HOW TO Use Japanese Adverbs? | Lesson + Examples

Q: How do I make an adverb in Japanese?

With い ( i ) adjectives, change the い ( i ) to く (ku). With な (na) adjectives, change the な (na) to に (ni). Easy, right?

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USING JAPANESE ADVERBS

Are you familiar with the difference between “she sang” and “she sang loudly?“

In the second one, an adverb is used to modify the verb and describe the action more precisely. Useful, right?

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the same thing in Japanese.

INTRODUCTION

In Japanese, an adverb is known as 副詞 (ふくし・fukushi).

Adverbs are kind of similar to adjectives as they both modify words.

However, adverbs modify verbs 動詞 (どうし・dōshi), adjectives 形容詞 (けいようし・keiyōshi), and other adverbs, while adjectives only modify nouns 名詞 (めいし・meishi) .

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
Adjectives modify nouns.

Let’s first start from creating adverbs from adjectives.

ADVERBS DERIVED FROM い ADJECTIVES

i-adjectives = い形容詞
i-keiyoushi

As you already know, い adjectives always end with い. So how to turn an い adjective into an adverb?

Just change the final い to く (ku), and you’re done!
The い adjective will turn into an adverb.

PATTERN

Remove い from the adjective + Add く

For example:

EXAMPLE	romaji	ENGLISH
野菜を食べて強くなりました。	Yasai o tabete tsuyoku narimashita.	I got stronger by eating vegetables.
早く来てください。	Hayaku kite kudasai.	Please come fast.

ADVERBS DERIVED FROM な ADJECTIVES

This is also very simple.

Just change the final な (na) to に (ni).

PATTERN

Remove な from the adjective + Add に

For example:

EXAMPLE	romaji	ENGLISH
静かにしてください。	Shizuka ni shite kudasai.	Please keep quiet./Please do it quietly.
彼は上手に歌を歌いました。	Kare wa jyouzu ni uta wo utaimashita.	He sang a song well.

You can carry out conversations more fluently by using time adverbs. Japanese adverbs of time include:

KANJI	HIRAGANA	romaji	ENGLISH
今すぐ	いますぐ	ima sugu	right now
前	まえ	mae	before
後	あと/ご	ato/go	after
ー	もうすぐ	mō sugu	soon
ー	ほとんど	hotondo	almost/nearly/mostly
頃	ころ/ごろ	koro/goro	around

VIEW MORE ADVERBS

kanji	hiragana	romaji	english
約	やく	yaku	about
現在	げんざい	genzai	currently
その間に	そのあいだに	sono aida ni	meanwhile
同時に	どうじに	dōji ni	at the same time
ー	いつでも	itsu demo	at any time
間もなく・しばらく	まもなく・しばらく	mamonaku/shibaraku	in a while
出来るだけ早く	できるだけはやく	dekirudake hayaku	as soon as possible
長い間	ながいあいだ	nagai aida	for a long time

Here are more examples:

EXAMPLE	romaji	ENGLISH
今すぐ来きてください。会議は15分後に始まります。	Ima sugu kite kudasai. Kaigi wa juu go-fun go ni hajimarimasu.	Please come right now. The meeting is starting in fifteen minutes.
今は午前7時58分で、もうすぐ8時になります。まもなく電車が来ます。	Ima wa gozen shichi-ji go-juu happun de, mou sugu hachi-ji ni narimasu. Mamonaku densha ga kimasu.	It is 7:58 a.m. and it’s going to be 8:00 soon. The train comes very soon.

OTHER ADVERBS

HIRAGANA	romaji	ENGLISH
一生懸命（いっしょうけんめい）	isshoukenmei	very hard
なるべく	narubeku	as much as possible, if possible
ゆっくり	yukkuri	slowly
いちおう	ichiou	more or less, though not quite satisfactorily
のんびり	nonnbiri	quietly, leisurely

VIEW MORE ADVERBS

hiragana	romanization	english
ようやく	youyaku	at last (for good things)
やっと	yatto	at last (for good things)
とうとう	toutou	finally (for good and bad things)
ついに	tsuini	finally (for good and bad things)
むしろ	mushiro	rather
ますます	masumasu	increasingly, more and more
だんだん	dandan	gradually, little by little
やはり・やっぱり	yahari/yappari	too, also, likewise still, as before even so, either way, in any event as expected after all
次々に（つぎつぎに）	tsugitsugini	in succession

Here are more examples:

EXAMPLE	romaji	ENGLISH
日本語をゆっくり話します。	Nihongo wo yukkuri hanashimasu.	I speak Japanese slowly.
やっと日本に来ました。	Yatto nihon ni kimashita.	Finally came to Japan.

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SIMILAR RESOURCES

Want to learn more? Check out these other free resources:

Learn how to create adverbs in Mandarin
Learn how to create adverbs in Korean

FAQs

What is an adverb?

An adverb is a word used to modify the verb in a sentence and describe the action taking place more precisely.

How to use Japanese adverbs of time?

Adverbs of time modify a verb or adjective to talk about when an action is taking place (ex: できるだけ早く・as soon as possible, いますぐ・right now, まもなく・しばらく・in a while).

Check out the table in the article for more!

What other Japanese adverbs are there?

A variety exist, including

しずかに・slowly

のんびり・quietly

ついに・finally

Check out our article for the full list.

How do I make an adverb in Japanese?

With い (i) adjectives, change the い (i) to く (ku).

With な (na) adjectives, change the な (na) to に (ni).

Easy, right?

How many time adverbs in Japanese?