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Adverbs<br />

·10·<br />

Adverbial expressions appear as single words or in the form of phrases. In either<br />

case, their function is the same: to explain how, when, where, or why about an<br />

action or event. Below is a list of some commonly used single-word adverbs:<br />

neulich<br />

niemals<br />

oft<br />

telefonisch<br />

wahrscheinlich<br />

recently<br />

never<br />

often<br />

by telephone<br />

probably<br />

And the following are adverbs that appear in phrase form:<br />

am schnellsten<br />

das ganze Jahr<br />

im Winter<br />

mit dem Zug<br />

vor einer Woche<br />

the fastest<br />

the whole year<br />

in the winter<br />

by train<br />

a week ago<br />

With the exception of the phrase das ganze Jahr, each of the examples in the<br />

above list is a prepositional phrase. A large number of adverbial phrases are,<br />

indeed, prepositional phrases.<br />

Like das ganze Jahr, many adverbial expressions that tell when something<br />

occurs are given in the accusative case. For example:<br />

Ich war den ganzen Tag in<br />

Bremen.<br />

Onkel Peter kommt nächste<br />

Woche.<br />

Adverbs of Degree<br />

I was in Bremen all day.<br />

Uncle Peter is coming next week.<br />

The function of adverbs is not as simple as modifying a verb, an adverb, or an<br />

adjective, because adverbs modify in a variety of ways. Some merely qualify the<br />

degree of an adverb or adjective used in a <strong>sentence</strong>. For example:<br />

außerordentlich exceptionally relativ relatively<br />

etwas somewhat sehr very<br />

fast almost total totally<br />

ganz quite völlig completely<br />

gewöhnlich usually wenig little<br />

nur only ziemlich rather<br />

recht quite, rather zu too<br />

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