Portuguese 3.8. Adverbs

In Portuguese, adverbs can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. They usually answer questions such as how? how often? how long? when? where? etc.

A lot of Portuguese adverbs 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 an Adverb

Many adverbs in Portuguese are formed by simply adding “-mente” to the feminine singular adjective. Here are some examples:

Adverb in English	Masculine singular adjective	Feminine singular adjective	Adverb in Portuguese
slowly	lento	lenta	lentamente
quickly	rápido	rápida	rapidamente
easily	fácil	fácil	facilmente
exactly	exato	exata	exatamente
normally	normal	normal	normalmente
relatively	relativo	relativa	relativamente
automatically	automático	automática	automaticamente
generally	geral	geral	geralmente
originally	original	original	originalmente
partially	parcial	parcial	parcialmente
substantially	substancial	substancial	substancialmente
literally	literal	literal	literalmente

A commonly used adverb formed this way is “recentemente,” which means “recently,” and is sometimes abbreviated as “recém.”

Eu recém cheguei.	I recently arrived.
o recém-nascido	the newly born

Not all adverbs in Portuguese 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 other ways of forming adverbs, especially adverbs of manner, are summarized with this example:

“de manera” + feminine adjective	Ele falou comigo de maneira respeitosa.
“com” or “sem” + noun	Ele falou comigo com respeito.

The two sentences above can be translated as “He spoke to me respectfully.” The first forms the adverb from the corresponding adjective, while the third forms the adverb from the corresponding noun. The word “com” means “with,” while “sem” means “without.” Thus, “Ele falou comigo sem respeito” is translated as “He spoke to me disrespectfully.”

The Adverb “Tão”

Another common adverb in Portuguese is “tão,” which is often translated as “such” or “so,” for example:

Ele é um gato tão fofo!	He is such a pretty cat.
Esse gato é tão fofo!	This cat is so pretty.

The Adverb “Também”

The adverb “também” is used to express agreement or disagreement with a statement. For example:

A: Eu falo português. B: Eu também.	A: I speak Portuguese. B: Me too.
A: Eu não falo português. B: Eu também não.	A: I don’t speak Portuguese. B: Me neither.

In the negative statement, one could also use “Eu tampouco” instead of “Eu também não.”

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

A: Eu falo português. B: Eu não.	A: I speak Portuguese. B: I don’t.
A: Eu não falo português. B: Eu sim.	A: I don’t speak Portuguese. B: I do.

Adverbial Phrases with “Vez” and “Vezes”

The feminine noun “vez” and its plural “vezes” 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 “vez”:

desta vez	this time	raras vezes [1]	rarely seldom
a próxima vez	next time	a última vez	last time
cada vez	each time every time	talvez	perhaps maybe
pela primeira vez	for the first time	pela última vez	for the last time
de uma vez só [2]	at the same time	alguma vez	sometime once
em vez de	instead of	de vez em quando	from time to time
uma vez	one time once	na minha vez	in my turn
outra vez [3]	again	cada vez menos	less and less
as vezes	sometimes	três vezes	three times
muitas vezes	many times often	várias vezes	several times
algumas vezes	at times sometimes	Quantas vezes?	How many times?

[1] An alternative expression is “raramente.”

[2] An alternative expression is “ao mesmo tempo.”

[3] An alternative expression is “de novo.”

Other Adverbs

Given that an adverb can be created easily from a corresponding adjective, it is difficult to cover a vast number of adverbs in the limited space of this book.

Moreover, there are often multiple adverbs that convey a similar meaning. For example:

1. To say “certainly” or “surely,” you could use one of the following options: “certamente,” “seguramente,” “claro,” or even “naturalmente” and “sem dúvidas” (undoubtedly).
2. To say “really,” “truly,” or “actually,” you could use: “realmente,” “verdadeiramente,” “de verdade,” or “na realidade.” Remember that “atualmente,” in Portuguese, means “currently,” not “actually.”
3. To say “finally,” you could use: “finalmente,” “afinal,” “por fim,” “enfim,” or “por último.”^[4]

[4] There are some differences between these expressions, all meaning “finally”:

• “por último” means “lastly” (in a list or order).
• “por fim” and “enfim” mean “at last” (often regarding something that is hoped for).
• “finalmente” and “afinal” can mean “lastly” (in a list or order) or “in the end” (not necessarily regarding something that is hoped for).

In this section, we list some of the most common adverbs and adverbial phrases. You will learn more adverbs as you practice Portuguese by reading, listening, and understanding the general rules explained in this lesson.

Adverbs of Place

perto	near	longe	far
na frente	in front	por trás atrás	behind
dentro	inside	fora	outside
à frente	ahead	ao redor	around
em nenhuma parte	nowhere	a bordo	on board
em toda parte	everywhere	em casa	at home

Adverbs of Time

em breve	soon	depois mais tarde	later
cedo	early	tarde	late
antes	before	depois de	after
sempre	always	nunca jamais	never
frequentemente	often frequently	de repente	suddenly
usualmente	usually	então	then
agora	now	no princípio	in the beginning
todos os dias cada dia	every day	qualquer outro dia	every other day
a curto prazo	in the short term	a longo prazo	in the long term
a tempo na hora	on time	entretanto	meanwhile
imediatamente de imediato	immediately	agora mesmo	right away
anteontem à noite	the night before last	diariamente	daily
semanalmente	weekly	mensualmente	monthly

Adverbs of Quantity

muito	a lot	aproximadamente	approximately
demais	too much	um pouco	a little
mais	more	menos	less
tanto	so much	bastante	enough
quase	almost	de forma alguma	at all in any way

Adverbs of Manner

como	as like	assim	like this
juntos	together	por sorte	luckily
pouco a pouco	little by little	passo a passo	step by step
depressa	quickly in a hurry	apenas	only just
seriamente a sério	seriously	alto em voz alta	loudly
além disso	moreover	cara a cara	face to face
felizmente	fortunately	infelizmente	unfortunately

Adverbial Expressions

de boa vontade	willingly	de má vontade	unwillingly
com pressa	in a hurry	na moda	fashionably
de cor	by heart	a pé	on foot
a caminho	on the way	no exterior[5]	overseas

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