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.