ANTE TODO

1

• ANTE TODO
• Adverbs are words that describe how, when, and
  where actions take place.
• They can modify verbs, adjectives, and even other
  adverbs.
• In previous lessons, you have already learned
  many Spanish adverbs, such as the ones below.
• bien nunca temprano
• mal hoy ayer
• muy siempre aquí

2

• The most common adverbs are those which end in
• mente. These are equivalent to the English
  adverbs which end in -ly.
• fácilmente easily
• generalmente generally
• verdaderamente truly, really
• simplemente simply

3

• To form adverbs which end in mente, add mente
  to the feminine form of the adjective. If the
  adjective does not have a special feminine form,
  just add mente to the standard form.
• FEMININE
• ADJECTIVE FORM
  SUFFIX ADVERB
• seguro ? segura ? -mente ? seguramente
• fabuloso ? fabulosa ? -mente ?
  fabulosamente
• enorme ? -mente ? enormemente
• feliz ? -mente ? felizmente

4

• ATENCIÓN!
• When a sentence contains two or more adverbs in
  sequence, the suffix mente is dropped from all
  but the last adverb.
• El médico nos habló simple y abiertamente.
• The doctor spoke to us simply and openly.
• Yo camino lenta y cuidadosamente.
• I walk slowly and carefully.
• Adjectives do not lose their accents when adding
• mente.
• fácil ? fácilmente débil ? débilmente

5

• Adverbs that end in mente generally follow the
  verb, while adverbs that modify an adjective or
  another adverb precede the word they modify.
• Javier dibuja maravillosamente.
• Javier draws wonderfully.
• Inés está casi siempre ocupada.
• Inés is almost always busy.

6
Common adverbs and adverbial expressions
a menudo often de vez en cuando from time to time
a tiempo on time despacio slowly
a veces sometimes menos less
además (del) in addition to muchas veces a lot many times
apenas hardly poco little
así like this pronto soon
bastante enough rather por lo menos at least
casi almost rápido quickly
con frecuencia frequently
7

• ATENCIÓN!
• Rápido functions as an adjective (Ella tiene una
  computadora rápida.) as well as an adverb (Ella
  corre rápido.).
• Note that as an adverb, rápido does not need to
  agree with any other word in the sentence.
• You can also use the adverb rápidamente (Ella
  corre rápidamente).

8

• Un poco más
• Sometimes adverbs that end in mente can also be
  expressed as con the noun form.
• frecuentemente con frecuencia
• cuidadosamente con cuidado

9

• INTÉNTALO! Transforma los siguientes adjetivos
  en adverbios.
• 1. alegre ____ 2. tranquilo ____
• alegremente tranquilamente
• 3. constante ____ 4. regular ____
• constantemente regularmente
• 5. gradual ____ 6. maravilloso ____
• gradualmente maravillosamente
• 7. perfecto ____ 8. normal ____
• perfectamente normalmente
• 9. real ____ 10. básico ____
• realmente básicamente
• 11. frecuente ____ 12. afortunado ____
• frecuentemente afortunadamente