Spanish adverbs

Spanish adverbs are words used to modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, as well as whole sentences. They provide information concerning time, place, manner, or quantity, among other aspects.

¡Ven aquí!
Come here!

Juan nunca llega tarde.
Juan never arrives late.

El ejercicio es muy difícil.
The exercise is very difficult.

Probablemente no puedan ayudarnos.
They probably won’t be able to help us.

Unlike adjectives, adverbs do not modify or describe nouns, and are not used with the verbs ser or estar (to be). They are invariable words, which means they do not change according to gender (masculine or feminine) or number (singular or plural):

Esa niña lee bien.
That girl reads well.

Esos niños leen bien.
Those boys read well.

Quick tip: The majority of Spanish adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -mente: peligrosamente (dangerously), sorpresivamente (surprisingly), pesadamente (heavily).

Types of adverbs in Spanish

Several types of adverbs exist in Spanish depending on the meaning they convey, being classified into: adverbs of place, time, manner, quantity and degree, affirmation and negation, doubt, interrogative, exclamatory, and relative adverbs.

Adverbs of place

Adverbs of place indicate the location where an action happens. They answer the question ¿dónde? (where).

abajo below	allí there	delante in front of
acá here	alrededor around	detrás behind
adentro inside	aquí here	encima over
afuera outside	arriba above	enfrente across
ahí there	cerca near	lejos far

Hay un supermercado enfrente.
There's a supermarket across the street.

Niños, vengan a jugar adentro.
Children, come play inside.

Adverbs of time

Adverbs of time indicate the time when an action happens. They may also express frequency and duration. They answer the question ¿cuándo? (when).

ahora now	hoy today	siempre always
antes before	luego later	tarde late
ayer yesterday	nunca never	temprano early
después after	recién just, recently	todavía still, yet
diariamente daily	semanalmente weekly	ya already

Todavía no hemos tenido noticias de él.
We still haven’t heard from him.

Debes hacer ejercicio diariamente.
You should exercise daily.

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner indicate the way in which an action is done. They answer the question ¿cómo? (how).

alfabéticamente alphabetically	eficientemente efficiently	peor worse
amablemente kindly	fácilmente easily	silenciosamente silently
así like that	igual the same way	suavemente softly
bien well	lentamente slowly	terriblemente terribly
correctamente correctly	mal badly	virtualmente virtually

Lean atentamente las instrucciones.
Read the instructions carefully.

La tabla que figura arriba ha sido ordenada alfabéticamente.
The table above has been arranged alphabetically.

Quick tip: Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding the suffix -mente to the adjective: tristemente (sadly), casualmente (casually). For adjectives with masculine/feminine gender, -mente is added to the feminine form: tranquilamente (quietly), democráticamente (democratically).

Adverbs of quantity and degree

Adverbs of quantity indicate the quantity, degree or intensity of an action, adjective or another adverb. They answer the question ¿cuánto? (how much).

absolutamente absolutely	demasiado too	muy very
apenas hardly, barely	increíblemente incredible	nada at all
bastante enough	más more	poco little, not much
casi almost	menos less	tan so, such
completamente completely	mucho very much, a lot	todo completely

Les gusta mucho viajar.
They like traveling a lot.

Me fue bastante bien en el examen.
I did pretty well on the test.

Adverbs of affirmation

Adverbs of affirmation are used to make an assertion and to confirm what has been said.

bueno all right	evidentemente evidently	seguro surely
ciertamente certainly	exactamente exactly	sí yes
claramente clearly	indudablemente undoubtedly	también so do I, me too
claro of course	naturalmente naturally	totalmente totally
efectivamente indeed	obviamente obviously	verdaderamente really, truly

Sí, yo fui quien lo hizo.
Yes, it was me who did it.

Claro, es como tú dices.
Of course, it’s like you say.

Adverbs of negation

Adverbs of negation are used to deny something. Besides adverbs, several negative adverbial phrases exist in this category.

apenas barely, hardly	no no	nunca never
en absoluto at all	jamás never	siquiera at least
de ningún modo in no way, not at all	nada at all, nothing at all	tampoco neither, nor, either

No, no me gusta nada ese tipo de música.
No, I don’t like that type of music at all.

Ella jamás diría algo así.
She would never say something like that.

Adverbs of doubt, possibility and probability

Adverbs of doubt, possibility and probability are used to express doubt and/or uncertainty about what is being said.

a lo mejor maybe, perhaps	puede que may, might	quién sabe who knows
acaso perhaps, maybe	por ahí maybe	quizás perhaps, maybe
capaz que maybe, perhaps	posiblemente possibly	seguramente surely, probably
tal vez maybe, perhaps	probablemente probably, likely	seguro que surely, definitely, certainly

Probablemente iremos de vacaciones.
We will probably go on vacation.

Quizás se quedó dormido.
Maybe he overslept.

Interrogative and exclamatory adverbs

Interrogative and exclamatory adverbs are used to introduce questions and exclamatory sentences. These adverbs always take a written accent.

qué how	cuánto how much / how long
cuándo when	dónde where
cómo how

¿Cuánto hace que esperas?
How long have you been waiting?

¡Qué feo día!
What an awful day!

Relative adverbs

Relative adverbs introduce relative clauses, linking them to the main clause. Unlike interrogative and exclamatory adverbs, relative adverbs never take a written accent.

como as, like	cuanto as much as
cuando when	donde where

Como había anunciado el pronóstico del tiempo, llovió.
As the weather forecast had announced, it rained.

Puedes visitarnos cuando quieras.
You can visit us whenever you want.

Adverb placement in Spanish

The position of adverbs in Spanish depends on several factors, including the type of adverb. Broadly speaking, the usual position of Spanish adverbs is:

• Immediately after the verb. Particularly adverbs of manner and quantity:

La niña corrió velozmente cuando llegaron sus tíos.
The girl ran quickly when her aunt and uncle arrived.

Me gusta mucho el aire libre.
I like the open air very much.

Exceptions: Adverbs of affirmation and negation usually go before the verb: A mí tampoco me gusta esa serie. / I don’t like that series either.

• Before an adjective or another adverb:

Estaré eternamente agradecido.
I’ll be forever grateful.

Sabes muy bien de qué estoy hablando.
You know very well what I’m talking about.

• Initially in the sentence. When the adverb modifies the whole sentence:

Seguro que todo va a estar bien.
I'm sure everything's going to be alright.

Claramente, él ya sabía el secreto.
Clearly, he already knew the secret.

• In multiple positions. Many adverbs of time can go at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the sentence:

Mañana iré de compras.

Iré mañana de compras.

Iré de compras mañana.
I’ll go shopping tomorrow.

Sentences with Spanish adverbs

Ana no canta bien.
Ana doesn’t sing well.

Extraño mucho a mi familia.
I miss my family very much.

Mis amigos también aman la música.
My friends also love music.

¿Acaso crees que eso es verdad?
Do you really think that’s true?

¡Cómo nieva!
It’s snowing so much!

Efectivamente, yo tenía razón.
Indeed, I was right.

La abuela camina lentamente.
Grandma walks slowly.

Quizás él pueda ayudarme.
He may be able to help me.

Ven ahora mismo.
Come right now.

¿Dónde queda el teatro?
Where is the theater?

Este tema no es nada fácil.
This topic is not easy at all.

Hace mucho frío aquí.
It’s very cold here.

Entró sigilosamente para no despertarme.
He sneaked in so he wouldn’t wake me up.

Hoy has comido poco.
Today you’ve eaten little.

La brisa acariciaba suavemente su rostro.
The breeze gently caressed her face.

Mañana probablemente lloverá.
It will probably rain tomorrow.

Escuchen atentamente lo que tengo para decirles.
Listen carefully to what I have to say.

El libro está encima de la mesa.
The book is on the table.

Honestamente, no estoy de acuerdo.
Honestly, I don't agree.

Yo tampoco he visto esa película.
I haven’t seen that movie either.

Adverbs vs. adjectives in Spanish

The differences between adverbs and adjectives in Spanish can be summarized as follows:

Adverbs	Adjectives
They modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and whole sentences.   Ella canta divinamente. She sings gorgeously.	They modify nouns.     Ella es divina. She is gorgeous.
They are invariable. Él/Ella lee tranquilamente. He/She reads quietly.	They agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun. Él es tranquilo. He is quiet. Ella es tranquila. She is quiet.
They are used with all verbs except ser and estar. El gatito se mueve suavemente. The kitten moves softly.	They are used with the verbs ser, estar (to be)- El gatito es suave. The kitten is soft.

How to form adverbs in Spanish

• The majority of adverbs in Spanish are formed by adding the suffix -mente to the adjective:

constante → constantemente
constant         constantly

formal → formalmente
formal       formally

• For adjectives not ending in -e or consonant, that is, for adjectives with masculine/feminine gender ending in -o and -a, the suffix -mente is added to the feminine form:

sorpresiva → sorpresivamente
surprising        surprisingly

rápida → rápidamente
quick       quickly

Exceptions:

bueno (adjective) → bien (adverb)
good                          well

malo (adjective) → mal (adverb)
bad                          badly

• Many adverbs have a unique form, not deriving from adjectives: ayer (yesterday), hoy (today), muy (very), mucho (much), todavía (still).
• A few adverbs have the same form as the masculine adjective: rápido (fast), fuerte (strong, loud), bajo (short, low), raro (weird).
• The comparative form of Spanish adjectives is formed by adding the adverbs más (more) or menos (less) before the adverb:

Debes tocar la pieza más suavemente.
You must play the piece more softly.

Exceptions:

bien (adverb) → mejor (comparative adverb)
well                      better

mal (adverb) → peor (comparative adverb)
badly                  worse

David juega al fútbol mejor que Juan. (and not: más bien)
David plays soccer better than Juan.

Related articles:

• Spanish adjectives
• Spanish nouns
• Spanish verbs
• Spanish prepositions
• Spanish pronouns
• Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish

Practice: Spanish adverbs

References

• Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática de la lengua española, under “Clases de adverbios. Criterios de clasificación,” accessed August 22, 2024, https://www.rae.es/
• Real Academia Española, Glosario de términos gramaticales, under “adverbio,”accesses August, 22, 2024, https://www.rae.es/
• Enciclopedia del Lenguaje, “Adverbios,” by Carla Giani, last modified January 11, 2024, https://lenguaje.com/
• Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática de la lengua española, under “Adverbios de modo o manera,” accessed August, 22, 2024,” https://www.rae.es/
• Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática básica de la lengua española, under “Adverbios de tiempo,” accessed August 22, 2024, https://www.rae.es/
• Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática de la lengua española, under “Adverbios cuantificativos,” accessed August, 22, 2024, https://www.rae.es/
• Real Academia Española, Nueva gramática de la lengua española, under “Adverbios adjetivales,” accessed August 23, 2024, https://www.rae.es/
• Wordreference.com, “más,” accessed August 22, 2024, https://www.wordreference.com/
• Oxford Spanish Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2003), CD ROM.