Italian 3.8. Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs in Italian answer questions such as how, how often, how long, when, where, etc.

A lot of adverbs in Italian have the ending “-mente,” e.g., “rapidamente” (quickly), “fortemente” (strongly), etc. This is, more or less, similar to the ending “-ly” in English. Nevertheless, there are many other adverbs and adverbial phrases that do not follow this simple rule. We will attempt to classify the most common adverbs into some categories for easier memorization.

Forming Adverbs in Italian

Many adverbs in Italian can be formed by simply adding “-mente” to the feminine singular adjective. If the adjective ends with “-le” or “-re” preceded by a vowel, we simply drop the final “-e.” Here are some examples:

Adverb in English	Masculine singular adjective	Feminine singular adjective	Adverb in Italian
slowly	lento	lenta	lentamente
quickly	rapido	rapida	rapidamente
quietly	tranquillo	tranquilla	tranquillamente
exactly	esatto	esatta	esattamente
relatively	relativo	relativa	relativamente
recently	recente	recente	recentemente
strongly	forte	forte	fortemente
easily	facile	facile	facilmente
normally	normale	normale	normalmente
generally	generale	generale	generalmente
literally	letterale	letterale	letteralmente
popularly	popolare	popolare	popolarmente
regularly	regolare	regolare	regolarmente
particularly	particolare	particolare	particolarmente

Some adverbs ending with “-mente” slightly deviate from the above rules. For example:

benevolent	benevolo	benevolently	benevolmente
light	leggero	lightly	leggermente
original	originale	originally	originariamente
violent	violento	violently	violentemente

Not all adverbs in Italian are formed by adding the “-mente” ending, similar to the fact that not all English adverbs are formed by adding “-ly” to the corresponding adjective. Some adverbs do not follow any particular rules. For example, the adverb of “buono” (good) is “bene” (well), and the adverb of “cattivo” (bad) is “male” (badly).

The Adverb “Così”

Another common adverb in Italian is “così,” which, depending on the context, can be translated as “such,” “so,” or “like this.” For example:

È un gatto così carino!	He is such a pretty cat.
Questo gatto è così carino!	This cat is so pretty.
Non ho mai visto un gatto così.	I’ve never seen a cat like this.

The Adverbs “Anche,” “Neanche,” and “Nemmeno”

The adverb “anche” is used to express agreement with an affirmative statement, whereas the adverb “neanche” or “nemmeno” is used to express agreement with a negative statement. For example:

A: Io parlo italiano. B: Anche io.	A: I speak Italian. B: Me too.
A: Io non parlo italiano. B: Neanche io.	A: I don’t speak Italian. B: Me neither.

To show disagreement with affirmative and negative statements, we simply use “no” (no) and “sì” (yes), respectively, for example:

A: Io parlo italiano. B: Io no.	A: I speak Italian. B: I don’t.
A: Io non parlo italiano. B: Io sì.	A: I don’t speak Italian. B: I do.

If a verb like “piacere” is used, the subject pronoun is replaced with a prepositional “a” followed by the prepositional object pronoun. For example:

A: Mi piace il tè. B: Anche a me.	A: I like tea. B: Me too.
A: Non mi piace il tè. B: Nemmeno a me.	A: I don’t like tea. B: Me neither.

We apply the same concept in the case of disagreement, for example:

A: Mi piace il tè. B: A me no.	A: I like tea. B: I don’t.
A: Non mi piace il tè. B: A me sì.	A: I don’t like tea. B: I do.

The Adverbs “Ancora” and “Già”

When followed by a verb in the present tense, “ancora” generally means “still” in affirmative and negative expressions. However, “ancora” can also mean “yet” in a negative expression when followed by a verb in the present perfect tense, for example:

Vivo ancora in Italia.	I still live in Italy.
Non parlo ancora bene l’inglese.	I still don’t speak English well.
Non sono ancora tornato a casa.	I have not returned home yet.

One can think of “già,” meaning “already,” as the opposite response to “non ancora.” Below are some examples in both the present tense and the present perfect tense:

a) Present Tense

Non parlo ancora bene l’inglese.	I still don’t speak English well.
Parlo già bene l’inglese.	I already speak English well.

b) Present Perfect Tense

Non sono ancora tornato a casa.	I haven’t returned home yet.
Sono già tornato a casa.	I have already returned home.

In the present tense, the opposite of “ancora” (still) is “non più” (no longer). For example:

Vivo ancora in Italia.	I still live in Italy.
Non vivo più in Italia.	I no longer live in Italy.

The Adverb “Fa”

The adverb of time “fa” means “ago” when describing something that happened and ended in the past. Here are some examples:

Ho parlato con mia sorella tre mesi fa.	I spoke to my sister three months ago.
Mi sono svegliato 15 minuti fa.	I woke up 15 minutes ago.

Adverbial Phrases with “Volta” and “Volte”

The feminine noun “volta” and its plural “volte” are used to describe the frequency of occurrence. The English equivalents are often “time,” and its plural “times,” e.g., “how many times did you win?” Here is a list of some adverbial phrases that use “volta”:

questa volta	this time	ogni volta meno	less and less
la prossima volta	next time	l’ultima volta	last time
ogni volta	each time every time	una volta	one time once
per la prima volta	for the first time	per l’ultima volta	for the last time
qualche volta	at times some time	di volta in volta	from time to time

Examples of adverbial verbs that use the plural noun “volte” include:

a volte	sometimes	tre volte	three times
molte volte più volte	many times	parecchie volte	several times
tante volte	many times	Quante volte?	How many times?

Next: Other Adverbs & Adverbial Phrases

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