Noé:	María, nunca hubiera pensado que esto fuera posible, ¡pero estoy completamente fascinado con un árbol!
María:	¿Y por qué con un árbol?
Noé:	Por su historia, su relevancia... ¡por todo! Sin duda, habrás visto alguna vez una araucaria...
María:	Muchas veces. Me encanta la forma de esta conífera, con sus ramas pinchudas y tan claramente definidas.
Noé:	Sí, la araucaria es un árbol muy común para decorar jardines hoy en día; existen varias especies y se han adaptado bien a muchas regiones. Pero hay una especie en particular, la Araucaria araucana o pehuén, que se destaca del resto.

Adverbs are invariable words, meaning that they do not take masculine/feminine or singular/plural forms, which modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Their main function is to complement the verb as part of an adverbial phrase/clause; complement, quantify, or modify an adjective; or quantify another adverb. Often an adverb answers questions such as “how?”, “where?”, “when?”, and can be classified into different categories such as time, place, manner, quantity, and others depending on the function they express in the sentence.

Llegas demasiado tarde. La película ya ha comenzado. You are too late. The movie has already started.

In this sentence, ‘demasiado’ quantifies another adverb ‘tarde’, and ‘demasiado tarde’ complements the verb ‘llegar’, specifying time.

Aquí está la oficina donde trabaja Sandra. Here is the office where Sandra works.

In this sentence, ‘aquí’ complements the verb ‘estar’, specifying a location.

No entiendo lo que dices. ¡Habla claramente, por favor! I don’t understand what you say. Speak clearly, please!

In this sentence, ‘claramente’ complements the verb ‘hablar’, specifying the way the person should be speaking.

It is important to know the difference between an adverb and an adjective. Unlike adverbs, adjectives have a masculine/feminine and singular/plural form and they mainly modify or complement a noun or noun phrase but in most cases not a verb, adverb or another adjective.

Hoy hay muchos coches en la autopista. / Hoy hay muchas personas en la calle. There are many cars in the highway today. / There are many people in the street today. Me gustan mucho los helados de chocolate. / Me gustan mucho las fresas cubiertas de chocolate. I like chocolate ice cream a lot. / I like chocolate covered strawberries a lot.

As you can see in the first example, the adjectives modify or complement the noun they precede and change their gender as the noun changes. In the second example, the adverb remains invariable since it is modifying or complementing the verb and not the noun phrase.

Formation of adverbs

Some adverbs, which are called derivados, are formed by adding the suffix “–mente” to the femenine form of an adjective (if an adjective has a masculine and feminine form, always use the feminine to form the adverb):

Adjective (m.)	Adjective (f.)	Adverb
solo	sola	solamente
tonto	tonta	tontamente
rápido	rápida	rápidamente
claro	clara	claramente
negativo	negativa	negativamente
primero	primera	primeramente

Although other derivados are formed by adding the suffix “–mente” to invariable adjectives:

Adjective (m./f.)	Adverb	Adjective (m./f.)	Adverb
indiferente	indiferentemente	suave	suavemente
probable	probablemente	fiel	fielmente
responsable	responsablemente	general	generalmente
intencional	intencionalmente	cruel	cruelmente
fácil	fácilmente	veloz	velozmente
difícil	difícilmente	igual	igualmente

Some other adverbs, which are called simples, are simply morphemes:

• Adverbs of time: pronto, después, luego, siempre, nunca, jamás…
• Adverbs of place: aquí/acá, ahí, allí, allá, cerca, lejos…
• Adverbs of manner: así, bien, mal, mejor, peor…
• Adverbs of quantity: muy, tan, poco, más, menos, casi, demasiado…
• Affirmative/Negative adverbs: sí, no, también, tampoco, exacto…
• Adverbs of doubt: quizá(s), acaso, puede (ser), tal vez…

NOTE: The derivados adverbs can also be classified into the categories above.

Ejemplos:

Probablemente iremos a la playa este fin de semana. We’ll probably go to the beach this weekend. Mis hijos estudian mucho cada día por eso son tan inteligentes. My children study hard every day that’s why they are so smart. Estoy muy cansada porque tú caminas deprisa. I am very tired because you walk fast. Nunca había escuchado esa canción y ahora es mi canción favorita. I had never heard that song and now it’s my favorite song. Tenemos que limpiar la casa porque mis padres llegarán pronto. We have to clean the house because my parents will get here soon.