What are the Types of adverbs in Spanish?

Adverbs in Spanish are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, and provide additional information about the manner, place, time, frequency, or degree of the action or quality being described. Adverbs are usually placed after the verb they modify, but they can also be placed at the beginning or the end of the sentence.

Here are some examples of common adverbs in Spanish, categorized by their function:

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner express the way the action is carried out. Many adverbs of manner are derived from adjectives by adding the suffix -mente. 

Adverbs	Examples
bien	Trabaja bien.
mal	Conduce mal.
Adverbs ending in -mente
suavemente	La acarició suavemente.
correctamente	Se presentó correctamente.
lentamente	Caminamos lentamente por el parque.
rápidamente	Resolvió el problema rápidamente.

Adverbs of time in Spanish

These adverbs express when the action takes place. Here’s a list of the adverbs of place: 

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
ahora	now	antes	before
hoy	today	ayer	yesterday
anoche	last night	mañana	tomorrow
tarde	late	temprano	early
pronto	soon	siempre	always
mientras	meanwhile	ya	already
después	afterwards	luego/ entonces	then
nunca / jamás	never	todavía / aún	still
recién / recientemente	recently	anteayer	the day before yesterday

Sentence examples with adverbs of time: 

Spanish	English
Hoy es mi cumpleaños.	Today is my birthday.
Voy a la playa mañana.	I’m going to the beach tomorrow.
Ayer fui al cine.	Yesterday I went to the cinema.
El tren llegará pronto.	The train will arrive soon.
Siempre llega tarde.	He always arrives late.
Nunca como carne.	I never eat meat.

Adverbs of place in Spanish 

These adverbs express the place where the action is carried out. Here’s a list of adverbs of place: 

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
aquí / acá	here	ahí / allí / allá	there
lejos	far	enfrente	opposite
atrás / detrás	behind	dentro / adentro	inside
adelante	forward	delante	in front
abajo / debajo	below	alrededor	around
cerca	near	donde / adonde	where
arriba	above	fuera	outside

What ‘s the difference between aquí, ahí, allí? 

The difference is marked by the distance being expressed in relation to the speaker. Allí expresses greater distance than ahí. 

aquí →

ahí —->

allí ———>

What is the difference between aquí / acá, allí / allá? 

Acá and allá are the preferred forms in Latin America. 

Sentence examples with adverbs of place: 

Spanish	English
El museo está aquí.	The museum is here.
La iglesia está allí.	The church is there.
Hace frío afuera.	It’s cold outside.
Estamos adentro de la casa.	We are inside the house.

Adverbs of quantity in Spanish 

These adverbs intensify or moderate the meaning of the verb or other element of the sentence. Here’s a list of adverbs of quantity: 

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
mucho	a lot	muy	very
algo	somewhat	nada	not at all
medio	half	bastante	rather
menos	less	casi	almost
además	beside, also	excepto / salvo	except
tanto	so much	tan	so
cuan / cuanto	as much	apenas	hardly
poco	little	demasiado	too much
más	more	solo	only

Muy is used with adjectives, mucho is used with verbs: 

• Está muy contento. 
• Llueve mucho 

👉 You can read the difference and uses of muy and mucho in this article! 

What is the difference between tan and tanto? 

Tan is used before adjectives and adverbs. Tanto is used with verbs: 

• ¡Es tan bueno! 
• ¡Trabaja tanto! 

Sentence examples with adverbs of quantity: 

Spanish	English
La pizza está muy caliente.	The pizza is very hot.
El vestido es demasiado caro.	The dress is too expensive.
La película fue bastante interesante.	The movie was quite interesting.
Hablo poco inglés.	I speak little English.

Adverbs of negation in Spanish 

The word no can be used on its own or in combination with other adverbs to produce a variety of meaning, here’s a list: 

Spanish	English
no … nada	not … anything
no … nunca	not … ever
no … nadie	not … anybody
no … ninguno	not … anybody
no … ya	not … yet
no … casi	hardly

Sentence examples: 

Spanish	English
No lo han llamado nunca.	They have never called him.
No he visto nada.	I haven’t seen anything.
Ya no trabajo allí.	I don’t work there any longer.
Casi no lo veo.	I hardly see him at all.

Affirmative adverbs 

These adverbs are used to confirm or emphasize a positive sentence, here’s a list of adverbs: 

Spanish	English
sí	yes
también	also
desde luego	indeed
ciertamente	certainly
seguramente	surely
verdaderamente	really
por cierto	certainly
sin duda	no doubt
¡Cómo no!	of course!

Adverbs to express doubt 

Spanish	English
quizás / quizá / tal vez / a lo mejor	perhaps, maybe
probablemente	probably
posiblemente	possibly

Download a PDF list with ALL these Adverbs in Spanish!

Practise Adverbs in Spanish

Exercise for Spanish Beginner level

Exercise for Spanish Intermediate level

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