Spanish Adverbs

Adverbs (adverbios) are invariable words that modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs can provide additional information about manner, quantity, frequency, time, or place. Many adverbs are formed from adjectives, by adding the suffix -mente to the feminine singular form, the same way we add (-ly) to an adjective in English. Adverbs explain when, how, where, how often, or to what degree something is done. There is a list of the most common adverbs at the bottom of this page.

Positions of Spanish Adverbs:

- If a Spanish adverb is modifying a verb, we place the adverb after the verb:  juegas bien (you play well)

- No adverb can be put between two verbs like in English, it should be placed after the two verbs: vamos a jugar aquí (let's play here)

- When an adverb is modifying another adverb or an adjective, the adverb will be placed before the adverb/ adjective it modifies:

- escribes muy bien (you write very well)     -  yo estoy siempre orgulloso de mi país (I'm always proud of my country) 

So the easiest part is to change adjectives into adverbs by simply adding ~mente. Here is an example of how to change an adjective to an adverb:

- Su herida está grave (her wound is serious) becomes - Ella está gravemente herida (She is seriously wounded.)

In a series of adverbs, only the last one takes the -mente suffix, while the other adverbs have the form of feminine adjectives:
El intérprete debe pensar clara, rápida y correctamente. (The interpreter should think clearly, quickly and correctly.)

Summary of Spanish Adverbs

To form an adverb from an adjective in Spanish we simply add (~mente) to the Spanish adjective, just like how we add (~ly) to the adjective in English.

Adjective lento (slow) becomes adverb lentamente (slowly):  puedes hablar lentamente? (Can you speak slowly?)

There are adverbs that don't have anything to do with adjectives, like aquí (here), bien (well), despacio (slowly)... if you scroll down you will see a long list of adverbs related & non related to adjectives, they’re used very often, so it would be very helpful to memorize them! Good luck!

List of Adverbs

Audio - Listen to Spanish Adverbs Pronunciation

The common rule for adverbs in Spanish is that they end in –mente. Here are some examples:

Note: adverbs in English commonly end in –ly, except for a few irregulars like “well” and “hard”. Also notice that “badly” in Spanish does not have a –mente ending. It is irregular.

Adverbs typically go after the verb in Spanish.

Examples:

• Ella maneja rapidamente. (She drives quickly.)
• Lo completé facilmente. (I completed it easily.)
• La comida sabe mal. (The food tastes badly.)
• Ella canta sauvamente. (She sings smoothly.)
• Suena el cellular frecuentemente. (The phone rings often.)
• Él habla airadamente a su hijo. (He talks angrily to his son.)
• Todo va bien. (Everything is going well.)
• Por favor, habla lentamente. (Please, speak slowly.)

I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Spanish Adverbs, consonants and vowels. Try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversation. Make sure to check our Learn Spanish page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.