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Adverbs Print E-mail
Adverbs are the words that you may add to a sentence to give the verb an description. For instance in the English sentence "Tanaka runs fast.", fast is the adverb, describing the way Tanaka runs. Similar constructs also

Adverbs made of -i adjectives

To form an adverb from an -i adjective, add -ku to the stem.
        
 安い
 yasui
 cheap
   安く  yasuku  cheaply
 早い  hayai 
 quick 
   早く  hayaku  quickly
 いい  ii  good 
   よく
 yoku  well [Irregular]

昨日の晩トラコはよくねました。
Kinou no ban Torako wa yoku nemashita.
Torako slept well last night.

Adverbs made of -na adjectives

To form an adverb from a -na adjective, use ni after the adjective:
静か
shizuka
quiet    静かに chizuka ni  quietly 
簡単 kantan
simple
  簡単に kantan ni  simply

トラコは静かに歩きます。
Torako wa shizuka ni arukimasu.
Torako walks quietly.

Other adverbs

Of course, there are many adverbs which are not derived from verbs.

昨日 kinou yesterday
あまり amari not much
少し sukoshi a little
少ない sukunai a few
多い ooi a lot
今日 kyou today
ばっかり bakkari only
たぶん tabun perhaps
明日 ashita tomorrow     
ちょっと chotto a little
大変 taihen very
毎日 mainichi every day
いかが ikaga how
たくさん takusan a lot
毎朝 maiasa every morning
いつも itsumo always
ときどき tokidoki sometimes
ima now
また mata again
とても totemo very
やがて yagate soon
もう mou already
ゆっくり yukkuri slowly
すぐ sugu inmediately
もっと motto more 
全然 zenzen at all (with negative verbs)
まだ mada yet, still
なかなか nakanaka completely
ほとんど hotondo almost
はっきり hakkiri clearly
どんどん dondon quickly
めったに metta ni seldom
突然 totsuzen suddenly
そっと sotto smoothly, softly
きっと kitto certainly
さらに sara ni besides
そろそろ sorosoro gradually
益々, ますます masumasu more and more
mae before
後, あと ato after
のち nochi later
さきほど、さっき sakihodo, sakki until recently
さっさと sassa quickly
再び futatabi again
そもそも somosomo in the first place
すでに sudeni already, too late
すっかり sukkari completely
とくに toku ni specially
取り敢えず toriaezu at once
相変わらず aikawarazu as ever
拘らず kakawarazu despite
わざわざ wazawaza on purpose
必ず kanarazu certainly, whitout fail
一般に ippan ni generally
大丈夫 daijoubu OK
一人で hitori de alone



This page is a part of "Some Notes on Japanese Grammar" published for your personal use, with the kind permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)