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Lesson 13. Turn Your Adverbs in Japanese from Blah into Fantastic!

Adverbs in Japanese
Adverbs in Japanese

Adverbs in Japanese works like English do – they modify verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs.

 

Forming Adverbs from Adjectives

In English, we formed adverbs by attaching the suffix -ly to the adjectives. Similarly, the Japanese also do the same modification as well.

(-i) Adjectives

For (-i) adjectives, all you need to do is as simple as substituting the -い (-i) with -く (-ku).

早い → 早く

hayai → hayaku

fast (adjective) → fast (adverb)

時間が早く過ぎる。

Jikan ga hayaku sugiru.

Time passes quickly.

 

(-na) Adjectives

For (-na) adjectives, simply attach -に (-ni) at the end of the adjectives.

静か → 静かに

shizuka → shizuka ni

quiet → quietly

 

彼は静かに歩きました。

Kare wa shizuka ni arukimashita.

He walked quietly.

 

Exceptions:

いい → よく

Ī → yoku

good → well

[よく (yoku) can also mean often – adverb of frequency]

 

かっこいい → かっこよく

kakkoī → kakkoyoku

cool → coolly

 

In fact, not all adverbs are derived from adjectives. These true adverbs are regularly used in sentences, so you should pay more attention to them.

 

Read: Chinese Characters of Japanese and Chinese Are Not All The Same!

 

Adverbs of Degree

Japanese Romaji English
ゆっくり yukkuri slowly
とても totemo very
あまり amari not very (used with negative verbs/adjectives only)
沢山 takusan a lot
少し sukoshi a little
段々 dandan gradually
もう already
まだ mada yet

Examples:

ゆっくり話してください。

Yukkuri hanashite kudasai

 Please speak slowly.

 

それをあまり信じないで。

Sore o amari shinjinaide.

Do not believe it too much.

[Note that あまり (amari) is followed by negative verbs, which marked by ない (nai)].

 

Adverbs of Time

Japanese Romaji English
今日 kyō today
明日 ashita tomorrow
昨日 kinō yesterday
ima now
今朝 kesa this morning
今夜 konya tonight
最近 saikin recently
後で atode later

Examples:

明日は忙しいです。

Ashita wa isogashīdesu.

I will be busy tomorrow.

 

最近雨が多いです。

Saikin ame ga ōidesu.

It has been raining a lot recently.

 

Adverbs of Place

Japanese Romaji English
ここ koko here
そこ soko there
あそこ asoko over there
どこでも doko demo anywhere, wherever
どこか doko ka somewhere, anywhere

Examples:

私は昨日そこへ行きました。

Watashi wa kinō soko e ikimashita.

I went there yesterday.

 

どこでも好きなところに駐車してください。

Doko demo sukina tokoro ni chūsha shite kudasai.

Park wherever you like.

 

Adverbs of Frequency

Japanese Romaji English
いつも itsumo always
よく yoku often
通常 tsūjō usually
時々 tokidoki sometimes
たまに tama ni occasionally
めったに metta ni seldom
まれに mare ni rarely
決して kesshite never
毎日 mai nichi everyday

Examples:

時々料理を作ります。

Tokidoki ryōri o tsukurimasu.

I cook sometimes.

 

決してあきらめません。

Kesshite akiramemasen.

I will never give up.

 

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