Adverb Rules
“I adore adverbs; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.” - Henry James
With adverb adjectives, there are two sets of rules you have to learn (な and い adjectives), plus some exceptions (individual words, which we’ll go over). The rules are pretty easy, and shouldn’t give you much trouble as long as you remember them.
Ordering
For adverbs, the ordering of the adverb and verb are pretty standard. Just think of the word “adverb” (adjective + verb), and you’ll know the order. With Japanese adverbs, the pattern is going to be:
adverb + verb
Just remember that as we cover the rules for these two types of adjectives.
な Adjectives
な Adjectives are the easiest. As you know, the ordering is adverb + verb. The question, however, is what do you put between the adverb and the verb (this applies to both い adjectives and な adjectives). This may be a bit confusing, but with な adjectives, you’ll want to put a に between the two (and omit the な).
すし を きれい に たべます
I will eat sushi prettily / without spilling
Think of it this way. The に particle has to do with movement, right? So, think of it as having the adjective move towards doing it. As in, “moving towards eating prettily” (which translates more nicely as “to eat prettily”).
ジュース を しずかに のみました
I drank the juice quietly
It’s best if you think of the Adverb+Verb pattern as one entity. Treat it like you would a verb. Let’s take a look at the above two examples with the adverb and without the adverb.
すし を たべます
I will eat sushi
すし を（きれいにたべます）
I will eat sushi prettily
ジュース を のみました
I drank juice
ジュース を（しずかにのみました）
I drank juice quietly
See how the adverb+verb is being treated exactly the same as it was when there was no adverb? Try to think of this pattern as a single entity, and it will simplify things a whole lot. What other な adjective adverb sentences can you come up with?
い Adjectives
い Adjectives aren’t much harder than な adjectives. Instead of adding something on, you’re changing something. Here’s how the pattern goes:
い → く ＋ verb
Basically, you’re just going to take the い adjective, change the い on the end to a く, and then add the verb on there. For example.
はやい → はやく
はやく たべました
Ate quickly
やすい → やすく
やすく かいました
Bought it cheaply
Just like the な adjective adverbs, it’s important to think of the adverb+verb combination as a single, combined entity, then treat it all as a regular verb. With the examples above:
カレー を （はやく たべました）
I ate the curry quickly
テレビゲーム を やすく かいました
I bought the video game cheaply
There is one exception here you have to learn. If you remember back to い adjectives lessons, the adjective いい is always weird. When you conjugate it, you always work off of よい instead of いい, which means for adverbs, いい becomes よく, and boy is this a common / useful word.
よく たべました
Ate well / Did a good job eating
よく できました*
Did (something) well
*できます means “can do”
This is an adverb you’ll see quite a bit, especially when you’re around particularly positive people, who like to say how good things are! Speaking of which… よくできました！ :) What kind of い adjective adverb sentences can you come up with (just take a look at your い adjective vocab list and I’m sure plenty of ideas will pop up!).
Before moving on, make sure you know these two rules. That’s it! Just know that な adjectives have a に, and い adjectives change the い to a く. As long as you know those two things, you should be able to move on to the next page.