Temporal adverbs (Temporaladverbien)
Adverbs of Frequency
Locative Adverbs (Lokaladverbien)
Interrogative Adverbs (Frageadverbien)
Causal Adverbs (Kausaladverbien)
Adverbs of Manner (Modaladverbien)
Pronoun Adverbs
Temporal adverbs
Temporal adverbs dealing with the day
Adverb
Meaning
vorgestern
the day before yesterday
gestern
yesterday
heute
today
morgen
tomorrow
bermorgen
the day after tomorrow
Subjective Temporal Adverbs
Adverb
Meaning
damals
then
frher
earlier
jetzt
now
sofort
immediately
gleich
immediately
bald
soon
spter
later
dann
after/then
Temporal adverb gerade
Adverbs of Absolute Frequency
Adverb
Meaning
immer
always
fast immer
almost always
meistens
most of the time
hufig
frequently
oft
often
ab und zu
once in a while
manchmal
sometimes
selten
rarely
fast nie
almost never
nie
never
Adverbs of daily frequency
Adverb
Meaning
morgens
in the morning
nachmittags
in the afternoon
abends
in the evening
nachts
during the night
Adverbs of weekly frecuency
Adverb
Meaning
montags
on Mondays
dienstags
on Tuesdays
mittwochs
on Wednesdays
donnerstags
on Thursdays
freitags
on Fridays
samstags
on Saturdays
sonntags
on Sundays
Other adverbs of frequency
Adverb
Meaning
tglich
daily
wchentlich
weekly
monatlich
monthly
jhrlich
yearly/annually
Forming temporal adverbs by adding an -s.
Noun
Adverb
der Abend
the evening
abends
in the evenings
der Halbtag
half a day
halbtags
half-day
der Feiertag
the holiday
feiertags
every holiday
Locative adverbs of place
Adverb
vorn / vorne
Meaning
in front
hinten
behind
links
on the left
rechts
on the right
oben
up
unten
down
innen
inside
auen
outside
hier
here
da
there
dort
there
berall
everywhere
nirgends
nowhere
hinein
If my child and I are outside of the house and I want to tell him
to go inside (for example, to do his chores), Id say:
Geh hinein!
Go inside!
heraus
If I am outside of the house and my child is inside and I want him
to come out (for example, to cut the grass), Id say:
Komm heraus!
Come outside!
herein
If I am inside the house and my son is playing in the garden and
I want him to come in (for example, to eat), Id say:
Komm herein!
Come inside!
hinaus
If my child and I are inside the house and I want to tell him to go
out (for example, to play in the garden), Id say:
Geh hinaus!
Go outside!
Locative adverbs that indicate movement
Adverb
Meaning
aufwrts
upwards
abwrts
downwards
vorwrts
forwards
rckwrts
backwards
heimwrts
homeward
westwrts
to the west
bergauf
uphill
bergab
downhill
Construction of locative adverbs by adding an -s
In German, locative adverbs are also formed by adding an "s" to
nouns.
Noun
Locative adverb
das Rechte
right
rechts
to the right
die Linke
left
links
to the left
Causal Adverbs
Causal adverbs indicate the reason or origin of an action.
Adverb
Meaning
deshalb
therefore
darum
therefore
deswegen
therefore
folglich
thus/consequently
daher
therefore
Causal adverbs serve as a connection between two sentences,
given that theyre Konjunktionaladverbien
Ich mchte in Deutschland leben, deshalb lerne ich gerade
Deutsch
I would like to live in Germany, therefore I am learning German
It must be emphasized that adverbs occupy a position and by
placing them at the beginning of a sentence, they move the
subject to the 3rd position.
Main Article: Sentence structure
Adverbs of manner
Adverb
Meaning
erstens
firstly
zweitens
secondly
drittens
thirdly
auch
also
ebenfalls
as well
ansonsten
otherwise
auerdem
in addition
Restrictive adverbs
Adverb
Meaning
nur
only
wenigstens
at least
hingegen
on the other hand
Adverbs of quantity
Adverb
Meaning
sehr
very
kaum
hardly
gern / gerne
The adverb "gern" is used often in German and its equivalent is
"gladly".
The construction "Ich htte gern" is very common in German
and means "I would like to" and is used to politely order
something.
gern or gerne are exactly the same but gern is used more often.
Pronoun Adverbs
Pronoun adverbs are the combination of a preposition and a
pronoun and are used only to refer to things (not for living
things).
Adverbs "da-" + preposition
The adverbs "da-" + preposition are used very often and their
translation depends greatly on the context:
Ich habe nicht daran gedacht
I didnt think about that
Adverb
Meaning
daran (or dran)
at it (preposition an)
darauf (or drauf)
on it (preposition auf)
daraus
from it (preposition aus)
dabei
present (preposition bei)
dagegen
against it (preposition gegen)
darin
in it (preposition in)
damit
with it (preposition mit)
darber
about it (preposition ber)
darum
therefore (preposition um)
dazu
additionally (preposition zu)
The prepositions are not exactly the same in German and English
and thus the translation is not exact. Check out prepositions to
get the best translation in every case.
Adverbs hier + preposition
The adverbs "hier-" + preposition have practically the same
meaning as adverbs da + "preposition" though they are used
much less often. Their meaning depends greatly on the context.
Adverb
Meaning
hieran
at this (preposition an)
hierauf
on this (preposition auf)
hieraus
from this (preposition aus)
hierbei
with this or at this (preposition
bei)
hiergegen against this (preposition gegen)
hierin
in this (preposition in)
hiermit
with this (preposition mit)
hierber
about this (preposition ber)
hierzu
for this (preposition zu)
Interrogative adverbs
Main article: Interrogative particles
The most important interrogative adverbs are:
Wie (how)
Wann (when)
Wie alt (how
Wo (where)
old)
Warum (why)
Wieso (why)
Wie viel
Woran
Worber
(what about)
(whereof)
(how
Worauf (where
Worum (what
about)
upon)
much/many)
Wie lange
Woraus (what
Wozu (what
for)
from)
(how long)
Wobei (in
Wie oft (how
which/
often)
whereat)
Wie teuer
(how
Wohin (where
to)
Woher (from
where)
Wogegen
(against what)
expensive)
Worin (wherein)
Womit
Wie weit
(how far)
(whereby)
Comparative and superlative with adverbs
Some adverbs can make comparatives and superlatives like
adjective. This is the case with "bald", "gern", "oft", and "wohl".
Adverb
Comparative
Superlative
bald
soon
eher
sooner
am ehesten
soonest
gern
gladly
lieber
preferably
am liebsten
most preferably
oft
often
fter
more often
am hufigsten
most often
wohl
well
wohler
better
am wohlsten
best
Adjectives functioning like adverbs
In many cases, adjectives can function like adverbs:
Das Auto ist schnell [schnell as an adjective]
The car is fast
Sie isst schnell [schnell as an adverb]
She eats fast
