Language/Standard-estonian/Grammar/Adverbs

How to form adverbs in Estonian

In today's lesson, we will learn how to form adverbs in Estonian.

While in English adverbs are usually formed by adding -ly to adjectives.

In Estonian many adverbs are formed from adjectives, simply by using the ablative case of the adjective.

Examples

• Aeglane (slow) ➡ becomes aeglaselt (slowly)
• Kaunis (beautiful) ➡ becomes kaunilt (beautifully)

Exceptions

However it's not always the case.

Some words are adverbs by nature.

Examples:

• Nüüd (now)
• tõesti (really)
• varsti (soon)

Behaviour in a Sentence

The following examples use adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Formula	Estonian	Translation
[pronoun + verb + adverb]	kas saate minust nüüd aru?	Do you understand me now ?
[adverb + adjective]	ta on väga intelligentne	She is very intelligent
[noun + adverb]	vajan kohe abi	I need help immediately
[adverb in a question]	kas me võiksime koos saksa keelt õppida?	Can we learn German together?
[verb + adverb]	ma jään teid alati armastama	I will always love you

Sources

• http://mylanguages.org/estonian_adverbs.php
• http://learn101.org/fr/estonien_grammaire.php

Related Lessons

• Adjectives
• Nouns
• Negation
• Future Tense
• Questions
• Articles
• Conditional Mood
• Gender
• Plurals