Types of Adverbs in German Grammar

Introduction

Adverbs in German grammar are divided into different categories: locative adverbs, temporal adverbs, modal adverbs, causal adverbs, relative adverbs and conjunctional adverbs.

Use the lists provided to help you learn different types of adverbs in German grammar. In the exercises, you can practise what you have learnt.

Example

Gestern war ich mit Freunden auf einem Rockkonzert. Rolf und ich kamen später. Unsere Freunde warteten deshalb nicht da auf uns, wo wir uns verabredet hatten. Als wir ankamen, standen unsere Freunde ganz vorn an der Bühne. Aber dort drängten sich die Fans, darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.

Als das Konzert anfing, begannen die Fans, laut zu kreischen. Man verstand kaum ein Wort, worüber ich mich ärgerte. Aber die Besucher des Konzerts waren größtenteils junge Mädchen, die bereits beim ersten Song reihenweise umfielen. Somit lichteten sich die Reihen und wir standen bald bei unseren Freunden.

Locative Adverbs

Locative adverbs can be the answer to the questions “Where/Where … to/Where … from?”

Example:: Als wir ankamen, standen unsere Freunde ganz vorn an der Bühne.When we arrived, our friends were standing at the front near the stage.; Aber dort drängten sich die Fans, darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.But the crowd was so thick there that Rolf and I stayed standing at the back.

Some important locative adverbs are, for example:

German	English
aufwärts	upwards
außen	outside
da	here/there
dort	there/over there
drinnen	inside
fort	away
hier	here
hierhin	up to here
hinein	into
hinten	behind
irgendwo	somewhere
links	left (of)
nebenan	near
oberhalb	above
überall	everywhere
unten	below
vorn	in front

Temporal Adverbs

Temporal adverbs are the answer to the questions “When/How long/How often/Until when/Since when?”

Example:: Gestern war ich mit Freunden auf einem Rockkonzert.Yesterday I was at a rock concert with some friends.; Aber die Besucher fielen bereits beim ersten Song reihenweise um.But the audience immediately fell down, row after row, during the first song.

Some important temporal adverbs are, for example:

German	English
bald	soon
bereits	already
bisher	until now
danach	thereafter
davor	beforehand
einst	once
endlich	eventually/finally
freitags	on Fridays
gestern	yesterday
immer	always
inzwischen	meanwhile
neulich	recently/lately
nie	never
oft	often
regelmäßig	regularly
sofort	immediately
stets	constantly
täglich	daily
vorhin	earlier
zurzeit	at the time

Modal adverbs are the answer to the questions “How/How much?”

Example:: Als wir ankamen, standen unsere Freunde ganz vorn an der Bühne.When we arrived, our friends were standing all the way at the front near the stage.; Man verstand kaum ein Wort.You could hardly hear a word.; Die Besucher des Konzerts waren größtenteils junge Mädchen, die bereits beim ersten Song reihenweise umfielen.The audience was mostly young girls, who immediately fell down, row after row, during the first song.

Some important modal adverbs are, for example:

German	English
anders	different
äußerst	extremely
beinahe	nearly
bekanntlich	famously
ebenfalls	likewise
fast	almost
folgendermaßen	as follows
ganz	completely
genauso	exactly like
genug	enough
gern	gladly
größtenteils	mostly
hauptsächlich	mainly
hoffentlich	hopefully
kaum	hardly
leider	unfortunately
möglicherweise	possibly
reihenweise	row after row, by the dozen
sehr	very
so	so/thus/in that way
vielleicht	perhaps
wirklich	truly/really

Causal Adverbs

Causal adverbs are the answer to the questions “How so/For what reason/Why/Under what condition?”

Example:: Unsere Freunde warteten deshalb nicht auf uns.Therefore our friends didn’t wait for us.; Darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.Because of that, Rolf and I stayed standing at the back.; Somit lichteten sich die Reihen.And with that, the crowd thinned out.

Some important causal adverbs are, for example:

German	English
also	so, therefore
anstandshalber	for decency’s sake
dadurch	through that/because of that
darum	therefore/because of that
demnach	thus/according to that
demzufolge	whereby/accordingly
deshalb	therefore
folglich	consequently
sicherheitshalber	preventatively
somit	thus/therefore
trotzdem	despite that

Relative Adverbs

We use relative adverbs in relative clauses. Relative adverbs usually refer to part of a sentence.

Example:: Unsere Freunde warteten deshalb nicht da auf uns, wo wir uns verabredet hatten.Therefore, our friends didn’t wait for us, where we had arranged to meet.; Man verstand kaum ein Wort, worüber ich mich ärgerte.You could hardly hear a word, which annoyed me.

Some relative adverbs are, for example:

German	English
wo	where
womit	with which
wofür	for which
worüber	about which

Conjunctional Adverbs

We can use some adverbs to tie clauses together. Because these adverbs serve as conjunctions, they are called conjunctional adverbs. The clause that begins with a conjunctional adverb has the following form:

conjunctional adverb + finite verb + subject + rest of the clause

Example:: Dort drängten sich die Fans, darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.The crowd was really thick there, so Rolf and I stayed standing at the back.

Some conjunctional adverbs are, for example:

German	English
außerdem	besides
danach	thereafter
deshalb	therefore
folglich	consequently
schließlich	finally
trotzdem	despite that
zuvor	previously

Conjunctional adverbs can never be made comparative.

(see also Sentences with Conjunctions)

To Note

The conjunctional adverbs are the same as the causal adverbs in many cases (deshalb, daher, trotzdem, …). The difference in their categorisation depends on which meaning is more important.

When we want to emphasise that an adverb gives information about a reason, we describe it as a causal adverb.

Example:: Rolf und ich kamen später. Unsere Freunde warteten deshalb nicht auf uns.Rolf and I came later. Therefore, our friends didn’t wait for us.; Aber dort drängten sich die Fans, darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.But the crowd was thick there, so Rolf and I stayed standing at the back.

If, however, we want to differentiate the type of connection between two parts of a sentence (is it a conjunction, subjunction, or a conjunctional adverb?), then we use the term conjunctional adverb.

Example:: Rolf und ich kamen später, deshalb warteten unsere Freunde nicht auf uns.Rolf and I came later, and therefore our friends didn’t wait for us.; Aber dort drängten sich die Fans, darum blieben Rolf und ich hinten stehen.But the crowd was thick there, so Rolf and I stayed standing at the back.