Adverbs
Adverbs
English builds most adverbs by adding '-ly' to an adjective. Spanish has its own single, reliable suffix that does the same job — and it's built directly on the adjective's feminine form.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
-mente attaches to the feminine adjective form
rápida → rápidamente (quickly), lenta → lentamente (slowly)
quick → quickly, slow → slowly — '-ly' attaches directly to the base adjective
Spanish forms most adverbs by taking the adjective's feminine singular form and adding -mente — even for adjectives describing something masculine, the feminine form is always the base. English's '-ly' doesn't care about gender at all, since English adjectives don't have gender to begin with, so this is a genuinely new rule rather than a direct translation habit.
Adjectives without a separate feminine form just add -mente directly
fácil → fácilmente (easily), feliz → felizmente (happily) — no gender-based change needed first
easy → easily, happy → happily — one predictable step
Recall from your adjectives lesson that some Spanish adjectives (ending in -e or a consonant) don't change for gender at all — fácil stays fácil either way. For these, forming the adverb is a single simple step: just add -mente, with no feminine-form detour needed first.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- quickly
- English
- slowly
- English
- easily
- English
- happily
- English
- generally
- English
- normally
- English
- well
- English
- badly
- English
- often
- English
- sometimes