GrammarAdverbs

Adverbs

An adverb (наре́чие) is a word that describes how, when, where or to what degree something happens. Where an adjective describes a noun, an adverb usually describes a verb:

• Он бы́стро чита́ет. (He reads quickly.) — how he reads
• Мы придём за́втра. (We will come tomorrow.) — when we come
• Она́ живёт здесь. (She lives here.) — where she lives
• Э́то о́чень интере́сно. (This is very interesting.) — to what degree

The big difference from adjectives

This is the single most important thing to remember: adverbs never change their form. An adjective agrees with its noun and takes many endings (но́вый, но́вая, но́вое, но́вые). An adverb has one fixed form, whatever the sentence around it.

So when you describe a thing, use an adjective; when you describe an action, use an adverb:

• хоро́ший студе́нт (a good student) ↔ Он хорошо́ у́чится. (He studies well.)
• краси́вый го́лос (a beautiful voice) ↔ Она́ краси́во поёт. (She sings beautifully.)

How adverbs are formed

Most adverbs of manner (adverbs that say how) are built straight from an adjective. Take the adjective, remove the ending, and add -о:

Notice the last one: the stress can move (хоро́ший → хорошо́), so it is worth learning the adverb together with its stress. A few very common adverbs are slightly irregular in the same way: плохо́й → пло́хо (bad → badly), лёгкий → легко́ (easy → easily).

Saying a language: the по-…-ски pattern

One special group of adverbs answers “in what language?” and is formed with по-:

• Он говори́т по-ру́сски. (He speaks Russian.)
• Я чита́ю по-англи́йски. (I read English.)

Do not confuse them with the adjective: ру́сский язы́к (the Russian language) uses the adjective, but говори́ть по-ру́сски (to speak Russian) uses the adverb.

Kinds of adverbs by meaning

Not every adverb comes from an adjective; many common ones are just their own words. It helps to group them by the question they answer.

Manner: how? (как?)

• бы́стро (quickly), ме́дленно (slowly), хорошо́ (well), пло́хо (badly), гро́мко (loudly), ти́хо (quietly)

Place: where? (где?)

• здесь (here), там (there), до́ма (at home), сле́ва (on the left), спра́ва (on the right), везде́ (everywhere)

Direction: where to? (куда́?)

• сюда́ (to here), туда́ (to there), домо́й (home, homeward), нале́во (to the left), напра́во (to the right)

Russian keeps “where” and “where to” apart: Я до́ма (I am at home) but Я иду́ домо́й (I am going home).

Time: when? (когда́?)

• сейча́с (now), сего́дня (today), вчера́ (yesterday), за́втра (tomorrow), всегда́ (always), ча́сто (often), ре́дко (rarely), уже́ (already)

Degree: how much? (наско́лько?)

• о́чень (very), сли́шком (too), мно́го (much, a lot), ма́ло (little, few), немно́го (a little), почти́ (almost)

Interrogative adverbs: asking where, when, how and why

The question words that head the groups above are themselves adverbs — interrogative adverbs. Like the adverbs they ask about, they never change form. Each one opens a question and pairs with a family of answer adverbs:

The where / where to / where from triple

English mostly makes do with “where”, but Russian keeps three separate words — the same split you saw between до́ма and домо́й:

• Где ты? (Where are you?) — location → Я до́ма.
• Куда́ ты идёшь? (Where are you going?) — destination → Домо́й.
• Отку́да ты? (Where are you from?) — origin → Из Москвы́.

почему́ vs заче́м

Both come out as “why” in English, but почему́ asks for the cause (what led to it) while заче́м asks for the purpose (what for):

• Почему́ ты пришёл? (Why did you come? — what was the reason)
• Заче́м ты пришёл? (What did you come for? — to what end)

They also join clauses

Exactly like the interrogative pronouns кто and что, these adverbs do double duty: the same word can introduce an embedded or relative clause. There is no inversion, and a comma splits the two parts:

• Я не зна́ю, где он. (I don’t know where he is.)
• Скажи́, когда́ ты придёшь. (Tell me when you will come.)
• го́род, где я вы́рос. (the city where I grew up)

Adverbs that describe adjectives and other adverbs

Degree adverbs like о́чень and сли́шком do not describe a verb — they strengthen an adjective or another adverb, and they sit right in front of it:

• о́чень краси́вый (very beautiful) — before an adjective
• о́чень бы́стро (very quickly) — before an adverb
• сли́шком гро́мко (too loudly)

Watch out: use о́чень (very) with adjectives and adverbs, but мно́го (a lot) with verbs. Я мно́го рабо́таю (I work a lot), not о́чень рабо́таю.

The same word for how someone feels

Because the -о word never changes, Russian also uses it to describe a state — how someone feels, or what a place is like — in a sentence with no subject. The person who experiences the state goes in the dative:

• Мне хорошо́. (I feel good.)
• Ей пло́хо. (She feels bad / unwell.)
• Здесь хо́лодно. (It is cold here.)

So the same word can point in two directions — compare:

• Он говори́т хорошо́. (He speaks well.) — describes the action
• Ему́ хорошо́. (He feels good.) — describes a state, with the person in the dative

Where adverbs go in the sentence

Russian word order is flexible, but there are comfortable default positions:

• An adverb of manner usually sits next to the verb, very often just before it: Он бы́стро говори́т or Он говори́т бы́стро. Both are correct.
• A degree adverb goes directly before the word it strengthens: о́чень интере́сно.
• A time adverb often opens the sentence or comes before the verb: Вчера́ я был до́ма. (Yesterday I was at home.)

Comparing adverbs

Just like adjectives, adverbs have a comparative form for saying “more …”. For many adverbs it looks exactly like the adjective comparative:

• бы́стро → быстре́е (quickly → faster)
• ме́дленно → ме́дленнее (slowly → more slowly)
• хорошо́ → лу́чше (well → better)
• пло́хо → ху́же (badly → worse)

Он говори́т по-ру́сски лу́чше, чем я. (He speaks Russian better than I do.) The full rules are in the comparative and superlative articles.

Common mistakes

• Using an adjective where an adverb is needed. An action needs an adverb.
  Она́ поёт краси́вая (wrong) → Она́ поёт краси́во (correct)
• Trying to make the adverb agree. Adverbs never change, so there is nothing to match.
  Они́ бы́стрые бегу́т (wrong) → Они́ бы́стро бегу́т (correct)
• Using о́чень with a verb. Use мно́го for actions.
  Я о́чень рабо́таю (wrong) → Я мно́го рабо́таю (correct)
• Mixing up “where” and “where to”.
  Я иду́ до́ма (wrong) → Я иду́ домо́й (correct)

Summary

• An adverb describes how, when, where or how much — usually about a verb.
• Adverbs never change form: this is the key difference from adjectives.
• Most manner adverbs are built from an adjective by adding -о (бы́стрый → бы́стро).
• Describe a thing → adjective; describe an action → adverb.
• о́чень strengthens adjectives and adverbs; мно́го goes with verbs.
• Adverbs also have comparative forms (быстре́е, лу́чше) — see the comparative article.