Adverbs
In this lesson, you will be formally introduced to the part of speech known as adverbs (副詞).
In Japanese, adverbs are words which modify verbs, adjectives, adjectival nouns, or even other adverbs. In doing so, they do not conjugate1, and they can be categorized into various categories based on the kind of embellishment that they provide to the sentence.
Modifying State of Being
The most common category of adverb that you will encounter in Japanese pertains to modifying a state of being that is carried out. For starters, consider the following.
1. テキサス州はとても暑かったです。
Texas was very hot.
2. 雨がざあざあ降っています。
It is downpouring.
3. 小学校の芝生がきれいになりました！
The elementary school lawn has become so lovely!
4. たっぷり寝ました。
I slept a lot.
In each of these examples, there is an adverb (underlined) that modifies the predicate of the sentence. The four adverbs shown each, in turn, stand for a separate subcategory of adverbs which pertain to state of being:
- Adverbs of Degree (程度副詞)—かなり (quite), 強く (strongly), etc.
- Adverbs of Manner (様態副詞)—丁寧に (politely), ぐらぐら (wobbly), etc.
- Adverbs of Result (結果副詞)—結局 (ultimately), 最後に (lastly), etc.
- Adverbs of Quantity (量副詞)—たくさん (a lot), 多く (many), etc.
Here are more common examples of these sorts of adverbs in context.
5. バーベキューをしてお肉をたくさん食べました。
(We) had a barbecue and ate a lot of meat.
6. 答えがまったくわからない。
I have no idea what the answer is.
7. 少し寒いですね。
It’s a little cold, isn’t it?
8. 今週の作文の宿題はちょっと2難しかったです。
This week’s writing assignment was a little difficult.
9. 時間がほとんどないです。
There is hardly any time.
Modifying Tense/Aspect
Adverbs which affect how the tense of a predicate is interpreted do so by tweaking the relative point in time in question. Many temporal nouns (see “deictic time“) such as きのう (yesterday) fall under this category when used adverbially.
10. さっき練習したよ。
I practiced earlier.
11. 夏休みはもうすぐ終わります。
Summer break will end soon.
12. きのう怪我した道は通りませんでした。
I didn’t go down the road I injured myself on yesterday.
13. 人生はじめて3彼氏ができて結婚することになりました！
I got my first boyfriend in my life, and we decided to get married!
Meanwhile, adverbs which modify “aspect” do so by affecting how the progression of time is carried out. Adverbs which pertain to swiftness (or the lack thereof), repetition, frequency, etc.
14. しかし、戦争はまだ終わっていません。
However, the war still isn’t over.
15. お前はもう死んでいる。
You’re already dead.
16. 熊が突然現れた。
A bear suddenly appeared.
17. もう少しゆっくり話してください。
Please speak a little slower.
18. 文法もどんどん身についていくでしょう。
You will also steadily acquire grammar.
19. 今すぐにはできません。
It can’t be done right this moment.
Modifying Modality
Some adverbs pertain to the “modality” of a sentence, which involves the level of certainty/vindication the speaker has about a given matter. These adverbs come in all different types, such as those that involve probability, possibility, conditional statements, evaluations, attitude, etc.
20. きっとうまくいくよ。
It’ll surely work out fine.
21. 多分大丈夫です。
It is probably fine.
22. もしお金持ちだったら、何がしたいですか？
If you were rich, what would you want to do?
23. 元妻が、まるで自分だけが正しいかのように厳しかった。
My ex-wife was strict as if she was the only who was right.
24. 幸い、いい天気だった。
Luckily, the weather was good.
25. 実は、私も来年アメリカに行きますよ。
As a matter of fact, I’ll be going to America next year too.
26. いったい、何があったんだ？
What on earth happened?
27. 是非参加してください。
By all means, please participate.
Modifying Emphasis
Adverbs which modify the emphasis a statement holds rule out other possibilities from being true.
28. ただ値段が少し高いです。
It’s just that the price is a little high.
29. 特に問題ありません。
Literally: There isn’t particularly any problem.
Everything is fine; no problems here.
30. 今年の夏はとりわけ暑いです。
This year’s summer is particularly hot.
31. 別に嫌いじゃない。
It’s not that I hate it.
Counter Phrases
As is the case with たくさん (a lot) and several other adverbs, some nouns are adverbial by nature, and the largest source of these so-called “adverbial nouns” is counter phrases. Rather than viewing the number as an adjectival modifier to the subject or object in question, the [number + counter] usually function together as an adverb of quantity (量副詞).
32. 救急車が二台来ました。(Polite)
Two ambulances came.
33. もう一つ上のクラスに移った。
I’ve switched to a class above (the previous one).
もう vs もっと
While もう often translates as “already/yet” depending on whether the sentence is affirmative (already) or negative (yet), in other contexts, it confusingly translates as “more/again” when referring to repetition.
This leads to some learners confusing it with もっと, which also means “more” but in the sense of “quantity.” Given that these adverbs are not the same kind of adverb in Japanese, despite the English wording “more,” they never overlap.
34. もう一回試してみてください。
Try attempting it one more time.
35. もっと時間が必要だ。
More time is needed.
36. 寿司をもう食べた。
I already ate the sushi.
37. もうすこしがんばって。
Try a little harder.
- While adverbs themselves do not conjugate, they themselves may be the result of conjugations of other parts of speech. For this lesson, though, we are only focusing on how adverbs grammatically behave. ↩︎
- ちょっと is a tad more casual than 少し. ↩︎
- はじめて (for the first time) is an example of an adverb deriving from the て form of a verb, which is fairly common, but examples should be learned on an individual basis. ↩︎