Adverbios are words or phrases that qualify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs to tell us something extra about an action or a characteristic. Adverbs do not change for gender or number.
In the Spanish language, we have a wide range of adverbios that can be classified into different categories depending on the information they provide. The categories are: cantidad (quantity), tiempo (time), lugar (place), duda (doubt), afirmación (agreement), negación (denial) y modo (manner).
Let’s take a look at some of the most frequently-used adverbs in each category:
Ejemplos:
Lugar:
- El Banco Central está allá. The Central Bank is there.
Tiempo:
- Antes ellos vivían en la sierra, pero ahora viven en la costa. They used to live by the mountains, but now they live along the coast.
Modo:
- Nosotros lo pasamos bien en la fiesta de cumpleaños de Javier. We had a great time at Javier’s birthday party.
Cantidad:
- No quiero saber nada de ese asunto. I don’t want to hear anything about it.
Duda:
- Nosotros iremos de viaje a la selva posiblemente. We’ll probably go on a trip to the rainforest.
Afirmación:
- Sí, yo estoy de acuerdo con lo que dices. Yes, I agree with what you said.
Negación:
- Nunca he comido cuy, pero dicen que es delicioso. I’ve never eaten any cuy, but I hear it’s delicious.