Spanish Adverbs Beyond -mente

The tidy -mente suffix builds a lot of Spanish adverbs, but the ones you use every hour are not among them. Aquí (here), ya (already), bien (well), muy (very), casi (almost) - none take the suffix, and all sit at the top of the frequency list. They cluster into families, and learning the families beats translating each word cold.

If you have not yet met the -mente adverbs of manner, read that first. This page is the rest of the inventory, plus the rules for where an adverb goes.

Adverbs of place

These say where. Spanish has a three-way distance system for "here" and "there" that English lost centuries ago.

• aquí / acá = here (near me)
• ahí = there (near you)
• allí / allá = there (over yonder, far from both)
• arriba / abajo = up, above / down, below
• adelante / atrás = forward, ahead / back, behind
• (a)dentro / (a)fuera = inside / outside
• cerca / lejos = near / far
• encima / debajo = on top / underneath
• alrededor = around
• enfrente = opposite, across the way

Está allí, cerca de la puerta. (It is over there, near the door.) Acá and allá are the vaguer cousins of aquí and allí, common in Latin America and paired with verbs of motion: ven acá (come here).

Adverbs of time

These say when or how often.

• ya = already, now
• todavía / aún = still, yet
• pronto = soon
• tarde / temprano = late / early
• siempre / nunca = always / never
• a veces = sometimes
• mientras = while, meanwhile
• entonces = then, so
• luego / después = later / afterwards
• enseguida = right away
• de repente / de pronto = suddenly
• por fin = at last, finally

Ya llegó, por fin. (He has arrived at last.) Todavía and aún are interchangeable in the "still, yet" sense - but watch the accent on aún, untangled below.

Adverbs of manner

These say how. A few of the commonest ideas of manner have their own dedicated words and refuse -mente entirely.

• bien / mal = well / badly
• así = like this, in this way
• despacio / deprisa = slowly / quickly
• rápido = fast (also used as an adverb: corre rápido)
• mejor / peor = better / worse
• adrede / a propósito = on purpose, deliberately

Lo hizo bien, pero despacio. (He did it well, but slowly.) Say habla despacio to sound natural, and never invent "bienmente".

Adverbs of degree and quantity

These say how much. This is where muy and mucho live, and where English speakers slip.

• muy = very (with adjectives and adverbs)
• mucho = a lot, much (with verbs and nouns)
• bastante = quite, enough
• demasiado = too, too much
• casi = almost
• apenas = barely, hardly
• tan / tanto = so / so much
• cada vez más = more and more

Es bastante caro y casi nunca lo compro. (It is quite dear and I almost never buy it.)

muy or mucho?

This single distinction is worth pinning down, because English "very" and "a lot" do not map cleanly onto it.

The muy or mucho rule. Put muy in front of a describing word - an adjective (muy grande) or an adverb (muy rápido). Put mucho after a verb (come mucho) or in front of a noun, where it agrees like an adjective (mucha suerte, muchos amigos). The two never stack: "very much" is muchísimo, and muy mucho does not exist. If you are ever tempted to write muy mucho, you want muchísimo.

aún or aun?

One accent, two meanings.

• aún (with accent) = still, yet - a synonym of todavía. Aún no ha llegado. (He still has not arrived.)
• aun (no accent) = even - a synonym of incluso. Aun así, lo hizo. (Even so, he did it.) Aun los expertos se equivocan. (Even the experts get it wrong.)

The test: if todavía fits, write aún; if incluso fits, write aun.

Affirmation, negation and doubt

These signal yes, no, or maybe.

• sí = yes
• también / tampoco = also / neither, not either
• quizás / quizá / tal vez = perhaps (subjunctive or indicative)
• a lo mejor = maybe (indicative only)
• seguramente = probably, surely
• por supuesto / desde luego = of course, certainly

No lo sé tampoco. (I do not know either.) The doubt words split on mood: quizás venga (subjunctive, stronger doubt) versus a lo mejor viene (indicative, an open guess). A lo mejor always takes the indicative.

Where the adverb goes

Spanish keeps the adverb close to its verb, but the rules differ by family.

Manner and degree adverbs follow the verb. Habla bien. (He speaks well.) Come mucho. (He eats a lot.) Corre rápido. (He runs fast.)

Never split the compound tense. This is the placement rule English speakers break most. English happily says "he has always eaten"; Spanish glues haber to its participle and will not wedge an adverb between them. So it is siempre ha comido or ha comido siempre - never "ha siempre comido". The same goes for ya, nunca and the rest: ya he terminado or he terminado ya, not "he ya terminado".

Time and place adverbs are mobile and often open the sentence for emphasis. Ayer llegó tarde. (Yesterday he arrived late.) Aquí no se puede fumar. (You cannot smoke here.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Using muy with a verb. "Trabaja muy" is wrong; it is trabaja mucho. Muy needs an adjective or adverb after it.

Writing muy mucho. There is no such phrase. "Very much" is muchísimo.

Splitting haber and the participle. "He siempre comido" is a direct calque of English word order. Move the adverb outside the verb pair: siempre he comido.

Dropping the accent on aún. If you mean "still, yet", the accent is compulsory: aún no (still not), not "aun no" - which would read as "even not".

Learn the families, nail muy versus mucho, keep the adverb off the seam between haber and its participle, and this whole high-frequency set falls into place.

See also

• Spanish adverbs in -mente - how the suffix adverbs are built, and when Spanish drops them for con plus a noun.
• Ser vs estar - the adjectives that these degree adverbs modify.
• The Spanish grammar cheatsheet has the muy-or-mucho rule and the place and time adverbs on one card.