adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

is a word that modifies the meaning of a

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

, and an

adverbial phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...

is a combination of words that perform the same function. The

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

includes several different kinds of adverbial phrases.

Native adverbs

Many adverbs are not derived from an

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

. Often they have very important meanings. For example, ''nicht'', ''leider'' or ''gerne'' ("not", "unfortunately", "gladly").

Accusative nouns with adverbial meaning

The duration or the spatial extent of a verb's action can be expressed by a nominal expression in the

accusative case The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...

. ''Das Kind malte die ganze Zeit Bilder'' ("The child was painting pictures all the time")

Adverbial forms of adjectives

Adverb formation is simpler in German than in most other languages. An adverb is simply the uninflected form of the adjective (or

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

). This holds for the

positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posit ...

and

comparative In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as wel ...

forms. The

superlative Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages t ...

is formed with the preposition ''am'' and the ending ''-en'', e.g. ''am schönsten'' "most beautifully". Only a limited number of adverbs have a special elative form ending in ''-stens'', e.g. ''schnellstens'' ('as fast as possible'), ''bestens'' ('very well'). :''schnell'' ("fast, quickly") :''groß'' ("big, substantially") :''fließend'' ("fluent, fluently") :''schneller'' ("faster, more quickly") :''fließender'' ("more fluent, more fluently") :''am schönsten'' ("most beautiful, most beautifully") The adverb can be used to describe actions, adjectives or other adverbs. Comparative and superlative forms are unusual in the last two situations. :''Der Vogel fliegt schnell'' ("the bird flies fast") :''Der Vogel fliegt am schnellsten'' ("the bird flies the fastest") :''Ein schrecklich langsam wachsender Baum'' ("a terribly slow-growing tree") (literally, "a terribly slowly growing tree") :''Ein schneller wachsender Baum'' ("a faster-growing tree") In English, adverbs are usually distinguished from adjectives by the ending ''-ly''. In German, they may be distinguished by their lack of declension, because adjectives in attributive position must be declined. Compare: * ''ein schrecklich hoher Berg'' – an ''awfully'' high mountain. * ''ein schrecklicher, hoher Berg'' - an ''awful'', high mountain.

Adverbs ending in ''-erweise''

Unlike English, the German language distinguishes adverbs which qualify verbs or adjectives from those which qualify whole sentences. For the latter case, many German adjectives form a special adverb form ending in ''-erweise'', e.g. ''glücklicherweise'' "luckily", ''traurigerweise'' "sadly" (from ''Weise'' = way, manner). In the following two example sentences, the adverb ''lustig'' "funnily" qualifies the verb, while ''lustigerweise'' "funnily" qualifies the whole sentence: * ''Er hat lustig gesungen.'' – He sang funnily. (= He sang in a way that was funny.) * ''Er hat lustigerweise gesungen.'' – Funnily, he sang. (= It was funny that he sang.) As in the above example, English usually expresses the difference by placing the adverb which qualifies a sentence, in the beginning. In German, it can be placed in the beginning or elsewhere in the sentence.

Prepositional phrases

prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...

consists of a nominal phrase and an adposition (a

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

, or

circumposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

). The case of the nominal phrase can be accusative or dative. Some prepositions always take the accusative case and some always take the dative case. Students usually memorize these because the difference may not be intuitive. A third group of prepositions, called ''two way prepositions'', take either the accusative case or the dative case depending on the phrase's exact meaning. If the statement describes movement across a boundary then the phrase is accusative. Other situations, including movement within a confined area, take the dative case. For example: :''Ich schlafe im Haus.'' (dative case) ("I sleep inside the house.") im" is a contraction of in & dem:''Ich laufe ins Haus.'' (accusative case) ("I run into the house.") ins" is a contraction of in & das :''Ich laufe im Haus.'' (dative case) ("I run within the house.") Prepositions do not always have a

locative In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...

meaning; they can also be modal or temporal adverbs, for example. Prepositional phrases, being adverbial, may be used to describe actions and adjectives. They can also be attributes of a

nominal phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently occ ...

. :''Ich gehe ins Haus'' ("I go into the house") :''(Eis ist) während der Sommerzeit begehrt'' ("ice-cream is much sought-after in the summertime") In some cases, the preposition and the article of the nominal phrase may or must

elide In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run toget ...

together. This is similar to Italian. :NOT ''von dem Himmel'' BUT ''vom Himmel''

Pronominal adverbs

A real position can be substituted by a

pronominal adverb A pronominal adverb is a type of adverb occurring in a number of Germanic languages, formed in replacement of a preposition and a pronoun by turning the former into a prepositional adverb and the latter into a locative adverb, and finally joining ...

. :''auf dem Tisch'' - ''darauf'' ("on the table - on there") :''auf den Berg hinauf'' - ''dort hinauf'' ("up the mountain - up there") :''während der Schulstunde'' - ''währenddessen'' ("during the lesson - during it") :''der Gerechtigkeit wegen'' - ''deswegen'' ("because of justice - because of it / therefore / hence") :''mit dem Flugzeug'' - ''damit'' ("by plane - by it") Pronominal adverbs may be preceded by an adverbial clause. See below.

Adverbial clauses

Besides prepositional phrases and pronominal adverbs, there are also

adverbial clause An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. That is, the entire clause modifies a separate element within a sentence. As with all clauses, it contains a subject and predicate, though the subject as well as the (predicat ...

s. They can be applied to actions as well as to nominal phrases and pronominal adverbs. :''Ich ging nach Hause, während die Sonne unterging'' ("I went home as the sun was setting") :''damals'' - ''damals, als/während Helmut Kohl Bundeskanzler war'' ("in those days, when/while Helmut Kohl was chancellor") :''in jenem Jahr'' - ''in jenem Jahr, als/während Helmut Kohl Bundeskanzler war'' ("in that year, when/while Helmut Kohl was chancellor") Such a sentence can also completely replace a position or pronominal adverb. ("The previous sentence needs to be clarified by someone knowledgeable") :''als Willy Brandt Bundeskanzler war'' INSTEAD OF ''damals, als Willy Brandt Bundeskanzler war'' ("when Willy Brandt was chancellor / in those days when Willy Brandt was chancellor") :''wo die Sonne scheint'' INSTEAD OF ''am Himmel, wo die Sonne scheint'' ("where the sun shines / in the sky, where the sun shines") {{DEFAULTSORT:German Adverbial Phrases German grammar Adverbs by language