Adverbien (Types of Adverbs)
Adverbs tell you where, when, how or why something happens. German adverbs never take endings, and only a few can be compared; see comparing adverbs. Unlike English, German has no ending like -ly: an adjective can be used as an adverb as it is. Er ist langsam. (He is slow.) – Er fährt langsam. (He drives slowly.) – Sie singt gut. (She sings well.) Where adverbs go in the sentence is explained under adverb position.
Place and direction: wo, wohin, woher
German separates where something is (wo?), where it is going (wohin?) and where it comes from (woher?). English uses where for all three.
| Question | Adverbs |
|---|---|
| wo? (where?) | hier, dort, da, oben, unten, links, rechts, vorne, hinten, drinnen, draußen, überall, irgendwo, nirgendwo |
| wohin? (where to?) | hierher, hierhin, dorthin, nach oben, nach unten, nach links, nach rechts, nach draußen, geradeaus, rückwärts |
| woher? (where from?) | von hier, von dort, daher, von oben, von links, von draußen, irgendwoher |
hin means away from the speaker and her means towards the speaker: Komm her! (Come here!) – Geh hin! (Go there!) The same pattern is found in hinein / herein (in) and hinaus / heraus (out).
Ich finde meine Tasche nirgendwo.I can't find my bag anywhere.
Dein Regenschirm steht dort in der Ecke.Your umbrella is over there in the corner.
Er ist zuerst nach rechts und dann nach links gegangen.He went right first and then left.
Fahren Sie bitte ein bisschen rückwärts.Please reverse a little.
Common mistake
Wo gehst du heute Abend? is wrong; correct: Wohin gehst du heute Abend?
English where covers both place and direction. German uses wo for a place and wohin for a direction (where to). The split form Wo gehst du heute Abend hin? is also correct.
Time and frequency
| Question | Adverbs |
|---|---|
| wann? (when?) | gestern, heute, morgen, jetzt, gerade, bald, sofort, gleich, später, früher, damals, neulich |
| in welcher Reihenfolge? (in what order?) | zuerst, dann, danach, zuletzt, schließlich, inzwischen |
| wie oft? (how often?) | immer, meistens, oft, manchmal, selten, nie, montags, morgens, abends |
| wie lange? (how long?) | lange, kurz, stundenlang, tagelang, jahrelang |
montags, morgens, abends are written with a small letter and mean every Monday, every morning, every evening.
Ich habe kein Geld dabei. Kann ich später bezahlen?I haven't got any money on me. Can I pay later?
Wir haben jahrelang in Berlin gewohnt.We lived in Berlin for years.
Montags habe ich Deutschkurs.I have my German class on Mondays.
Manner and degree
These adverbs answer wie? (how?) and wie sehr? (how much?): gern, so, anders, zusammen, allein, sehr, ziemlich, fast, kaum, genug, besonders. With a verb, gern means like doing: Ich lese gern. (I like reading.); see verbs.
Reason and consequence: deshalb, trotzdem
Adverbs such as deshalb, deswegen, darum (that's why), also (so, therefore; not English also, which is auch), trotzdem (nevertheless), sonst (otherwise), außerdem (besides) and dann (then) link two main clauses. Unlike und, aber and denn, they count as an element: in a statement the conjugated verb is always the second element, so when they come first, the verb follows immediately. See conjunctions and word order.
Es regnet, deshalb bleiben wir zu Hause.It's raining, so we're staying at home.
Ich war müde. Trotzdem habe ich weitergearbeitet.I was tired. I kept working anyway.
Beeil dich, sonst verpassen wir den Bus.Hurry up, otherwise we'll miss the bus.
Common mistake
Es regnet, deshalb wir bleiben zu Hause. is wrong; correct: Es regnet, deshalb bleiben wir zu Hause.
In English the subject comes before the verb after so or that's why. In German deshalb takes the first position, so the verb comes straight after it.
Comment adverbs
These adverbs show what the speaker thinks: vielleicht (maybe), wahrscheinlich (probably), bestimmt (definitely), hoffentlich (hopefully), leider (unfortunately), zum Glück (luckily). Hoffentlich kommt er bald. (Hopefully he'll come soon.)
Question words and da-words
Question adverbs are wo, wohin, woher, wann, warum, wie and the wo- forms such as womit, worauf, worüber; see questions. da- (dar- before a vowel) + preposition refers back to a thing: Ich warte auf den Bus. → Ich warte darauf. (I'm waiting for it.) For people, German uses the preposition and a pronoun: Ich warte auf meinen Bruder. → Ich warte auf ihn.
Check yourself
Written by: Fatih Ün, German teacher · Last updated: