Adverbs

Adverbs are the words that you may add to a sentence to give the verb a description.

For instance in the English sentence "Tanaka runs fast.", fast is the adverb, describing the way Tanaka runs. Adverbs are used in a similar manner in Japanese.

tanakasan wa hayaku hashiru
Mr. Tanaka runs fast.

Adverbs can be made from adjectives, or be using dedicated words.

Adverbs made from -i adjectives

To form an adverb from an -i adjective, add -ku to the stem.

Adjective			→	Adverb
安い	yasui	cheap		安く	yasuku	cheaply
早い	hayai	quick		早く	hayaku	quickly
楽しい	tanoshii	enjoyable		楽しく	tanoshiku	enjoyably
いい	ii	good		よく	yoku	well (Irregular, based on the alternate form "yoi" of "ii" )

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 from -na adjectives

To form an adverb from a -na adjective, use ni after the adjective:

Adjective			→	Adverb
静か（な）	shizuka(na)	quiet		静かに	shizuka ni	quietly
簡単（な）	kantan(na)	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.

Adverbs not based on adjectives

There are also many adverbs which are not derived from adjectives. The following list provides a few examples. (Note: there are some on this list derived from -na adjectives, and some of the time words are really nouns).

昨日	kinou	yesterday
あまり	amari	not much
少し	sukoshi	a little
少ない	sukunai	a few
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
今	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
前に	mae ni	before
後で, あとで	ato de	after
のち	nochi	later
さきほど、さっき	sakihodo, sakki	until recently
さっさと	sassato	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
大丈夫に	daijoubu ni	OK
一人で	hitori de	alone

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This page is edited by the StudyJapanese.org Team, based on 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/)