What’s up people? All good? Well, in today’s Dica we will talk about the use of Portuguese Adverbs.
To begin with we need to understand what adverbs in Portuguese are. An adverb is an invariable word that accompanies the verb, adjective or other adverb, changing its meaning. A invariable word is a word that only has one form, that is: the word doesn’t change because it doesn’t have gender (masculine or feminine) nor number (singular or plural). Take a look at some examples:
Eu acordei cedo.
I woke up early.
If we only say Eu acordei (I woke up) the meaning of the sentence is complete, but we don’t have any more information about this situation. When we add the adverb cedo (early) we add to the sentence information about the time that I woke up. So, we can see that the word cedo changes the meaning of the verb acordar (to wake up) .
Now, let’s look at another example to understand when the adverb changes the meaning of an adjective.
Eu estou muito feliz.
I am very happy.
In this example the adverb muito (very) intensifies the meaning of the adjective feliz (happy) that comes after it. So I’m not just happy, I’m veeery happy.
And now let’s see what happen when an adverb modifies the meaning of another adverb. Let’s combine the two examples that we saw above.
Eu acordei muito cedo.
I woke up very early.
In this case, the adverb very changes the meaning of the adverb early. That is, it is used to intensify the time that is described in this situation. Muito is an adverb of intensity and cedo is an adverb of time. Ok?
Adverbs are mainly used in the first case, to give a specific quality to verbs. We classify the adverbs in time/frequency, place, manner, intensity/quantity, denial, affirmation and doubt. Let’s see some of these adverbs in Portuguese.
These adverbs add the information of time or frequency to another word.
| Ontem | Yesterday |
| Hoje | Today |
| Amanhã | Tomorrow |
| Sempre | Always |
| Nunca | Never |
| Antigamente | In the past |
| Às vezes | Sometimes |
| De vez em quando | Occasionally |
| Com frequência | Frequently |
Eu sempre corro na praia.
I always run on the beach.
Ela fumava muito antigamente.
He smoked a lot in the past.
Vocês chegaram no Rio de Janeiro ontem?
Did you arrive in Rio de Janeiro yesterday?
Às vezes eu visito meus amigos.
Sometimes i visit my friends.
Com frequência eu faço aulas de Português.
I have Portuguese classes frequently .
You can learn more adverbs like this in our Dica about adverbs of frequency.
The adverbs of place add the information of where something happens to the sentence, that is, they help us identify the place or space of an action.
| Aqui | Here |
| Lá | There (far) |
| Embaixo | Under |
| Longe | Far from |
| Ali | There (close) |
| Aí | There (with you) |
Meu telefone celular estava embaixo da cama.
My cell phone was under the bed.
Como é a Praia de Ipanema? Eu nunca fui lá.
How’s Ipanema Beach. I have never been there.
O professor Diogo mora muito longe da Rio & Learn.
Teacher Diogo lives very far from the school.
Posso ir aí?
Can I go there?
You can see more adverbs by clicking on the Dica for adverbs of place.
Manner adverbs indicate how or the way something happened.
| Bem | Well |
| Mal | Bad, badly |
| Naturalmente | Naturally |
| Rapidamente | Quickly |
| Facilmente | Easily |
| Dificilmente | Difficultly |
| Vagarosamente | Slowly |
| Alegremente | Happily |
| Brilhantemente | Brilliantly |
| Calmamente | Quietly / Calmly |
| Habilmente | Skillfully |
| Ansiosamente | Eagerly |
A cantora Adriana Calcanhoto canta bem.
The singer Adriana Calcanhoto sings well.
Ela canta mal.
She sings badly.
Os motoristas no Rio de Janeiro dirigem rápido.
Drivers in Rio de Janeiro drive fast.
Eu nunca fico nervoso em público. Consigo falar naturalmente.
I never get nervous in public. I can speak naturally.
Eu consigo compreender Português facilmente.
I can understand Portuguese easily.
Eu gosto de organizar minhas coisas calmamente.
I like to organize my things calmly.
It’s really common that adverbs of manner end in -mente. You can learn more adverbs ending in -mente with us.
These Portuguese adverbs can change their meaning according to the context. Adverbs of intensity accompany an adjective, and adverbs of quantity accompany a noun, they add intensity or quantity to the sentence.
| Muito, muitos | Very, much, many |
| Demais | Too much |
| Bastante | A lot of |
| Mais | More |
| Menos | Less |
| Tão | As |
| Tanto | So |
| Mal/Quase | Hardly / Scarcely |
Não gosto dessa mulher. Ela fala demais.
I don’t like this woman. She talks too much.
O filme Central do Brasil é muito bom.
The movie Central do Brasil is very good.
O livro do Paulo Coelho é bastante interessante.
Paulo Coelho’s book is very interesting.
Vocês têm mais trabalho para fazer essa semana?
Do you have more work to do this week?
Esse homem é muito inteligente.
This man is very intelligent.
Eu mal me lembro de regar as plantas.
I scarcely remember to water the plants.
Ele é tão bonito…
He is so handsome…
These adverbs are used to deny something or give negative information about it.
| Não | No, don’t |
| Nunca | Never |
| De jeito nenhum | No way |
| De forma alguma | It’s not possible |
| Tampouco | Neither |
| Jamais | Never |
| Nem | Nor |
| De modo algum | Not at all |
You can learn more about these adverbs in our Dica about adverbs of denial.
Eu não moro no Rio de Janeiro.
I don’t live in Rio de Janeiro.
Ela nunca vai à praia durante a semana.
She never goes to the beach during the week.
De jeito nenhum que vamos trabalhar hoje!
There is no way for us to work today!
Eu jamais voltarei a falar com eles.
I’ll never talk to them again.
They don’t like caipirinha nor samba.
Eles não gostam de caipirinha nem samba.
These type of adverbs are used to add a sense of affirmation to a sentence.
| Sim | Yes |
| Certamente | Certainly |
| Absolutamente | Absolutely |
| Sem dúvida | No doubt |
| Realmente | Really |
| Positivamente | Positively |
| Na verdade | In fact |
| De fato | Indeed |
| Exatamente | Exactly |
| Com certeza | For sure |
Eles certamente vão visitar o Brasil.
They will certainly visit Brazil.
Sem dúvida que o Rio de Janeiro é a melhor cidade do Brazil!
No doubt Rio de Janeiro is the best city in Brazil.
Sim! Eu estou amando aprender português.
Yes! I love learning Portuguese.
Nós vamos nos ver de novo com certeza.
We we’ll see each other again for sure.
Isto é exatamente o que eu penso.
That’s exactly what I think.
The adverbs of doubt bring the sense of doubt to a sentence.
| Talvez | Maybe |
| Provavelmente | Probably |
| Possivelmente | Possibly |
| Caso | In case of |
| Supostamente | Supposedly |
| Aparentemente | Apparently |
| Acaso | Chance |
| Quiçá | Perhaps |
Em caso de dúvidas, pode me enviar uma mensagem.
In case of doubts, you can send me a message.
Provavelmente eu não venho amanhã.
I probably won’t come tomorrow.
Talvez precisemos estudar mais.
Maybe we need to study more.
Aparentemente eles não querem falar com a gente.
Apparently they don’t want to talk to us.
Quiçá nos encontramos mais tarde.
Perhaps we’ll meet later.
In English we have a lot of adverbs that end the same way: with -ly. In Portuguese we also have something like this. A lot of adverbs in Portuguese end with the terminations -mente, as you can see here. So here’s a trick, if you want to say an adverb that ends in -ly in English, but you don’t know the word in Portuguese, try to translate the adjective and then add -mente at the end. For example: Happy – happily, you can say feliz and then add -mente turning it into felizmente. If you want to learn more about adverbs ending in -mente in Portuguese, check out this Dica.
Now it’s time to practice! Read all the sentences and choose an adverb according to what information needs to be added to the sentence (you’ll find this information between parenthesis).
That’s all! Now, you know how to use all types of Portuguese adverbs.
We’ll meet again in our next Dica!
We hope you can come to Rio de Janeiro soon, and once you are here, feel free to stop by our school. If you can’t come here, take an online class with us to learn a lot more!
See you then!
Hugs!
Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Adverbs of place in Portuguese
Frequency adverbs in Portuguese
Adverbs ending in Mente in Portuguese
Difference between bom and bem in Portuguese
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