Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They provide additional information like the manner in which an action is performed. In English, the "liberally" in "Please add sugar liberally" is an adverb.

Japanese has "true" adverbs (副詞) that can be used with no special particle or marker and can be placed (almost) anywhere in a sentence.

まったく意味がわからない
I really don’t get it

全然ダメだった
It was totally no use

These two examples use “true” adverbs. If we make the first sentence 意味がまったくわからない nothing will change. These words may sometimes resemble nouns, but the key difference is that they are not marked by a particle. Sometimes they also might work as nouns too. Special words like counter words are also adverbs. We’ll read more about counters in a later lesson.

In addition to these “true” adverbs, there are also other types that use special conjugations or particles.

と-adverbs are words that take と to become adverbs.

自然と殺す
Kill naturally/spontaneously/by nature

次々と出てきます
They are showing up one after the other.

Likewise, に-adverbs are words that take に instead.

自由に勉強する
Study freely

本当にいいですか？
Is it really okay?

に-adverbs are usually originally nouns or な-adjectives. For the latter, you just turn the な into に.

自然な言い方
Natural manner of speaking

自然に言う
To say naturally

You may have noticed from the previous example that the な adjective 自然 can work as both と and に adverb. This is not uncommon as words can have multiple roles and uses. In this case there is a slight nuance difference that is hard to explain. Just remember that と often comes across as more formal or literary compared to に.

A lot of expressions that textbooks consider “grammar points” are just nouns or noun phrases with に added as adverb marker to provide additional meanings.

Like な adjectives turn into に adverbs, い-adjectives can also turn into adverbs by replacing the い with く.

早く起きる
Get up early

Some と adverbs can take the verb する to turn into verbs that describe a state of being. This usage is often idiomatic and limited to specific conjugations (like した,している, etc).

車内は広々としていた。
The inside of the car was spacious