Adverbs from adjectives

Italian adverbs  are invariable parts of speech used to modify or clarify the meaning of a verb (Guido lentamente ‘I drive  slowly’), an adjective (Quel cantante  è molto famoso ‘That singer is very famous’) or another adverb (Tu parli  troppo velocemente ‘You talk too fast’).

When an adverb refers to a verb, the adverb is usually placed after the verb*: (Guido lentamente). When an adverb refers to an adjective, the adverb comes before the adjective (Quel cantante  è molto famoso). When an adverb refers to another adverb, those of the avverbi di quantità (molto, troppo, poco, etc.) type are placed ahead of the others (Tu parli  troppo velocemente).

*N.B. When the verb is a compound tense  (you will study this point later) many adverbs can also be placed between the auxiliary and the participle (Io ho già mangiato ‘I have already eaten’).

Adverbs in -mente

The most common type of Italian adverbs denoting manner end in –mente, equivalent to the ‘-ly’ form in English. They are simply formed by adding the suffix –mente to the feminine form of the corresponding adjective:

If the adjective ends in -le or –re preceded by a vowel, the final –e is dropped in front of –mente:

Four adverbs have special forms that deviate from the above rules: leggero > leggermente (‘lightly’), violento > violentemente (‘violently)’, altro > altrimenti (‘otherwise’), and pari > parimenti (‘likewise’).

Like the English suffix ‘-ly’, the Italian adverbial suffix –mente can never be added to adjectives denoting color or ethnicity.

Irregular adverbs

The adverbs below have corresponding adjective forms, but they are not easily traced back to the original adjective bases. They must be memorized as new words:

Other adverbs

Other adverbs do not derive from any adjective. They are special adverbs of  time (poi ‘then’,  ora ‘now’, spesso ‘often’, etc.), place (lontano ‘far’, vicino ‘close’, sopra ‘above’, etc.), and quantity (abbastanza ‘enough’,  molto ‘very’, ‘a lot’, niente ‘at all’, etc.); they can be adverbs of affirmation, negation, or doubt (sì ‘yes’, no ‘no’, forse ‘maybe’), interrogative (perché ‘why’) and exclamatory (come ‘how’).

Change the following adjectives into adverbs
Allegro Felice Triste Veloce Leggero Speciale Forte Vero Difficile Facile Tranquillo

Report on how often you do the following activities, by using the following adverbs of frequency: sempre ‘always’, spesso ‘often’, qualche volta ‘sometimes’, raramente ‘rarely’, non…mai ‘never’

andare in palestra; incontrare gli amici; mangiare al ristorante; scrivere una lettera; telefonare al fidanzato/alla fidanzata; navigare in internet.

Translate the following sentences

Laura Pausini is a famous Italian singer
I never eat meat
You always go to the park
This gelato is really good
Maria plays tennis rarely
Certainly you can come with us
Obviously you don’t like my red dress
I call you very often