Adverbs are words that modify verbs. They can also be used to modify another adverb or an adjective, and can be created from adjectives.
In the sentence “He is quick,” the adjective “quick” describes the pronoun “he.” If the sentence changes to describe something he does, such as “he works quickly,” the adverb “quickly” is used because it modifies the verb “works.” In English, many adverbs are created by adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective. Many adverbs in Spanish are created by adding the suffix - mente to the end of an adjective. When you see a Spanish word that ends in - mente, try picturing “-ly” on the end of the word and you may recognize a simple cognate that looks very similar to its English equivalent.
In both languages, there are some adverbs that are simple, independent words, but many adverbs are based on an adjective. To create this type of adverb in Spanish, you must use the feminine form of the adjective.
Add - mente to the end of the singular, feminine form of an adjective, and you have an adverb. Adverbs do not vary in form even though you must use the feminine form of the adjective to create the adverb. Table 1 uses several examples to demonstrate how to create an adverb from an adjective that ends in - o.
| TABLE 1 | Forming Adverbs from Regular Adjectives Ending in - o | | Eng. Adj. = Span. Adj. | Feminine form | Span. Adverb = Eng. Adverb | | necessary = necesario | necesaria | necesariamente = necessarily | | lazy = perezoso | perezosa | perezosamente = lazily | | quick = rápido | rápida | rápidamente = quickly | | sincere = sincero | sincera | sinceramente = sincerely | |
An adjective that ends in an - e is the same in its feminine form, so you just need to add - mente to make it into an adverb as shown in Table 2 .
| TABLE 2 | Forming Adverbs from Adjectives Ending in - e | | Eng. Adjective = Span. Adjective | Span. Adverb = English Adverb | | happy = alegre | alegremente = happily | | diligent = diligente | diligentemente = diligently | | sweet = dulce | dulcemente = sweetly | | strong = fuerte | fuertemente = strongly | | brillant = brilliante | brillantemente = brillantly | | poor = pobre | pobremente = poorly | | sad = triste | tristemente = sadly | |
An adjective that ends in a consonant normally does not add an - a to the end to make it feminine (unless it is an adjective of nationality). Therefore, as you can see in Table 3 , you just add - mente to an adjective that ends in a consonant to make the adverb form.
| TABLE 3 | Forming Adverbs from Adjectives Ending in a Consonant | | Eng. Adjective = Span. Adjective | Span. Adverb = English Adverb | | courteous = cortés | cortésmente = courteously | | weak = débil | débilmente = weakly | | easy = fácil | fácilmente = easily | | happy = feliz | felizmente = happily | |
Notice in the following examples that an adverb created from an adjective that has a written accent mark will retain the same written accent.
| Paco es débil. | Paco is weak. | | Paco canta débilmente. | Paco sings weakly. | | David es rápido. | David is quick. | | David corre rápidamente. | David runs quickly. | |
A few specific adverbs have no suffix, and are identical to the adjective. The following list of words can be used as adjectives or adverbs. When used as adverbs, they look like a singular masculine form of the adjective, but since they actually modify a verb, they do not have gender and will not change endings.
| mucho | much (a lot) | | poco (un poco) | little (a little) | | demasiado | too much | | tanto | so much | | más | more | | menos | less | |
Table 4 shows the previous list of words in action as an adverb and as an adjective.
| TABLE 4 | Words that Serve as Adverbs and Adjectives | | Adverb | Adjective | | Alicia gana mucho. (Alicia wins a lot.) | Alicia juega muchos partidos. (Alicia plays many games.) | | Leemosdemasiado. (We read so (too) much.) | Tenemos demasiados libros. (We have so (too) many books.) | |
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