Lesson 3:
Adverbs

Derived Adverbs

Derivation of Adverbs from Adjectives

An adverb can be formed from an adjective by changing the -a to -e.

These adverbs can usually be placed before or after the verb, or at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Ĝi estas vera. Ĝi vere estas.

It is true. It truly is.

Inflection of Adverbs

Adverbs of place may take an -n to indicate direction.

Mi estas hejme. Mi iras hejmen.

I am at home. I am going home(ward).

Comparison of Adverbs

The words pli... kiel... mean "more... than...", plej... el... mean "most... out of...", malpli... kiel... mean "less... than...", malplej... el... mean "least... out of...", and tiel... kiel... mean "as... as...".

Mi laboras tiel bone kiel vi. Mi laboras pli bone kiel vi. Mi laboras plej bone el ni.

I work as well as you. I work better than you. I work best of us.

Primitive Adverbs

Nature

Primitive adverbs are those few but common adverbs that don't follow the "adverbs end in -e" rule. They aren't derived from adjectives, although sometimes adjectives are derived from them by adding -a. Many of these primitive adverbs must be in a certain location in the sentence. Here is a list of some primitive adverbs:

Ĉu vi mem preskaŭ finigis ambaŭ tion kaj almenaŭ tion ĉi?

Have you yourself almost finished both that and at least this?

Morgaŭ, mi estos ja finiginta nur tion ĉi, sed ne tion.

Tomorrow, I will have certainly finished only this, but not that.