Comparative Grammar 3.8. Adverbs in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, & French

In this comparative grammar lesson of Romance languages, we study adverbs in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, & French. An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs usually answer questions such as how, how often, how long, when, where, etc.

A lot of adverbs have the ending “-mente” in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, or “-ment” in French. This is, more or less, similar to the ending “-ly” in English. Nevertheless, there are many other adverbs and adverbial phrases that do not follow this simple rule. We will attempt to classify the most common adverbs into some categories for easier memorization.

Table of Contents

• Forming an Adverb
• The Adverbs ‘So” & “Such”
• The Adverbs “Too” & “Neither”
• The Adverbs “Still,” “Yet,”  and “Already”
• The Adverb “Ago”
• The Adverb “Desde” in Spanish & Portuguese
• Adverbial Phrases Describing Frequency of Occurrence
• Level III – Elementary

Forming an Adverb

Many adverbs can be formed by simply adding “-mente” in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, or “-ment” in French, to the feminine singular adjective.

In Italian, if the adjective ends with “-le” or “-re” preceded by a vowel, we simply drop the final “-e.”

Here are some examples:

In Italian, some adverbs ending with “-mente” slightly deviate from the above rules. For example:

In French, some adverbs ending with “-ment” slightly deviate from the above rules. For example:

Not all adverbs are formed by adding the “-mente” or “-ment” ending, similar to the fact that not all English adverbs are formed by adding “-ly” to the corresponding adjective. Some adverbs do not follow any particular rule.

For example:

The Adverbs ‘So” & “Such”

Another common adverb that can be translated as “such” or “so” is:

The Adverbs “Too” & “Neither”

Here, we discuss the common adverbs used to express agreement with affirmative and negative statements. For example:

To show disagreement with affirmative and negative statements, we simply use “no” and “yes,” respectively, for example:

In Spanish and Italian, if a verb like “gustar” or “piacere” is used, the subject pronoun is replaced with a prepositional “a” followed by the prepositional object pronoun. For example:

We apply the same concept in the case of disagreement, for example:

The Adverbs “Still,” “Yet,” and “Already”

When followed by a verb in the present tense, “todavía” or “aún” in Spanish, “ainda” in Portuguese, “ancora” in Italian, and “encore” in French generally mean “still” in affirmative and negative expressions. The same word can also mean “yet” in a negative expression a verb in the present perfect tense is used. For example:

The word “ya” in Spanish, “já” in Portuguese, “già” in Italian, and “déjà” in French generally mean “already.”

Below are some examples of the meaning of “already” in both the present tense and the present perfect tense:

a) Present Tense

b) Present Perfect Tense

In the present tense, the opposite of “still” is “no longer.” For example:

The Adverb “Ago”

The adverb of time meaning “ago” is used to describe something that happened and ended in the past. Here are the examples:

The Adverb “Desde” in Spanish & Portuguese

Depending on the context, “desde” is used to indicate a point in time and can mean “since” or “from.” For example:

Adverbial Phrases Describing Frequency of Occurrence

The following feminine nouns are used to describe the frequency of occurrence:

The English equivalents are often “time,” and its plural “times,” e.g., “how many times did you win?”

Here is a list of some adverbial phrases that use these nouns:

Next: Present Participle & Gerund in French

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