An adverb in English is a word that describes or modifies a word or phrase that is not a nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. This means that adverbs can add information about verbsNo definition set for verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., other adverbs, or even prepositional phrasesNo definition set for prepositional phrasesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or clausesNo definition set for clausesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. Adverbs are usually the answer to questions like:
How often? → sometimes, never, usually
When? → later, already, finally
How long? → forever, temporarily, long
How? → fast, clearly, beautifully
How much? → rather, almost, thoroughly
Where? → everywhere, near, backward
I’m going to try to simplify adverbs for you, first telling you what they are and how they modify those verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. We’ll also take a look at where adverbs go in your sentences.
Are you really ready to look at adverbs with me? They are everywhere!
Classically, an adverb is a word that is used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
I ate my breakfast quickly.
My breakfast was very delicious.
I ate my breakfast somewhat quickly.
However, adverbs can also modify prepositional phrases (preposition + noun), gerunds (-ing nouns that come from verbs) or clauses (phrases that contain both a subject and a verb).
I finished my breakfast right at 9am.
First, I ate breakfast.
I won the race by running quickly.
You can usually assume that a descriptive word is an adverb if it does not modify a noun. Words that describe nouns are called adjectives instead.
She will buy a brown dog.
She will buy a dog tomorrow .
You can also use longer phrases to modify a verb, adjective, adverb, prepositional phrase, or clause. For example:
I ate for 10 minutes.
I ate breakfast after I took my shower.
These longer phrases are called adverbials because they act like adverbs. To learn more about some kinds of English adverbials check out these posts:
In English, every adverb has only one form, so there are no agreement endings to memorize. However, many adverbs will end with -ly. Let’s have a look!
Many common adverbs have no special “adverb ending.” These are called natural adverbs. For example:
sometimes, yet, down, somewhere, so, quite, yesterday
Other adverbs are formed by adding the ending -ly to an adjective. For example:
beautiful → beautifully
sweet → sweetly
slow → slowly
final → finally
complete → completely
happy → happily
While most English words that end in -ly are adverbs, this ending is also used to make adjectives out of nouns:
This is a friendly dog.
You can use -ly to recognize an adverb, but don’t use it to create your own adverbs! Why?
You cannot add -ly to every adjective:
❌ He painted the room greenly.
You don’t always need to add -ly to use an adjective as an adverb:
This is a fast dog.
He drove fast.
Some common words that are both adjectives and natural adverbs:
fast, quick*, slow*
hard, easy*
late, early
most*, least, more, less
straight, just*, clear*, clean*
The position of adverbs in English is quite flexible. For example:
✅ Andrew quickly walked to work.
✅ Andrew walked quickly to work.
✅ Quickly, Andrew walked to work.
✅ Andrew walked to work quickly.
However, most individual adverbs will not sound natural in all of these locations! For example:
✅ Andrew usually walks to work.
❌ Andrew walks usually to work.
✅ Usually, Andrew walks to work.
🆗 Andrew walks to work, usually.
Every adverb follows slightly different rules, and learning to use adverbs in English really naturally will require a lot of speaking and listening practice.
However, there are some general rules that you can use to make an educated guess about where to put your adverb. To find the most natural placement for adverb, ask yourself two questions:
What does it modify?
→ a verb, a clause, an adjective, an adverb, a prepositional phrase…?
What type of information does it provide?
→ frequency (how often), time (when), direction (to where), location (where), degree (how much)...
Adverbs that modify an adjective, an adverb, or a prepositional phrase are easy. They almost always come immediately before the word or phrase they modify:
The math test was incredibly difficult.
She finished her drink very quickly.
He lives way outside the city.
The placement of adverbs that modify verbs, gerunds, and clauses, though, is a little more challenging. In the sections below we’ll go through some of the most common types of adverbs in English, and discuss how to place these types of adverbs most naturally in a sentence.
Before we look at different types of adverbs, take note of these three universal rules:
An adverb that comes before a verb will usually come after the first auxiliary:
I have already done that work.
Tom can usually be found at the gym.
Some may also come before the auxiliaries, but only for emphasis.
An adverb that comes after the verb will always follow the verb and its objects. This is a very strict rule in English.
✅ Patricia played the piano beautifully on Saturday.
❌ Patricia played beautifully the piano on Saturday.
✅ Anna picked out her new shirt carefully.
❌ Anna picked carefully out her new shirt.
An adverb that comes before the clause and at the beginning of a sentence will always be followed by a comma:
Yesterday, I forgot to brush my teeth before bed.
With just those rules, you can start using adverbs! But if you want to know more details, keep reading.
Now, let’s look at how to place the major types of adverbs in English sentences: adverbs of frequency, time, duration, manner, degree, place, and direction.
An adverb of frequency will tell you how often an action takes place. Some common adverbs of frequency are:
always, never, often, rarely, seldom, sometimes, usually, frequently
Adverbs of frequency usually come before the verb:
adverb of frequency
verb
✅ They always watch TV together.
❌ They watch TV always together.
Frequency adverbs almost always come after the verb be.
✅ Teenagers are usually hungry.
🆗 Teenagers usually are hungry.
A few other notes:
Some adverbs of frequency (sometimes, often, rarely, usually, frequently, ...) can also come at the beginning or the end of the clause. This is quite common in writing or storytelling.
✅ Often, they watch TV together.
✅ They watch TV together often.
Occasionally, adverbs of frequency (often, frequently, rarely, sometimes, ...) will be used to modify English gerunds (a verb + -ing that is used like a noun). When this happens, the adverb can come before or after the gerund phrase:
Frequently changing your oil will help your car last longer.
Changing your oil frequently will help your car last longer.
The adverbs always and never only come before the gerund.
✅ I passed the class by always doing my homework.
✅ Never helping your mother do the dishes is rude.
Read this story about Mark’s daily routine. Notice the positions of the adverbs and the verbs:
My days are always the same.
I usually get up at 7:30 every day.
I normally have a shower first, except on the weekend, when I generally have a run before breakfast.
Usually, I don't have a big breakfast, but sometimes my roommate makes pancakes, and I can never resist those!
I occasionally buy coffee for my coworkers and arrive a few minutes late.
After work I regularly go to the gym and work out.
An adverb of time will tell you when something happens. Some very common adverbs of time include:
early, lately, later, soon, today, tomorrow, recently, now, just
Adverbs for a specific day or time (today, tonight, yesterday, ...) will usually come before or after the clause.
✅ Tomorrow, we are leaving for Brazil.
✅ We are leaving for Brazil tomorrow.
❌ We tomorrow are leaving for Brazil.
🆗 We are leaving tomorrow for Brazil.
Adverbs for relative times (now, later, before, already, ...) can come before or after the clause or before and after the verb. However, the most common location will depend on the adverb.
✅ I’ll watch TV with my family later.
✅ Later, I’ll watch TV with my family.
✅ I later watched TV with my family.
🆗 I’ll watch TV later with my family.
However, there are some adverbs of time that follow more restrictive rules, like just.
✅ I just served pie for dessert.
❌ Just, I served pie for dessert
❌ I served pie just for dessert.
❌ I served pie for dessert just.
Check out this table of adverbs of time for some more detailed rules and examples.
Here is an example of a story that uses adverbs of time:
Susan’s birthday is next week.
Lately, Susan’s mom, Muriel, has been thinking about making the cake for the party.
Muriel made a carrot cake before, but Susan didn’t like it very much.
Now, Muriel knows that the best kind of cake to make is chocolate.
Muriel once worked in a bakery, so she’s been making cakes a long time.
Today, she’s baking the cake early so she can now begin planning the rest of the party.
An adverb of duration will give you an idea of how long an action lasts. Here are some pretty common adverbs of duration:
constantly, forever, permanently, temporarily, since, briefly
Adverbs of duration can come before or after a verb.
I had temporarily forgotten his name.
I had forgotten his name temporarily.
Adverbs of duration can modify participlesNo definition set for participlesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. and some other adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. Remember: When adverbs modify adjectives, they always come directly before the adjective!
a long forgotten masterpiece
a briefly open door
Sometimes the participles they modify are part of a complex verb form:
The store will be temporarily closed.
A few adverbs of duration can also be used at the beginning or the end of the clause, but this is uncommon:
Briefly, I thought about going out for coffee.
I thought about going out for coffee briefly.
Read this news story for a longer example:
The old house on 12th street will be permanently named the “Majestic Mansion”, according to the city council’s office.
This house has constantly received many architectural awards for its beautiful front porch.
Neighbors say that Majestic Mansion has been standing there forever, but it was actually built after WWI.
It was used briefly as the mayor’s residence, but will temporarily become the city museum, which will open soon.
An adverb of manner will let you know how or in what way something is being done. This group of adverbs is extremely large. Most of them end in -ly.
comfortably, happily, loudly, slowly, together, quickly
It is usually best to put adverbs of manner after the verb they modify:
He told his story loudly.
They walked the dog slowly down the street.
Most adverbs of manner can also come before the verb, before the clause, or after the clause as well, with very little change in meaning:
They slowly walked the dog down the street.
Slowly, they walked the dog down the street.
They walked the dog down the street slowly.
There are some adverbs of manner that will sound very odd or incorrect when they come before the verb.
❌ They together helped her.
❌ They beautifully sang a lullaby.
The only way to really learn these is through lots of speaking and listening practice, but to be safe, you can always put the adverb after the verb instead.
Adverbs of manner can also modify other kinds of words:
They come before adjectives that come from verbs:
a swiftly flowing river
a beautifully painted vase
If the adverb of manner modifies an adjective and does not end in -ly add a hyphen (-), as in well-made or fast-flowing.
They come after gerunds (nouns that come from verbs)
Singing well takes practice.
You can see all of these patterns in the story below:
Last Sunday I went to a piano concert. The pianist was Tom Triblinket.
He played the first piece slowly and gently.
While the audience sat back comfortably in their seats, happily taking in the first notes, he gradually began playing faster.
The last piece of the concert was a popular, fast-paced folk song.
It had the audience clapping their hands enthusiastically and cheering loudly.
Adverbs of degree tell you how intensely something is happening. Like adverbs of manner, a lot of these adverbs are -ly words, like:
really, very, almost, mostly, definitely, completely, exactly, right, barely, so, way
Their position is easy to remember: adverbs of degree always come before the word or phrase they modify!
There is incredibly strong wind outside!
We ran very quickly.
Patrick sat right next to me.
Meghan really loved her birthday party.
Adverbs of degree usually follow the linking verb be:
I am definitely a doctor.
Here’s an ad that uses a lot of adverbs of degree:
Hey woodworkers!
Here’s the Orange Demon Nail Gun, a completely new tool on the market!
It will help you do much better work way more quickly, and all with practically no effort!
The Orange Demon is very carefully manufactured to withstand even the hardest work so it is almost the perfect tool for the highly skilled woodworker.
Buy it at the absurdly low price of $29.95! It’s absolutely the best nail gun on the market!
Adverbs of place tell you where something happens.
somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, here, there, outside, downstairs
Adverbs of place and direction are also easy! They always come after the word they modify.
Most often, this is a verb:
I have lived here for six years.
Both adverbs of place and adverbs of directioncan start a clause if there is strong emphasis (poetic) or in some special phrases:
Here I am!
Somewhere there is peace.
Sometimes these adverbs will follow a noun.
If the noun is a gerund (from a verb) the adverb describes it directly:
I like staying inside.
But if the noun is not a gerund, it means that some words have been deleted from an English relative clauseNo definition set for relative clauseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and the adverb actually modifies a deleted verb:
There is a cat that is upstairs. → There is a cat upstairs.
This cute cottage has stood here since 1915.
My grandmother has lived over there, across the street, since 1961.
She always says that it is the nicest house on the block.
There are two bedrooms (that are) upstairs, under the roof.
In the summer, hundreds of flowers grow outside, and you can smell them everywhere.
Maybe someday I’ll find a house somewhere that’s as nice as this one.
Adverbs of direction tell you which way something moves or where it’s going. For example:
backwards, up, around, over, somewhere, here, there, upstairs, inside, away, north
Adverbs of direction always come after the verb.
He drove backwards.
They carried the bricks inside.
We walked over to the store.
They also come after gerunds.
I like going outside.
A couple of interesting points:
Most adverbs of place are also adverbs of direction. When an adverb of place is used as an adverb of direction, it means “to that location.”
I stood here = at this place
I walked here = to this place
I stood somewhere = at that place
I walked somewhere = to that place
We often use adverbs of place between the verb and a prepositional phrase of place to create more detailed descriptions:
We walked up to the counter.
Next weekend, my kids are coming here for a visit!
We will go over to a local orchard to pick apples.
I know I will enjoy driving there, because I can talk to my kids and hear their stories.
I will also enjoy getting outside in the sunshine!
Last year, my son climbed up into a tree and threw the apples down so that we could catch them.
After we pick apples, I’ll take my kids somewhere for ice cream, and then we’ll head home to make a pie.
We’ve had a really good time talking about adverbs in this post. What are the main takeaways?
Adverbs are words that modify words and phrases that are not nouns, so they modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and clauses!
Adverbs in English do not change their form, but many have the ending -ly.
We saw that there are many possible locations for adverbs in English, but not every adverb goes in every location.
Where to put an adverb most naturally depends on many factors, but especially the type of adverb it is.
We introduced you to the main types of adverbs in English and where to put them in sentences!
Want to review all the information you saw above in a handy chart? Check out this English adverb placement cheat sheet, which will help you remember where to put different kinds of adverbs in English!
Or you can get started with practicing what you’ve learned with these English adverb activities. Happy learning!
