A2 · Adjectives
German has almost no adverb ending
Er singt schön. Sie fährt schnell.
The same word describes a thing and an action, with no -ly and no ending at all.
English adds <em>-ly</em> to turn an adjective into an adverb: quick becomes quickly. German does nothing at all. Schnell is both: ein schnelles Auto and Er fährt schnell. The adjective before a noun takes an ending; describing a verb it takes none.
This is one of the few places where German is simpler than English, and it is worth stating plainly because learners often go looking for the missing ending. There is none. Sie singt schön, Er arbeitet langsam, Das geht gut — bare adjective, every time.
German does have a separate class of adverbs that were never adjectives — gestern, oft, hier, sehr, leider, vielleicht — and those simply have to be learned as vocabulary. They never take endings either.
Die Form
| vor dem Nomen | ein schnelles Auto |
| nach sein | Das Auto ist schnell. |
| beim Verb | Er fährt schnell. |
| eigene Adverbien | gestern, oft, hier, leider |
| Steigerung auch beim Verb | Er fährt schneller. |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
An adjective describing a verb takes no ending at all.
Sie spricht deutlich.She speaks clearly.
The same word before a noun takes the usual adjective endings.
eine deutliche Ausspracheclear pronunciation
Adverbs can be compared just as adjectives can.
Er läuft am schnellsten.He runs fastest.
True adverbs never take an ending either.
Wir kommen leider später.Unfortunately we are coming later.
Genauer hingesehen
The handful that do have a form
A small group of German adverbs is built with -weise or -erweise: normalerweise, glücklicherweise, beispielsweise, teilweise. They are not the equivalent of <em>-ly</em>; they mean "in a … manner" or comment on the whole sentence, and they are a closed group rather than a productive ending.
The difference is visible in a pair: glücklich describes how somebody smiled, glücklicherweise comments on the whole sentence — "fortunately". English marks the same distinction with "happily" and "fortunately", and it is one place where the two languages line up.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
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the adjective follows sein, werden or bleiben
it also takes no ending.
Das Wetter wird schön.The weather is turning nice.
It describes the subject through the verb rather than standing in front of a noun.
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gut is meant as gladly
German uses gern instead.
Ich schwimme gern.I like swimming.
Gern is a separate adverb with no adjective behind it, and it is how German expresses liking to do something.
Woran man es erkennt
- gut
- schnell
- schön
- gern
- leider
- sehr
- oft
- immer
Beispielsätze
Das hast du gut gemacht.You did that well.
Sie kocht ausgezeichnet.She is an excellent cook.
Er hat laut gelacht.He laughed loudly.
Bitte sprich langsam.Please speak slowly.
Wir sind gern gekommen.We were glad to come.
Noch 6 Beispielsätze
Fahr bitte vorsichtig.Please drive carefully.
Sie hat schnell reagiert.She reacted quickly.
Das klingt interessant.That sounds interesting.
Er singt besser als früher.He sings better than he used to.
Normalerweise fange ich um neun an.Normally I start at nine.
Leider ist nichts mehr da.Unfortunately there is nothing left.
Besonderheiten (2)
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One word can be three things
<z>Schnell</z> is an adjective before a noun, an adverb beside a verb, and a whole sentence on its own meaning "hurry up". None of the three changes its shape, which is why German dictionaries often list it once with no part of speech attached.
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The comparative works everywhere
Because there is no separate adverb form, comparison works identically in both jobs: <z>ein schnelleres Auto</z> and <z>er fährt schneller</z>. English needs "faster" and "more quickly" and argues about which; German has one word for both and no argument.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
The ending is added out of habit, because every other adjective in the sentence has one. Describing a verb, a German adjective takes nothing — no ending, no <em>-ly</em>, no marker of any kind. The quick check is what the word describes: a noun means an ending, a verb means none.
Describing a verb, the adjective stays bare.
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