Adverbs are the words that give us information about how, how often, where, when, in what way, or to what degree an action is taking place. They modify adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs.

An adverb can express time, manner, place, frequency, quantity, certainty, and degree among other circumstances. We’ll give you all the details about the different type in this extremely useful article. 

In German, we place adverbs close to the word they modify. A lot of adjectives can function as adverbs as well.

Adverbs vs. Adjectives 

Adverbs rarely change their form. The forms you see in this article are the ones you will use in written and spoken language. By this, we mean they are not inflected, unlike adjectives.

For example:

Die kurze Pause   (a short break) 

Ein kurzes Treffen (a short meeting) 

Here, kurz (short, brief) is used as an adjective. It is inflected for gender. We add an -e because Pause is a feminine noun and an -es because Treffen is a neuter noun. But:

Ich muss kurz warten. (I must wait briefly.) 

Bitte sehen Sie sich kurz um. –(Please look around briefly.) 

Here, kurz translates as briefly, for a short while, and is used as an adverb of manner (answering the question “how”). It does not change its form, unlike the adjective.

24 Most Common German Adverbs

We’ll begin with the 24 most common German adverbs and then list the most common and useful ones by type.

Note: Sehr is an adverb too. Adverbs are used constantly to communicate deeper meaning. 

*Strangely, this is the only adverb of frequency on the list of the 24 most common German adverbs. Adverbs of frequency answer the question “how often”. Adverbs of time answer “when”. Note “always” doesn’t answer “when.”

"Rechtzeitig“ (on time) is also an adverb, one of manner. It answers the question of "how“.

Most Useful Adverbs of Place

Our list continues with the most useful and common adverbs of place. This category is an easy one to grasp. The words in it answer the question of "where“.

At the top of this section, obviously, are the German words for left, right, below, above, etc.

Note: The sentence would sound really general and "off‘ without the adverb. 

At no time could people be more divided on this statement than during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Apart from answering the simple question of wie (how), there are several types of specific adjectives that describe degree, time, frequency, and quantity. There are also other adverb categories that add indispensable circumstantial facts regarding logical sequencing.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time answer the question of "when“ (wann). Now, let’s take a closer look at some examples in this category. As you’ve probably noticed, English and German word order is different. 

If you translate sentences literally, they won’t always translate well or even make sense. Take into account what the language would lose if you didn’t use adverbs.

Heute muss ich meine Arbeit erledigen, aber sagte meine beste Freundin mir, “Vielleicht können wir heute Abend ins Kino gehen.” (Today I have to finish my work, but my best friend said to me, “Maybe we can go to the movies tonight.”)

Most Useful Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time are used to clarify when an action occurs. With these adverbs, you must pay heightened attention to word order. They usually come at the beginning of the sentence.

Examples

Morgen habe ich keine Zeit. Ich muss noch viel erledigen.  (I don’t have time tomorrow. I still have a lot to do.)

Notice the difference in word order. “Morgen” comes at the beginning of the sentence. “Tomorrow” goes at the end.

Sometimes, both will go at the end:

Ich bin 1953 geboren. Damals hatten wir keine Handys. – I was born in 1953. We didn’t have cell phones back then.
Bring mir mein Bier sofort! – Get me my beer at once!

As you can see, German word order is a lot more rigid than English word order when it comes to adverbs of time. This rule doesn’t extend to all adverbs, however. It’s the other way around for adverbs of frequency. Have patience, we’ll get to those soon.

1945 war das Ende des zweiten Weltkriegs. Schließlich war die Qual vorbei. – WWII ended in 1945. The torture was finally over. 

You’ll see stuff like this in divorce decrees quite a lot:
Wir leben seit Oktober 2009 getrennt. - We have been living separately since 2009.
Bisher hatte ich keine Ahnung, dass das Virus so gefährlich war. – I had previously no clue the virus could be so dangerous.

In German, the more general expression of time precedes the more specific one in sentences with more than one such expression. In English, not always.

Es war im Sommer an einem sonnigen Nachmittag. It was on a sunny afternoon in summer.

Most Useful Adverbs of Frequency: How Often?

Adverbs of frequency answer the question “how often” or “wie oft” in German. The most common and useful ones are at the beginning of this section.

Examples​

There is great flexibility of German word order in terms of adverbs of frequency. English is a lot more rigid. If the adverb is a single word, it comes after the verb “to be” and modal verbs and after the subject with other verbs.

If the adverb is two or more words (ex. from time to time), it goes at the end of the sentence. “Almost never” is an exception.

Adverbs of Quantity: Wie viel?

Examples​​​​​

Adverbs of Manner

Our last category includes adverbs that answer the question of “how”. How is something done? It is a very broad and sometimes hard to grasp category.

*Imagine leaving the adverb out? “I can’t be any more.” It wouldn’t even make sense.

**As mentioned, some adverbs double as adjectives in German, but their forms don’t always change.

***German words with the suffix -lich are always adverbs, like English words ending in -ly.

Rounding out the top 100 are the less common adverbs of manner, listed in the table below.​

Examples

In our last example, we have an adverb modifying another adverb. “Fast” describes “unglaublich.”

Thank you for checking out our article on the 100 most useful German adverbs. Please share your thoughts in the comments section down below!