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Adverbs and word order
Three major categories of adverbs are those that show time, manner, and place. They can be single
words or phrases and are found in abundance in the language. Some examples:
Time
Manner
damals then anders differently
gestern yesterday dadurch through it, as a result
heute today irgendwie somehow
im Sommer in summer langsam slowly
lange long mit dem Bus by bus
manchmal sometimes mit Müh und Not with great difficulty
morgen tomorrow schnell fast
nächste Woche next week sorglos carelessly
oft often telefonisch by telephone
selten seldom vorsichtig carefully
Place
da, dort
hier
hinten
in Hamburg
nach Hause
nirgendwo
oben
überall
unterwegs
zu Hause
there
here
behind, in the back
in Hamburg
home(ward)
nowhere
above, overhead
everywhere
on the way
at home
Adverbs of place can describe location at a place or motion to a place. For example:
Location: Er wohnt hier. He lives here.
Motion: Er kommt hierher. He comes here.
Location: Sie bleibt zu Hause. She remains at home.
Motion: Sie muss nach Hause gehen. She has to go home.
Location: Ich arbeite in der Stadt. I work in the city.
Motion: Ich fahre in die Stadt. I drive to the city.
Adverbs cannot be placed in a German sentence at random. Adverbs that describe place
appear last in a sentence. Adverbs of manner precede them. Adverbs of time precede adverbs of
manner. And if an adverb that describes a point of view is in a sentence, it will precede all the
others. For example:
Place: Tina wird nach Bonn fahren. Tina will go to Bonn.
Manner: Tina wird mit dem Auto nach Tina will go to Bonn by car.
Bonn fahren.
Time: Tina wird am Freitag mit dem Tina will go to Bonn by car on Friday.
Auto nach Bonn fahren.
Point of view: Tina wird leider am Freitag mit Unfortunately, Tina will go to Bonn
dem Auto nach Bonn fahren. by car on Friday.
The position of adverbs in a sentence is generally:
point of view 1 time 1 manner 1 place
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