Adverbs In Japanese (With Beginner's Guide)

Written byIchika Yamamoto

Adverbs tell us when, how, why or where the action happens. They modify a verb, a noun, an adjective, another adverb or a complete sentence. They also can provide us information about manner, quantity, frequency, time, or place.

Adverb rules:

You can make Japanese adverbs from adjectives in two ways:

In adjective that ends -i (い). Replacing the -i with -ku (く).
In adjective that ends -na (な). Replacing the -na with -ni (に). This ending corresponds to -ly in English.

Adverbs made from adjectives -i (い)

Adjective			Adverb
Japanese	Romaji	English	Japanese	Romaji	English
安い	yasui	cheap	安く	yasuku	cheaply
早い	hayai	quick	早く	hayaku	quickly
良い	yoi	good	よく	yoku	well

私は早く歩く

Watashi wa hayaku aruku

I walk quickly.

Adverbs made from adjectives -na (な)

Adjective			Adverb
Japanese	Romaji	English	Japanese	Romaji	English
静かな	shizukana	quiet	静かに	shizukani	quietly
簡単な	kantan'na	simple	簡単に	kantan'ni	sipmly
きれいな	kireina	clean	きれいに	kireini	cleanly

あなたは静かに食べる

Anata wa shizuka ni taberu

You eat quietly.

Adverbs that don't derive from adjectives

English	Japanese	Romaji	English	Japanese	Romaji
yesterday	昨日	kinou	not much	あまり	amari
a little	少し	sukoshi	a few	少ない	sukunai
today	今日	kyou	only	ばっかり	bakkari
perhaps	たぶん	tabun	tomorrow	明日	ashita
a little	ちょっと	chotto	very	大変	taihen
every day	毎日	mainichi	how	いかが	ikaga
a lot	たくさん	takusan	every morning	毎朝	maiasa
always	いつも	itsumo	sometimes	ときどき	tokidoki
now	今	ima	again	また	mata
very	とても	totemo	soon	やがて	yagate
already	もう	mou	slowly	ゆっくり	yukkuri
inmediately	すぐ	sugu	more	もっと	motto
yet, still	まだ	mada	completely	なかなか	nakanaka
almost	ほとんど	hotondo	clearly	はっきり	hakkiri
quickly	どんどん	dondon	seldom	めったに	metta ni
suddenly	突然	totsuzen	softly	そっと	sotto
certainly	きっと	kitto	besides	さらに	sara ni
gradually	そろそろ	sorosoro	more and more	益々	masumasu
before	前に	mae ni	after	後で	ato de
later	のち	nochi	recently	さっき	sakki
until	さきほど	sakihodo	quickly	さっさと	sassato
again	再び	futatabi	already	すでに	sudeni
OK	大丈夫に	daijoubu ni	alone	一人で	hitori de

Examples:

私は毎朝学校に行く

Watashi wa maiasa gakkō ni iku

I go to the school every morning.

私はほとんどの事故で死亡

Watashi wa hotondo no jiko de shibō.

I almost died in the accident.

Videos: Japanese Adverbs

How To Use Articles When Speaking Japanese

Beginners Guide And List Of Common Adjectives In Japanese

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Author: Ichika Yamamoto

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