Categorizing The Nouny Adverbs
The “Nouny Adverbs” will be easier to use and understand if we categorize them. Plus, as you come across and learn more of these, you’ll be able to easily put them in their place. Also included is a cheat sheet to help you out. There’s a lot of words and different ways to use them, so I hope it’s helpful. Your main job, though, is to learn the meanings of the words (i.e. you shouldn’t use the cheatsheet for that). Use the cheatsheet to help you use the words you already know, mmk?
Let’s get right into it. I know this is a particularly long page, but it’s not something I wanted to break up into multiple sections, since everything groups together really well. Read about each individual word and study the example sentences / explanation. After that, move on. Right now, you should just try to make sure you understand everything. The next few pages are tasked with helping you understand how to use what you understand.
Quantity Adverbs
Quantity Adverbs refer to how much of something exists and do a great job attaching onto verbs (just like the previous examples when we used な and い adjectives). These adverbs don’t generally need particles to attach them to the nouns (I’ll make sure to mark adverbs that do), and can be placed right before the verb to modify it.
たくさん（A Lot）
たくさん あります よ
I have a lot (of something)
すし を たくさん たべました
I ate a lot of sushi
This is one of the easiest adverbs to use (and one of the most useful). One good rule of thumb is to think “if it makes sense in English, it most likely makes sense in Japanese, too.” So, if “____ a lot of something” makes sense in English, it’ll probably work in Japanese. Fought a lot of bad guys. Drank a lot of orange juice. Make a lot of clothes. Buy a lot of medicine.
いっぱい（Full / To Capacity）
水 を いっぱい 入れました
It was filled with water
This adverb is often used when it comes to filling things up (like buckets, rooms, etc). You will see it even more, though, as a plain old adjective. As in:
あたま が いっぱい です
My head is full
Many of these “Nouny” adverbs will be able to do this, but as long as you know the meaning of the adverb word, you’ll catch on really quickly (plus you’ll see more as you move forward with TextFugu).
ほとんど（Almost）
ほとんど いきませんでした
I almost didn’t go
えいが を ほとんど みました
I almost saw the movie
ほとんど will also often be seen with nouns. For example, ほとんど４０さい would be “almost 40 years old.”
だいたい（Generally/Mostly）
When something is mostly true (or mostly something), だいたい is a great adverb to use.
くるま は だいたい おなじ です
The cars are mostly the same
しごと は だいたい おわりました
The job is mostly finished
なかなか（Quite）
The adverb なかなか, in terms of use, is like one exception on top of another. There are just so many different ways it’s used, and it’s quite flexible (or should I say なかなか flexible). You can think of this word as having meanings like “very, really, considerably, fairly, rather,” and so on. Of course, “quite” works too.
この ゲーム は なかなか むずかしい ですね
This game is quite difficult
はやい くるま は なかなか ありません
There are really no fast cars
This one is a bit hard to work with, but your goal is just to understand it for now. Let’s move on to the last one.
すこし（A Little)
すこし たべました
I ate a little bit.
にほんご を すこし はなします
I speak a little bit of Japanese
This is the first of two すこし’s (you’ll see the other one in the “degree” section). With this すこし, we’re using it to quantify something. As in, “ate a little bit” and “speak a little bit of Japanese.” Another cool pattern that goes along with すこし (that you don’t know yet, but will learn in a grammar chapter later) is すこしだけ (where だけ means “only”). This means “only a little bit” and can be thrown into the above sentences to say “I only ate a little bit” and “I only speak a little bit of Japanese.”
Degree adverbs
Degree Adverbs are very similar to Quantity Adverbs in terms of category, but degree adverbs tend to attach themselves to adjectives. We haven’t gone over this yet, but it’s quite simple (and we’ll cover this more). Basically, all you do is put the adverb before the adjective, like you did with verbs and adverbs. For example, とてもたかいです is “very tall” or “very expensive.” Although “Degree Adverbs” tend to like adjectives, this isn’t always the case. Read the explanation of each for more information.
とても（Very）
きょう は とても さむい です
Today is very cold.
ゲーム は とても やすかった です
The game was very cheap
This adverb is definitely going to be paired mostly with adjectives. It’s really similar to English in this way. When you think of the word “very” in English, usually it is attached to adjectives as well. Very smooth. Very sleepy. Very interesting.
すこし（A Little）
すこし たかい です
It is a little expensive
You may have noticed there are two すこしs (one for “degree” and one for “quantity”). That’s because すこし is used in both “degree” and “quantity” situations, and you’ll see them both enough I thought I’d separate them out in this way. So, you can do both すこし+Adjective and すこし+verb, and it’s A-Okay.
けっこう（Good Enough, Fairly）
The most common way you’ll see this adverb is on its own, like a noun. It can mean “no thank you” when used as「けっこうです」. When used as an adverb, though, it switches to meaning something more like “fairly” as in “fairly interesting.” Both are meanings that are important, though, so I’ve listed both.
けっこう たかい です
(It’s fairly tall)
ずっと（Continuously）
ずっと いそがしい です
Continuously busy / Always busy
きのう、わたし は ずっと ねました
Yesterday, I slept continuously / all day
もっと（More）
もっと のみましょう*
Let’s drink more
*You’ll learn more about 〜ましょう form soon, you don’t know it at this point of TextFugu, though.
たなべさん は もっと はやかった です
Tanabe-san was (even) more faster
ぜんぜん（Not At All）
This adverb has a negative connotation, and is used with negative adjectives and verbs.
ビール は ぜんぜん のみません
I do not drink beer at all
かれ は ぜんぜん いそがしくない です
He isn’t busy at all
If you remember anything from this adverb, it should be that pretty much every sentence you see with it is going to be negative (which is why the negative is built right into the translation).
Frequency
These adverbs have to do with how often something happens.
いつも（Always）
ボビーさん は いつも いそがしい です
Bobby is always busy
この えいが は いつも おもしろい ですね
This movie is always interesting, isn’t it?
This adverb is also used in other grammar points you don’t know yet, but will soon. いつも is very common with adjectives, however, and this should keep you plenty busy for now (and as long as you know the word, like with all the adverbs, applying it to new grammar will be easy as pie).
ときどき（Sometimes）
にく を ときどき たべます
I sometimes eat meat
ときどき ワイン を すこし のみます
I sometimes drink a little wine
かれ は ときどき おもしろい ですね
He is sometimes interesting
This can be used in a lot of the same ways いつも is used – just the frequency is different (“sometimes” versus “always”).
たいてい（Usually）
This one is used really similarly to だいたい (generally). They do, after all, have very similar meanings as well. Just like だいたい, you’ll want to have a little more to the sentence most of the time (i.e. have a subject you’re talking about).
たいてい、 １０じ に おきます
Usually, I wake up at 10 o’clock
Action
These adverbs are a little weird, and one of them is awfully specific. I’d consider these more as “exceptions” just because there are so few of them, and they feel out of place.
ゆっくり（slowly）
ゆっくり あるきます
Walk slowly
ビーフ を ゆっくり たべました
I ate the beef slowly
ぐっすり（Soundly）
This adverb pretty much only has to do with sleeping, as you’ll see in the example.
ぐっすり ねました
Had a sound sleep
Time
This category is full of great words – and there are many others to add to here in the future. For now, you’ll stick with the most important ones. Generally, the “time” adverbs are treated much more like nouns than the other adverbs.
まいにち（Every Day）
まいにち すし を たべます
Every day, I eat sushi
すし を まいにち たべます
I eat sushi every day
きのう（Yesterday）
きのう、ニューヨーク に いきました
Yesterday, I went to New York
きょう（Today）
きょう は おもしろかった です
Today was interesting
きょう たべましたよ
I ate today
あした（Tomorrow）
あした は いそがしい ですよ
Tomorrow is busy
あした、にほん に いきます
Tomorrow, I will go to Japan
かつて（Previously）
かつて、ボビーさん は ともだち でした
Previously, Bobby was a friend
Unlike the other (above) “time” adverbs, かつて is a proper adverb (and so is the next one), meaning it can be treated more like most of the other adverbs on this big list.
すぐ（Soon）
すぐ いきますよ
I’ll go soon
かれ は すぐ に でました
He left immediately / soon (after something)
Like かつて, this is also a proper adverb, meaning it can be used more normally than the other “time” adverbs. Since it has to do with time, you’ll also see it using the に particle.
Aspect
These adverbs come from the perspective of the speaker, showing how they see things.
もう（Already）
ホットドッグ は もう たべました
The hot dogs were already eaten
もう じかん ですよ！
It’s already time!
まだ（Still）
のりこさん は まだ すこし こわい です
Noriko-san is still a little bit scary
かれ は まだ わかりません
He still doesn’t understand
まず（First Of All）
まず ベーグル を たべましょう*
First off, let’s eat a bagel
*You don’t know ましょう form yet
とうとう（Finally）
とうとう なつ が きました
Summer has finally come
とうとう さけ を やめました
Finally I stopped (drinking) sake
Judgement
These adverbs have to do with the judgment of the speaker. They add a bit of “opinion,” so to speak. They also are words that seem to fit nicely with “set” sort of phrases, or just things you might hear in an anime or manga. These words are for people with opinions, often strong ones.
ぜひ（Certainly/Without Fail）
ぜひ きてください
Please come (without fail)
*Set phrase, you don’t know the grammar for this sentence yet
いったい（What The…?）
いったい なん ですか？
What (in the world) is this?
いったい だれ ですか？
Who (in the world) are you?
This word is used in “wth!??!” kinds of situations. It’s kind of like saying “what the…….??” in English (sounds better spoken out loud, I’m sure). If someone uses いったい, they’re probably surprised or confused in some way.
たぶん（Maybe）
ジョンさん は たぶん しりません
Jon maybe doesn’t know
たぶん ほんとう じゃありません
Maybe it’s not true
Great word to use on its own too – “Are you gonna ask him/her out??” … “hmmm…. たぶん.”
きっと（Definitely）
ヒーロ は きっと きます！
The hero will definitely come
When something is for sure, you can use きっと. You can also start a sentence with it, to say “definitely …. “
まさか（No Way）
まさか！！
No Way!
For now, I’m just going to stick with the word, on its own, as the sentence. It works really great all on its own, to say whenever something bad / unbelievable is happening to you (and it’s negative). For example, when you saw this page at the very beginning, and learned you had to go through it… that would be a good time to let out a good ol’ まさか〜！！
There’s also a cheatsheet you can download. It doesn’t have much information on it, but should have just enough to help you tell what from what allowing you to use some of these adverbs in the coming pages, chapters, and seasons. There’s also space for notes (which I think you should take advantage of, if you can!), and some color coding for the “Nouny Adverbs” that work particularly well with the “adverb+verb” pattern you learned earlier. Anyways, just a few things to make it a little easier on you.
When you’ve finished with this page, take a deep breath (not too many pages will be this long, sorry!) and do a quick mental checklist to make sure you’ve:
- Gone through the vocab from the previous page.
- Read through and understood the content on this page (don’t have to be able to replicate it quite yet, just understanding is perfect for now).
- Taken a quick break to recharge – that was a lot of reading!