Written by Dyami Millarson
Adverbs are one of the hardest aspects – yet also one of the most important aspects – of German grammar. These are all the German adverbs taken from the German-English vocabulary section at the back of Hjalmar Edgren’s and Laurence Fossler’s 1897 book A Brief German Grammar with Exercises:
- Auch, also, too.
- Aus, out.
- Behende, quick(ly).
- Beinahe, almost.
- Buchstäblich, literally.
- Da, then, there, since.
- Dahin, thither. (Cf. Clay Frisian dêrhinne.)
- Damals, at that time.
- Dann, then. (Do not confuse with denn, because, for.)
- Deshalb, for that reason.
- Deutlich, plainly.
- Dort, there.
- Dreimal, thrice.
- Drittens, thirdly.
- Durchschnittlich, on the average.
- Einmal, once.
- Empor, up.
- Endlich, finally.
- Fleißig, diligently.
- Fort, away. (Cf. Clay Frisian fuort.)
- Früh, early.
- Früher, formerly.
- Genau, exactly.
- Gerade, just (then).
- Gern, willingly. (Gern used with verbs means to like to.)
- Geschwind, quick(ly).
- Gestern, yesterday.
- Gewaltsam, by force.
- Gleich, at once, alike.
- Häufig, frequently.
- Heim, homeward.
- Herein, in.
- Heute, today.
- Heutzutage, nowadays.
- Hier, here.
- Hinab, down.
- Hinein, in.
- Hinweg, away. (Very common.)
- Höchstens, at most.
- Ja, yes.
- Jetzt, now.
- Kaum, scarcely.
- Leider, alas.
- Namentlich, especially.
- Nicht, not.
- Nicht mehr, no more, no longer.
- Noch, yet, still.
- Nur, only.
- Schon, already.
- Schon längst, long ago.
- Sehr, very.
- Soeben, just now.
- Sogleich, at once.
- Spät, late.
- Vor einer Stunde, one hour ago.
- Bei hellem Tage, in broad daylight.
- Täglich, daily.
- Ungefähr, about, approximately.
- Von ungefähr, by chance.
- Unterdessen, meanwhile.
- Vergebens, in vain.
- Viel, much.
- Vielleicht, perhaps.
- Wahrscheinlich, probably.
- Wann, when?
- Wenigstens, at least.
- Wie, how?
- Wieder, again.
- Wo, where?
- Woher, whence?
- Wohin, whither?
- Wohl, well.
- Zum Beispiel, for example.
- Zuerst, at first.
- Zwar, true, it is true (always used concessively).
- Zweitens, secondly.
- Zweimal, twice.
Wo-hin and wo-her perfectly illustrate the semantic difference between hin and her. Unlike Swedish and Dutch, German has not changed much grammatically since the 19th century, nor has it in vocabulary.
