The most common Spanish adverbs and how to use them

Whether you’re learning Spanish for work or pleasure, knowing some of the most common Spanish adverbs will be a super useful addition to your toolbox. You’ll be able, for example, to tell stories or describe situations in detail and speak Spanish more naturally. So, stick around as we dive into all things adverbs –what they are, how to use them, how to form them and some examples. Let’s go!

• What are Spanish adverbs?
• How to form adverbs in Spanish
• Types of Spanish adverbs
• Spanish verbs that function as adverbs in English
• Where to place Spanish adverbs
• FAQs

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What are Spanish adverbs?

First things first: What are Spanish adverbs and what are they good for? Adverbs modify or complement verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or entire clauses. They give us information about the time, place, intensity or manner in which an action is occurring, has occurred or will occur. In short, they provide context and help us describe actions more clearly.

Adverbs often answer questions like how, when, how often or where something happened or is happening. Some examples include: mañana (tomorrow), ahora (now), rápidamente (quickly), and bien (well).

Here are a couple of sentences using adverbs:

• Mañana nos vamos de viaje (we’re traveling tomorrow).
• Cambié el canal rápidamente (I changed the channel quickly).

Adverbs vs. Adjectives

A common mistake when learning Spanish is confusing adverbs and adjectives, since both are used to describe something. However, they have different purposes.

Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns (people, objects, etc.), while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs or clauses. 

For example: 

• Adjective: Ella es rápida (she is fast).
• Adverb: Ella corre rápidamente (she runs fast/quickly).

As you can see, the adjective modifies the subject (ella or ‘she’), while the adverb describes an action (correr or ‘to run’).

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How it works

How to form adverbs in Spanish

Now we know what Spanish adverbs are. But how do we form them? Here are some ways to do it:

• Transforming adjectives (regular adverbs): One of the most common ways to form an adverb is to take an adjective and transform it. In fact, most adverbs are formed this way. They are what we call ‘regular’. To do this, we:
  
• Take the female form of the adjective (for example: rápida).
• We add the ending -mente, which is equivalent to ‘-ly’ in English (rápida-mente or 'quick-ly').

Note: Some adjectives have irregular forms (not ending in -mente) when turned into adverbs, such as: bueno (good), which becomes bien (well); malo (bad), which becomes mal (something done incorrectly); and grande (big), which turns into mucho (a lot).

• Combining two or more words: These can combine prepositions, nouns or other adverbs. For example: con frecuencia (with + frequence).

Aside from most adverbs ending in -mente, another key characteristic that will help us identify Spanish adverbs is that they are invariable. This means that, unlike adjectives or verbs, they don’t need to be conjugated or match gender or number (they always stay the same).

Types of Spanish adverbs

Spanish adverbs can be classified according to the kind of information they add to a sentence. 

Here’s a list of some of the most common Spanish adverbs by type, along with examples of usage:

Adverbs of manner (Adverbios de modo)

These describe the way an action is being performed –they answer the question ‘how?’. Let’s have a look:

Spanish	English
amablemente	kindly
así	that way
bien	well
bonito	pretty/nicely
despacio	slow
difícilmente	hardly
fácilmente	easily
lentamente	slowly
mal	incorrectly
mejor	better
normalmente	normally
peor	worse
rápidamente	quickly
rápido	quick
sinceramente	sincerely
tranquilamente	in a relaxed way

Sentence examples:

• Se lo pregunté amablemente (I asked him kindly).
• Cantas bonito (you sing nicely).
• Mi pay está mejor que el tuyo (my pie is better than yours).

Adverbs of time (Adverbios de tiempo)

They provide information regarding the time, duration or frequency of an action –they respond to ‘when?’:

Spanish	English
a veces	sometimes
ahora	now
anoche	last night
antes	before
ayer	yesterday
con frecuencia/ frecuentemente	frequently
después	after
hoy	today
luego	later
mañana	tomorrow
mientras	meanwhile
nunca/jamás	never
pronto	soon
raramente	rarely
seguido	often
siempre	always
tarde	later
temprano	early
todavía	still/yet

Examples:

• Siempre me despierto a las 7:00 (I always wake up at 7:00).
• Corro seguido (I run often).
• Todavía te quiero (I still love you).

Adverbs of place (Adverbios de lugar)

These relate to the location where an action occurs, where it originated or where it’s destined:

Spanish	English
abajo	below
acá	here
adentro	inside
afuera	outside
al lado	next to
ahí	there
allá	there
allí	there
alrededor	around
aquí	here
arriba	above
cerca	near
debajo	below
delante	in front/before
detrás	behind
encima	on (top of)
en medio	in the middle
enfrente	in front
lejos	far

Examples:

• El vaso está encima de la mesa (the glass is on the table).
• Lo puedes poner ahí (you can put it there).
• Estoy sentada adentro del salón, frente al pizarrón (I’m sitting inside the classroom, in front of the blackboard).

Adverbs of quantity or degree (Adverbios de cantidad o grado)

These help us describe the intensity, amount or degree at which something happens –they answer the question ‘how much?’:

Spanish	English
algo	some
bastante	quite
casi	almost
completamente	completely
demasiado	too much
extremadamente	extremely
más	more
menos	less
mucho	much
muy	very
nada	nothing
poco	little
solamente	only
suficiente	enough
tan	so
tanto	so much

Examples:

• Me serví demasiado vino (I poured myself too much wine).
• Solamente quiero una rebanada (I only want one slice).
• Estaba bastante enojado (he was quite angry).

Note: These adverbs can also ‘intensify’ adjectives. For example: La casa de Lisa es muy grande (Lisa’s house is very big).

Adverbs of affirmation (Adverbios afirmativos)

We use these to reinforce an idea or express certainty:

Spanish	English
ciertamente	certainly
claramente	clearly
efectivamente	indeed
evidentemente	evidently
exactamente	exactly
indudablemente	undoubtedly
obviamente	obviously
seguramente	surely
sí	yes
también	also
totalmente	totally

Examples:

• Efectivamente, no sacó al perro a pasear (indeed, he didn’t walk the dog).
• Sí, voy a ir a la fiesta (yes, I will go to the party).
• Obviamente dije que no (I obviously said no).

Adverbs of negation (Adverbios negativos)

They deny or reject an action or express disagreement:

Spanish	English
en absoluto	at all
nada	nothing
no	no
nunca/jamás	never
tampoco	neither

Examples:

• Yo tampoco quiero pizza (I don’t want pizza either).
• No me gusta ese vestido en absoluto (I don’t like that dress at all).

Adverbs of doubt (Adverbios de duda)

These adverbs express uncertainty or doubt about an action:

Spanish	English
a lo mejor	maybe
acaso	maybe
posiblemente	possibly
probablemente	probably
puede que	could/may be
quizá	maybe
tal vez	maybe

Examples:

• Probablemente cocine lasagna (I’ll probably cook lasagna).
• Puede que repruebe el semestre (I may fail the semester).

Adverbs of question and exclamation (Adverbios interrogativos y exclamativos)

We use this to introduce questions or make exclamations. They’re placed at the very beginning, always carry an accent mark and may or may not be accompanied by ¡! or ¿?:

Spanish	English
a dónde	where
cómo	how
cuándo	when
cuánto	how/how much
dónde	where
por qué	why
qué	how

Examples:

• Cuánto te extraño (How I miss you).
• ¿Qué harás mañana? (What are you doing tomorrow?).
• ¿Dónde estás? (Where are you?).

Relative adverbs (Adverbios relativos)

These help us introduce subordinate clauses and are similar to question and exclamation adverbs, but they don’t hold the accent mark. They can relate to time, manner or place, and provide circumstantial context to the verb:

Spanish	English
como	how
cuando	when
cuanto	how/how much
donde	where

Examples:

• En donde vivo llueve mucho (it rains a lot where I live).
• Me avisas cuando vayas a la tienda (let me know when you go to the store).

Spanish verbs that function as adverbs in English

It’s worth noting that some verbs in Spanish translate as adverbs in English. This happens because, in Spanish, it can sometimes be easier to express the way something is happening by using two verbs instead of an adverb + a verb.

Here are two examples:

• Acabo de llamar (I just called) – Here, acabo comes from the verb acabar (to finish doing something) and it accompanies the verb llamar (to call).
  
• Sigo escribiendo (I’m still writing) – This comes from seguir (to still be doing something) and escribir (to write).

Where to place Spanish adverbs

Now, let’s talk about where to place adverbs in a Spanish sentence. Generally, Spanish adverbs go:

• After the verb (corro lento - I run slowly), which is similar to English. However, we may also see them before the verb (siempre bailo - I always dance).
• Before the adjective (el gato es muy bonito - the cat is very pretty), which is similar to English.
• Before another adverb (ella corre demasiado rápido - she runs too fast), which is also similar to English.
• At the beginning of the sentence if they’re intended to emphasize a clause (efectivamente, no fui - indeed, I didn’t go). This is similar to English as well.

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How it works

What are the regular adverbs in Spanish?

Regular adverbs in Spanish typically end in -mente. For example: obviamente, frecuentemente, perfectamente and rápidamente. For their part, irregular adverbs are those that don’t follow this rule, such as: bien, mal, a veces, seguido and tal vez.

How do you turn words into adverbs in Spanish?

The easiest way to do this is to take the female form of an adjective and add the suffix -mente. Example: perfecta (perfect) turns into perfectamente (perfectly).

What is an adverb example in Spanish?

Here are a few example sentences using adverbs in Spanish:

• Yo nunca cocino (I never cook) – adverb of time/negation
• ¡Camina despacio! (Walk slowly!) - adverb of manner
• Posiblemente me mude de país (maybe I’ll move countries) – adverb of doubt

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Practicing… seriously 

Learning the most common Spanish adverbs will help us express ourselves with more precision. For example, we’ll be able to describe the way in which something happened, how often we do sports or where our favorite restaurant is.

Now, if we’re looking to get some serious practice, there’s nothing like learning from a professional. At Lingoda, you’ll learn all about adverbs with native-level teachers who will have you speaking real-life Spanish from day one. Plus, you can choose your schedule and decide whether you want private or (small!) group classes. ¡Aprenderás rápidamente!

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