Adverb
Encyclopedia
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verb
s or any part of speech other than a noun
(modifiers of nouns are primarily adjective
s and determiners). Adverbs can modify verb
s, adjective
s (including numbers), clause
s, sentence
s, and other adverbs.
Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. This function is called the adverbial
function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by adverbial phrase
s and adverbial clause
s.
Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs.
In English
, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives. For example, great yields greatly, and beautiful yields beautifully. There are also adverbs that do not end with -ly, such as hard in "Asiya worked hard to help her family", or well in "My sister performed well in the examination." Note that some words that end in -ly, such as friendly and lovely, are not adverbs, but adjective
s, in which case the root word is usually a noun
. There are also underived adjectives that end in -ly, such as holy and silly.
The suffix -ly is related to the German word Leiche, which means "corpse". (There is also an obsolete English word lych or lich
with the same meaning.) Both words are also related to the word like. The connection between -ly and like is easy to understand. The connection to lich is probably that both are descended from an earlier word that meant something like "shape" or "form". The use of like in the place of -ly as an adverb ending is seen in Appalachian English
, from the hardening of the ch in "lich" into a k, originating in northern British speech.
In this way, -ly in English is cognate with the common German adjective ending -lich, the Dutch ending -lijk, the Dano-Norwegian
-lig and Norwegian
-leg. This same process is followed in Romance languages with the ending -mente, -ment, or -mense meaning "of/like the mind".
In some cases, the suffix -wise may be used to derive adverbs from nouns. Historically, -wise competed with a related form -ways and won out against it. In a few words, like sideways, -ways survives; words like clockwise show the transition. Again, it is not a foolproof indicator of a word being an adverb. Some adverbs are formed from nouns or adjectives by prepending the prefix a- (such as abreast, astray). There are a number of other suffixes in English that derive adverbs from other word classes, and there are also many adverbs that are not morphologically indicated at all.
Comparative adverbs include more, most, least, and less (in phrases such as more beautiful, most easily etc.).
The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the positive
. Formally, adverbs in English are inflected in terms of comparison
, just like adjective
s. The comparative
and superlative
forms of some (especially single-syllable) adverbs that do not end in -ly are generated by adding -er and -est (She ran faster; He jumps highest). Others, especially those ending -ly, are periphrastically compared by the use of more or most (She ran more quickly), while some accept both forms, e.g. oftener and more often are both correct. Adverbs also take comparisons with as ... as, less, and least. Equative adverbs are used to describe the similarities between two objects or people; for example:
Not all adverbs are comparable; for example in the sentence He wore red yesterday it does not make sense to speak of "more yesterday" or "most yesterday".
A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, a noun is a word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence:
When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same. For example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally and Naturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings. Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like "of course" and as a verb-modifying adverb means "in a natural manner". This "naturally" distinction demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs isn't.
Words like very and particularly afford another useful example. We can say Perry is very fast, but not Perry very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like here and there that cannot modify adjectives. We can say The sock looks good there but not It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions. Huddleston
distinguishes between a word and a lexicogrammatical-word.
Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class
The Azerbaijan linguistic school does not consider an adverb to be an independent part of speech, as it is an adverbialized form of other parts of speech. I.e., recognition of its equity with other parts of speech violates the second and fourth laws of logic division. Adverbs are derived from other parts of speech. Their functions are performed by other parts of speech when they play the role of "means of expression" for an adverbial
. That is, other parts of speech, playing the role of adverbial
, automatically transform (convert) into an adverb.See Mammadov J.M.: Separation of parts of speech (in Russian)
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s or any part of speech other than a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
(modifiers of nouns are primarily adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s and determiners). Adverbs can modify verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s, adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s (including numbers), clause
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
s, sentence
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
s, and other adverbs.
Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. This function is called the adverbial
Adverbial
In grammar an adverbial is a word or a group of words that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'...
function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by adverbial phrase
Adverbial phrase
An adverbial phrase is a linguistic term for a group of two or more words operating adverbially, when viewed in terms of their syntactic function.Compare the following sentences:*I'll go to bed soon.*I'll go to bed in an hour....
s and adverbial clause
Adverbial clause
An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb. In other words, it contains a subject and a predicate, and it modifies a verb.*I saw Joe when I went to the store....
s.
Adverbs in English
Adverbs are words like slowly, tomorrow, now, soon and suddenly. An adverb usually modifies a verb or a verb phrase. It provides information about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty or other circumstances of the activity denoted by the verb or verb phrase.- She walked slowly. (Here the adverb slowly shows the manner in which she walked.)
- The kids are playing upstairs. (Here the adverb upstairs provides information about the place of the activity.)
Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs.
- You are quite right. (Here the adverb quite modifies the adjective right.)
- She spoke quite loudly. (Here the adverb quite modifies another adverb – loudly.)
In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives. For example, great yields greatly, and beautiful yields beautifully. There are also adverbs that do not end with -ly, such as hard in "Asiya worked hard to help her family", or well in "My sister performed well in the examination." Note that some words that end in -ly, such as friendly and lovely, are not adverbs, but adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s, in which case the root word is usually a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
. There are also underived adjectives that end in -ly, such as holy and silly.
The suffix -ly is related to the German word Leiche, which means "corpse". (There is also an obsolete English word lych or lich
Lich
In modern fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality...
with the same meaning.) Both words are also related to the word like. The connection between -ly and like is easy to understand. The connection to lich is probably that both are descended from an earlier word that meant something like "shape" or "form". The use of like in the place of -ly as an adverb ending is seen in Appalachian English
Appalachian English
Appalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken primarily in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain region of the Eastern United States, namely in North Georgia, Northwestern South Carolina, Southern West Virginia,...
, from the hardening of the ch in "lich" into a k, originating in northern British speech.
In this way, -ly in English is cognate with the common German adjective ending -lich, the Dutch ending -lijk, the Dano-Norwegian
Dano-Norwegian
Dano-Norwegian is a linguistic term for a koiné that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway . It is from this koiné that Riksmål and Bokmål developed...
-lig and Norwegian
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
-leg. This same process is followed in Romance languages with the ending -mente, -ment, or -mense meaning "of/like the mind".
In some cases, the suffix -wise may be used to derive adverbs from nouns. Historically, -wise competed with a related form -ways and won out against it. In a few words, like sideways, -ways survives; words like clockwise show the transition. Again, it is not a foolproof indicator of a word being an adverb. Some adverbs are formed from nouns or adjectives by prepending the prefix a- (such as abreast, astray). There are a number of other suffixes in English that derive adverbs from other word classes, and there are also many adverbs that are not morphologically indicated at all.
Comparative adverbs include more, most, least, and less (in phrases such as more beautiful, most easily etc.).
The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the positive
Positive (linguistics)
Positive is the form of an adjective or adverb on which comparative and superlative are formed, in English, with the suffixes -ier, -lier, -iest, or -liest, or the forms more/less for polysyllabic adjectives/adverbs. In English, good is a positive adjectival form corresponding to the comparative...
. Formally, adverbs in English are inflected in terms of comparison
Comparison (grammar)
Comparison, in grammar, is a property of adjectives and adverbs in most languages; it describes systems that distinguish the degree to which the modifier modifies its complement....
, just like adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s. The comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
and superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
forms of some (especially single-syllable) adverbs that do not end in -ly are generated by adding -er and -est (She ran faster; He jumps highest). Others, especially those ending -ly, are periphrastically compared by the use of more or most (She ran more quickly), while some accept both forms, e.g. oftener and more often are both correct. Adverbs also take comparisons with as ... as, less, and least. Equative adverbs are used to describe the similarities between two objects or people; for example:
- Tom runs as fast as Gary. (Both Tom and Gary run at the same speed.)
- The students are working as hard as ants. (The students are compared to hard-working ants.)
Not all adverbs are comparable; for example in the sentence He wore red yesterday it does not make sense to speak of "more yesterday" or "most yesterday".
Adverbs as a "catch-all" category
Adverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar and are still included as a part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of different functions. Some would go so far as to call adverbs a "catch-all" category that includes all words that do not belong to one of the other parts of speech.A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, a noun is a word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence:
- The _____ is red. (For example, "The hat is red".)
When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same. For example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally and Naturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings. Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like "of course" and as a verb-modifying adverb means "in a natural manner". This "naturally" distinction demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs isn't.
Words like very and particularly afford another useful example. We can say Perry is very fast, but not Perry very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like here and there that cannot modify adjectives. We can say The sock looks good there but not It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions. Huddleston
Rodney Huddleston
Rodney D. Huddleston is a linguist and grammarian specializing in the study and description of English.Huddleston is the primary author of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language , which presents a comprehensive descriptive grammar of English.He earned his PhD from the University of Edinburgh...
distinguishes between a word and a lexicogrammatical-word.
Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class
Other languages
Other languages may form adverbs in different ways, if they are used at all: adverb of manners and adverb of place.- In non-standard Bum Portuguese, the adverb menos (less) sometimes inflects for gender before a feminine noun. Menos água thus becomes menas água (less water). This kind of inflection is considered ungrammatical and is not recommended. http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Revista/Epoca/0,,EMI134039-15220-1,00-MENAS+POR+FAVOR.html
- In DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
adverbs have the basic form of their corresponding adjectiveAdjectiveIn grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s and are not inflected (except for comparison in which case they are inflected like adjectives, too). - In GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
the term Adverb is differently defined than in the English language. German adverbs form a group of not inflectable words (except for comparison in which in rare cases some are inflected like adjectives, too). An English adverb, which is derived from an adjective, is arranged in the German language under the adjectives with adverbial use in the sentence. The others are also called adverbs in the German language. - In Scandinavian languages, adverbs are typically derived from adjectives by adding the suffix '-t', which makes it identical to the adjective's neuter form. Scandinavian adjectives, like English ones, are inflected in terms of comparison by adding '-ere'/'-are' (comparative) or '-est'/'-ast' (superlative). In inflected forms of adjectives the '-t' is absent. Periphrastic comparison is also possible.
- In Romance languagesRomance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
many adverbs are formed from adjectives (often the feminine form) by adding '-mente' (PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, GalicianGalician languageGalician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
, ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
) or '-ment' (FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
) (from LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
mens, mentis: mind, intelligence). Other adverbs are single forms which are invariable. - In the RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
language, the vast majority of adverbs are simply the masculine singular form of the corresponding adjective – one notable exception being bine ("well") / bun ("good"). However, there are some Romanian adverbs that are built from certain masculine singular nouns using the suffix "-eşte", such as the following ones: băieţ-eşte (boyishly), tiner-eşte (youthfully), bărbăt-eşte (manly), frăţ-eşte (brotherly), etc. - InterlinguaInterlinguaInterlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
also forms adverbs by adding '-mente' to the adjective. If an adjective ends in c, the adverbial ending is '-amente'. A few short, invariable adverbs, such as ben, "well", and mal, "badly", are available and widely used. - In EsperantoEsperantois the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, adverbs are not formed from adjectives but are made by adding '-e' directly to the word root. Thus, from bon are derived bone, "well", and 'bona', 'good'. See also: special Esperanto adverbsSpecial Esperanto adverbsA limited number of Esperanto adverbs do not end with the regular adverbial ending -e. Many of these function as more than just adverbs, such as hodiaŭ "today" [noun or adverb] and ankoraŭ "yet, still" [conjunction or adverb]...
. - Modern Standard Arabic forms adverbs by adding the indefinite accusative ending '-an' to the root. For example, kathiir-, "many", becomes kathiiran "much". However, Arabic often avoids adverbs by using a cognate accusative plus an adjective.
- Austronesian languagesAustronesian languagesThe Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
appear to form comparativeComparativeIn grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
adverbs by repeating the root (as in WikiWikiWikiA wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
), similarly to the plural noun. - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
forms adverbs from verbal adjectives by adding /ku/ (く) to the stem (e.g. haya- "rapid" hayai "quick/early", hayakatta "was quick", hayaku "quickly") and from nominalNominal (linguistics)In linguistics, a nominal is a part of speech in some languages that shares features with nouns and adjectives.- Examples :Nominals are a common feature of Indigenous Australian languages, many of which do not categorically differentiate nouns from adjectives.Some features of nominals in some...
adjectives by placing /ni/ (に) after the adjective instead of the copula /na/ (な) or /no/ (の) (e.g. rippa "splendid", rippa ni "splendidly"). These derivations are quite productive but there are a few adjectives from which adverbs may not be derived. - In GaelicIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, an adverbial form is made by preceding the adjective with the preposition go (IrishIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
) or gu (Scottish Gaelic), meaning 'until'. - In Modern GreekModern GreekModern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
, an adverb is most commonly made by adding the endings <-α> and/or <-ως> to the root of an adjective. Often, the adverbs formed from a common root using each of these endings have slightly different meanings. So, <τέλειος> (, meaning "perfect" and "complete") yields <τέλεια> ( , "perfectly") and <τελείως> ( , "completely"). Not all adjectives can be transformed into adverbs by using both endings. <Γρήγορος> ( , "rapid") becomes <γρήγορα> ( , "rapidly"), but not normally *<γρηγόρως> (* ). When the <-ως> ending is used to transform an adjective whose tonal accent is on the third syllable from the end, such as <επίσημος> ( , "official"), the corresponding adjective is accented on the second syllable from the end; compare <επίσημα> ( ) and <επισήμως> ( ), which both mean "officially". There are also other endings with particular and restricted use as <-ί>, <-εί>, <-ιστί>, etc. For example, <ατιμωρητί> ( , "with impunity") and <ασυζητητί> ( , "indisputably"); <αυτολεξεί> ( "word for word") and <αυτοστιγμεί> ( , "in no time"); <αγγλιστί> [ "in English (language)"] and <παπαγαλιστί> ( , "by rote"); etc. - In LatvianLatvian languageLatvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
, an adverb is formed from an adjective, by changing the masculine or feminine adjective endings -s and -a to -i. "Labs", meaning "good", becomes "labi" for "well". Latvian adverbs have a particular use in expressions meaning "to speak" or "to understand" a language. Rather than use the noun meaning "Latvian/English/Russian", the adverb formed form these words is used. "Es runāju latviski/angliski/krieviski" means "I speak Latvian/English/Russian", or very literally "I speak Latvianly/Englishly/Russianly". When a noun is required, the expression used means literally "language of the Latvians/English/Russians", "latviešu/angļu/krievu valoda". - In UkrainianUkrainian languageUkrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
/ RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, an adverb is formed by removing the adjectival suffices "-ий" "-а" or "-е" from an adjective, and replacing them with the adverbial "-о". For example, "швидкий", "гарна", and "смачне" (fast, nice, tasty) become "швидко", "гарно", and "смачно" (quickly, nicely, tastefully). As well, note that adverbs are mostly placed before the verbs they modify: "Добрий син гарно співає." (A good son sings nicely/well). Although, there is no specific word order in East Slavic languages. - In KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, adverbs are formed by replacing 다 of the dictionary form of a verb with 게. So, 쉽다 (easy) becomes 쉽게 (easily). - In TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, the same word usually serves as adjective and adverb: iyi bir kız ("a good girl"), iyi anlamak ("to understand well). - In ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, adverbs end in the word "地（的）", the English equivalent of "-ly".
The Azerbaijan linguistic school does not consider an adverb to be an independent part of speech, as it is an adverbialized form of other parts of speech. I.e., recognition of its equity with other parts of speech violates the second and fourth laws of logic division. Adverbs are derived from other parts of speech. Their functions are performed by other parts of speech when they play the role of "means of expression" for an adverbial
Adverbial
In grammar an adverbial is a word or a group of words that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'...
. That is, other parts of speech, playing the role of adverbial
Adverbial
In grammar an adverbial is a word or a group of words that modifies or tells us something about the sentence or the verb. The word adverbial is also used as an adjective, meaning 'having the same function as an adverb'...
, automatically transform (convert) into an adverb.See Mammadov J.M.: Separation of parts of speech (in Russian)
See also
- Grammatical conjunctionGrammatical conjunctionIn grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
- Prepositional adverbPrepositional adverbA prepositional adverb is a word - mainly a particle - which is very similar in its form to a preposition but functions as an adverb. Prepositional adverbs occur mainly in English, German and Dutch. Unlike real prepositions, they occur mainly at the end of a phrase and not before nouns...
- Pronominal adverbPronominal adverbA pronominal adverb is a type of adverb occurring in a number of Germanic languages, formed in replacement of a preposition and a pronoun by turning the latter into a locative adverb and the former into a prepositional adverb and joining them in reverse order....