How To Use Spanish Adverbs Correctly (With Examples)

Adverbs represent a whole group of words that are fundamental to most modern languages, including Spanish.

On the difficulty spectrum, you’ll be pleased to know that adverbs fall on the easier side. Adverbs generally don’t cause too much confusion for most Spanish beginners!

Read on and I’ll explain how to form Spanish adverbs.

What are Spanish adverbs?

Let’s first determine what an adverb actually is.

Adverbs are words that modify other words in a sentence.

They’re typically used alongside verbs and adjectives to paint a bigger picture of a scenario and add extra information. They can express time, intensity, frequency, perspective, style, and direction, as well as a number of other qualities.

In English, adverbs usually end in “-ly” but can also be standalone words like “now”, “here”, and “together”. Adverbs are features of most world languages, including Spanish.

In the next section, you’ll learn all about how to create adverbs in Spanish. You’ll find that, fortunately, Spanish adverbs are used in much the same way as English adverbs.

How are adverbs formed in Spanish?

As with English, most Spanish adverbs follow a general rule.

But also like in English, there are many that don’t abide by this rule. These words are generally those without a direct “-ly” translation, so they’re not as daunting as you might think.

The general rule for translating “-ly” adverbs into Spanish is to take the adjective, make it feminine singular, and add “-mente” on the end.

Let’s see this rule in action:

• Rápido → Rápidamente (Quick → Quickly)
• Claro → Claramente (Clear → Clearly)

Notice the a in the Spanish adverb. It’s important to note, though, that not all Spanish adverbs do this. Spanish adjectives that end in a consonant or an -e remain as they are:

• Alegre → Alegremente (Happy → Happily)
• Accidental → Accidentalmente (Accidental → Accidentally)

It’s also worth noting that this rule doesn’t apply for all adjectives in Spanish.

This makes sense, because we have the same in English. After all, you can’t enter a room “fun-ly” or cook something “purple-ly”.

Now you know how to form adverbs in Spanish, it’s time to learn some vocab!

Common Spanish adverbs

Adverbs are used every day in Spanish, so they’re essentially unavoidable. This means it’s extra important for you to learn as many as you can.

But since adverbs are everywhere, chances are you’ve already come across a fair few. You’ll no doubt recognise some of the words you’re about to see, but it’s always worth refreshing your memory with old vocab.

Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of the most common Spanish adverbs.

We’ve divided the adverbs into subcategories to make them easier for you to learn. After all, one big long list of vocab doesn’t appeal to any language learner.

Without further ado, then, let’s learn some of the most useful Spanish adverbs.

Adverbs of time

The first lot of adverbs we’ll learn help you convey a timeframe.

These words will form a crucial part of your vocabulary. They’ll also allow you to tell your Spanish friends and family fun stories about yourself as you recount what happened when.

Adverbs of frequency

These adverbs allow you to express how often or how little you do something.

Adverbs of frequency and adverbs of time are considered separate categories in English, but not in Spanish. We’ve separated them here though to make it easier to learn the vocab, breaking up the lists into smaller, more manageable sections.

Here are some common Spanish adverbs of frequency:

Adverbs of place

This next lot of Spanish adverbs will help you express where something is.

You might not have thought some of these were adverbs, but if they modify the sentence, they’re adverbs. These place-related words are incredibly common in Spanish, so it’s certainly worth learning them.

Let’s take a closer look at them:

Some of these words you may recognise if you’ve ever studied prepositions before. That’s because these words function as prepositional adverbs in both Spanish and English.

Adverbs of manner

This is where you’ll find the majority of adverbs. This category includes words that express how something is being done.

Most adverbs that describe how something happens end in “-ly” in English and therefore end in -mente in Spanish.

Here are some of the most common adverbs of manner in Spanish:

Adverbs of degree

Spanish adverbs of degree are also known as adverbs of quantity and involve words that convey to what degree something is being done.

Essentially, they quantify an action. This helps you build a better picture of a scenario or give more detailed instructions. You’ll need these words quite often, but fortunately you’ll probably know some already!

Let’s take a look at some common Spanish adverbs of degree:

Adverbs of doubt

Adverbs of doubt are rather self-explanatory. They express uncertainty in an action.

Sometimes, if they precede a verb, they trigger the subjunctive in Spanish. As a general rule, if your sentence or statement creates doubt, chances are your verb will need a subjunctive.

Here are some common Spanish adverbs of doubt:

How to use adverbs in Spanish sentences

Adverbs can be used almost anywhere in a sentence, as they can modify verbs, adjectives, and even whole sentences.

Luckily, using adverbs in Spanish isn’t all too different from using them in English. In fact, you can mostly put an adverb in the same place in the sentence as you would in English.

Adverbs usually come directly before the word they are modifying, but in some cases (like with verbs) they can appear directly after the word.

One extra thing worth noting is that if you want to use two -mente Spanish adverbs one after another, only the last one will take the ending. For instance:

Ella corrió rápida y apresuradamente.

She ran quickly and hurriedly.

And that’s all there is to it! With regular practice, adverbs will become second nature to you.

Conclusion

Spanish adverbs are easy.

They’re important so you can’t avoid getting a handle on them early.

You’ll find yourself becoming more expressive and confident knowing Spanish adverbs. Extend your vocabulary with the words above.

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