below	Er wartet unten.	He is waiting downstairs.
links	left	Biegen Sie links ab.	Turn left.
überall	everywhere	Schnee liegt überall.	Snow is everywhere.

Temporal Adverbs (Time)

Temporal adverbs (Temporaladverbien) answer the question when? (wann?), how often? (wie oft?), or how long? (wie lange?). They provide information about time, frequency, or duration.

Adverb	Translation	Example	English
heute	today	Heute gehe ich einkaufen.	I'm going shopping today.
gestern	yesterday	Wir waren gestern im Kino.	We were at the cinema yesterday.
morgen	tomorrow	Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.	I'm going to Berlin tomorrow.
jetzt	now	Ich muss jetzt gehen.	I have to go now.
immer	always	Sie kommt immer pünktlich.	She always comes on time.
oft	often	Wir essen oft Pizza.	We often eat pizza.
nie	never	Er trinkt nie Kaffee.	He never drinks coffee.

Modal Adverbs (Manner)

Modal adverbs (Modaladverbien) answer the question how? (wie?) or in what way?. They describe the manner or way in which something is done, or express degree and intensity.

Adverb	Translation	Example	English
sehr	very	Das Essen ist sehr gut.	The food is very good.
gern	gladly/like to	Ich lese gern Bücher.	I like to read books.
leider	unfortunately	Leider kann ich nicht kommen.	Unfortunately, I can't come.
vielleicht	maybe/perhaps	Vielleicht regnet es morgen.	Maybe it will rain tomorrow.
anders	differently	Sie macht es anders.	She does it differently.
genau	exactly	Das ist genau richtig.	That's exactly right.

Causal Adverbs (Reason)

Causal adverbs (Kausaladverbien) answer the question why? (warum?) or for what reason?. They express cause, reason, or consequence.

Adverb	Translation	Example	English
darum	that's why/therefore	Ich bin müde, darum gehe ich schlafen.	I'm tired, that's why I'm going to sleep.
deshalb	therefore/that's why	Es regnet, deshalb bleibe ich zu Hause.	It's raining, therefore I'm staying home.
trotzdem	nevertheless/anyway	Es ist kalt, trotzdem gehe ich spazieren.	It's cold, nevertheless I'm going for a walk.
folglich	consequently	Er hat nicht gelernt, folglich hat er die Prüfung nicht bestanden.	He didn't study, consequently he didn't pass the exam.
also	so/thus	Ich denke, also bin ich.	I think, therefore I am.

Formation from Adjectives

The most important rule about German adverbs is that most adjectives can be used as adverbs without any changes. This is unlike English, where adjectives typically add "-ly" to become adverbs.

Adjective	As Adjective	As Adverb	English
schnell	Das Auto ist schnell.	Er fährt schnell.	The car is fast. / He drives quickly.
gut	Der Film ist gut.	Sie singt gut.	The film is good. / She sings well.
laut	Die Musik ist laut.	Er spricht laut.	The music is loud. / He speaks loudly.
langsam	Die Schnecke ist langsam.	Bitte fahren Sie langsam.	The snail is slow. / Please drive slowly.

Some adverbs can be formed with special suffixes. The suffix -weise or -sweise can be added to nouns to create adverbs that describe manner or method.

Base Word	Adverb	Example	English
Schritt (step)	schrittweise	Wir kommen schrittweise voran.	We're making progress step by step.
Teil (part)	teilweise	Das stimmt teilweise.	That's partly correct.
Beispiel (example)	beispielsweise	Nehmen wir beispielsweise das Auto.	Let's take the car, for example.

The suffix -erweise is added to adjectives to create adverbs that express the speaker's opinion or attitude.

Adjective	Adverb	Example	English
glücklich (happy)	glücklicherweise	Glücklicherweise hat niemand das gesehen.	Fortunately, nobody saw that.
dumm (stupid)	dummerweise	Ich habe dummerweise meine Schlüssel vergessen.	I stupidly forgot my keys.
interessant (interesting)	interessanterweise	Interessanterweise mag er keine Pizza.	Interestingly, he doesn't like pizza.

Word Order

German adverbs have flexible positioning in sentences, but their placement follows specific rules. The position of an adverb can affect the sentence structure and emphasis.

Adverb at the Beginning

When an adverb begins a sentence, it causes verb-second word order - the verb must come immediately after the adverb, followed by the subject.

Examples:

• Heute gehe ich ins Kino. (Today I'm going to the cinema.)
• Leider kann sie nicht kommen. (Unfortunately she can't come.)
• Dort wohnt meine Schwester. (My sister lives there.)

Adverb in the Middle

When adverbs appear in the middle of a sentence, they follow these rules:

Rule	Example	English
Before accusative objects	Ich lese oft Bücher.	I often read books.
After dative objects	Sie gibt dem Kind gern Schokolade.	She likes to give the child chocolate.
After personal pronouns	Ich sehe ihn morgen.	I'll see him tomorrow.
After reflexive pronouns	Er wäscht sich schnell.	He washes himself quickly.

Comparison of Adverbs

Unlike adjectives, most German adverbs cannot be compared. However, there are a few important exceptions that have comparative and superlative forms.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative	English
gern	lieber	am liebsten	gladly → rather → most preferably
oft	öfter	am öftesten	often → more often → most often
bald	eher	am ehesten	soon → sooner → soonest

The most commonly used comparable adverb is gern, which expresses preference. Its forms are used very frequently in everyday German.

Examples with gern/lieber/am liebsten:

• Ich trinke gern Tee. (I like drinking tea.)
• Ich trinke lieber Kaffee als Tee. (I prefer coffee to tea.)
• Am liebsten trinke ich heiße Schokolade. (I like hot chocolate best.)