1.7.4 Common adverbs

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What Are Common Adverbs in Everyday German?

In this chapter you focus on small but powerful words that tell you how, when, where, and how often something happens. These are adverbs. They are essential for talking about daily routines in German.

Adverbs usually stand near the verb or at the beginning of the sentence. They never change their form. You do not add endings for gender, case, or number.

Adverbs in German do not change their form. They stay the same with all people, genders, and cases.

Below you find the most important adverbs for A1 daily life: time, frequency, place, and manner.

Time Adverbs for Daily Routines

Time adverbs answer questions like: When? Since when? How long?

Here are very common time adverbs you will use for your daily routine.

German	English	Example in German	English meaning
heute	today	Ich arbeite heute.	I work today.
gestern	yesterday	Gestern war ich müde.	Yesterday I was tired.
morgen	tomorrow	Morgen habe ich frei.	Tomorrow I have a day off.
jetzt	now	Ich esse jetzt.	I am eating now.
dann	then, after that	Ich frühstücke, dann gehe ich.	I have breakfast, then I go.
später	later	Wir telefonieren später.	We will call later.
früh	early	Ich stehe früh auf.	I get up early.
spät	late	Er kommt spät nach Hause.	He comes home late.
immer noch	still	Ich bin immer noch müde.	I am still tired.
sofort	immediately	Komm sofort!	Come immediately!
gleich	in a moment, soon	Ich komme gleich.	I am coming in a moment.
oft	often (time sense)	Wir sehen uns oft.	We see each other often.

You can place many time adverbs at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize them.

Gestern gehe ich früh ins Bett.
Heute arbeite ich lange.

If you put a time adverb at the beginning, the conjugated verb must be in the second position:
Gestern war ich zu Hause.
Morgen gehe ich ins Kino.

Frequency Adverbs for Habits

Frequency adverbs answer: How often?

These are very important when you describe your routine.

German	English	Example in German	English meaning
immer	always	Ich bin immer müde am Montag.	I am always tired on Monday.
meistens	mostly, usually	Wir essen meistens zu Hause.	We usually eat at home.
oft	often	Ich gehe oft spazieren.	I often go for a walk.
manchmal	sometimes	Manchmal trinke ich Tee.	Sometimes I drink tea.
selten	rarely, seldom	Er fährt selten mit dem Bus.	He rarely takes the bus.
nie	never	Sie frühstückt nie.	She never has breakfast.
regelmäßig	regularly	Ich trainiere regelmäßig.	I train regularly.
normalerweise	normally, usually	Normalerweise schlafe ich acht Stunden.	Normally I sleep eight hours.

Frequency adverbs often stand before the main verb or after the conjugated verb.

Ich gehe oft ins Fitnessstudio.
Er liest manchmal am Abend.

Adverbs of frequency like immer, oft, nie usually stand directly before the verb or directly after the conjugated verb.
Example: Ich bin meistens zu Hause. / Ich gehe nie spät ins Bett.

Place Adverbs in Daily Situations

Place adverbs answer: Where? Where to? Where from?

You use them with movement and position verbs in daily life.

German	English	Example in German	English meaning
hier	here	Ich arbeite hier.	I work here.
dort	there	Er wohnt dort.	He lives there.
da	there, here	Ich bin da.	I am there / here.
oben	upstairs, above	Das Bad ist oben.	The bathroom is upstairs.
unten	downstairs, below	Die Küche ist unten.	The kitchen is downstairs.
drinnen	inside	Die Kinder spielen drinnen.	The children play inside.
draußen	outside	Ich sitze gerne draußen.	I like to sit outside.
überall	everywhere	Es ist überall laut.	It is loud everywhere.
nirgendwo	nowhere	Ich finde ihn nirgendwo.	I cannot find him anywhere.
nebenan	next door	Meine Freunde wohnen nebenan.	My friends live next door.

Place adverbs usually come after the verb and object, but they can also start the sentence.

Wir treffen uns draußen.
Hier wohne ich.

Manner Adverbs: How Something Happens

Manner adverbs answer: How?

At A1 you mostly see simple, very frequent ones. Many of these words are also adjectives. In this use they describe how an action happens.

German	English	Example in German	English meaning
gut	well	Er spricht gut Deutsch.	He speaks German well.
schlecht	badly, poorly	Ich schlafe heute schlecht.	I sleep badly today.
langsam	slowly	Bitte fahr langsam.	Please drive slowly.
schnell	quickly, fast	Sie läuft schnell.	She runs fast.
leise	quietly	Sprich bitte leise.	Please speak quietly.
laut	loudly	Die Kinder lachen laut.	The children laugh loudly.
gern / gerne	gladly, with pleasure, like to	Ich trinke gern Kaffee.	I like to drink coffee.
ungern	reluctantly, do not like to	Er steht ungern früh auf.	He does not like to get up early.
zusammen	together	Wir lernen zusammen.	We learn together.
allein	alone	Ich esse heute allein.	I eat alone today.

In German many adverbs of manner look exactly like adjectives: gut, langsam, laut, etc. You do not add “-ly” in German.

The Special Adverb “gern”

The adverb gern (or gerne) is very common and important for talking about what you like to do.

Ich koche gern. = I like cooking.
Wir spielen gern Fußball. = We like playing football.

You put gern usually after the conjugated verb.

Ich esse gern Pizza.
Sie liest gern am Abend.

Ungern is the opposite.

Ich arbeite ungern am Wochenende. = I do not like working at the weekend.

Position of Adverbs in Simple Sentences

You already know the basic word order in main clauses. Here the focus is on where to put adverbs, especially with daily routine verbs.

A very typical order in simple sentences with adverbs is:

Subject + Verb + Time + Manner + Place

For example:

Ich gehe heute (time) gern (manner) ins Kino (place).
Wir essen manchmal (frequency) abends (time) zu Hause (place).

You can also put a time adverb first. Then the verb still must be in second position.

Heute arbeite ich lange.
Morgens trinke ich immer Kaffee.

Frequency adverbs usually stay near the verb.

Er ist oft müde.
Sie macht nie Hausaufgaben am Sonntag.

A very common order is:
Subject + Verb + Time + Manner + Place.
Example: Ich gehe morgen allein nach Hause.

Using Adverbs in Daily Routine Descriptions

Here are short model sentences that you can use and adapt for your own routine. Pay attention to the adverbs.

Morgens stehe ich früh auf.
Ich frühstücke meistens zu Hause.
Dann fahre ich oft mit dem Bus zur Arbeit.
Ich arbeite hier, ich bin normalerweise von neun bis fünf im Büro.
Mittags esse ich zusammen mit meinen Kollegen.
Nach der Arbeit gehe ich manchmal ins Fitnessstudio.
Abends bin ich oft müde und ich schlafe selten spät.

Try to replace the adverbs to describe your own day.

New Vocabulary

German	English
heute	today
gestern	yesterday
morgen	tomorrow
jetzt	now
dann	then, after that
später	later
früh	early
spät	late
immer noch	still
sofort	immediately
gleich	in a moment, soon
oft	often
immer	always
meistens	mostly, usually
manchmal	sometimes
selten	rarely, seldom
nie	never
regelmäßig	regularly
normalerweise	normally, usually
hier	here
dort	there
da	there, here
oben	upstairs, above
unten	downstairs, below
drinnen	inside
draußen	outside
überall	everywhere
nirgendwo	nowhere
nebenan	next door
gut	well
schlecht	badly, poorly
langsam	slowly
schnell	quickly, fast
leise	quietly
laut	loudly
gern / gerne	gladly, like to
ungern	reluctantly, not gladly
zusammen	together
allein	alone

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