Russian Grammar

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Russian Adverbs

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Created: 02 August 2013

Russian Adverbs - Наречия русского языка

In this lessons we'll learn about Russian Adverbs. Adverbs are used to define the characteristics of adjectives and verbs : идти быстро (to walk fast), жить дружно (to live peacefully), прыгать высоко (to jump high).
Adverbs are normally formed from other parts of speech.  For emample :
  • from Nouns : глубина(depth) - вглубь (downward), ряд (row) - подряд (in a row);
  • from Adjectives : громкий (loud) - громко (loudly), японский (japanese) - по-японски (japanese or japanese way);
  • from Numerals: четыре (four) - вчетвером (four of us); первый (first) - во-первых (first of all);
  • from Pronouns: ничей (no one's) - вничью (draw ending)

Semantic types of Russian adverbs
Function
Defining a quality: смело (bravely), натощак (with empty stomack); быстро (fastly) Not defining an attribute but pointing to it : как (how), нигде (no place), кое-где (someplace)
Lexical meaning
Defining Circumstantive
Reflecting a qualitative or quantitative attribute of an action or state: слабо (weekly), так (this much), сильнее (harder) Reflecting circumstantive relationships : иногда (sometimes), прямо (straight)

Most Сommon Russian Adverbs:

  • когда - when
  • да - yes
  • нет - no
  • как - how
  • так - so, thus, this way
  • еще - still, yet, more
  • только - only
  • уже - already
  • очень - very
  • теперь - now
  • сейчас - now
  • тоже - too
  • здесь - here
  • тогда - then, at that time
  • почему - why, how come
  • даже - even
  • где - where
  • там - there
  • тут - here
  • потом - then, after that, afterwards

Degrees of comparison of Russian adverbs:

Sometimes you need to compare things like the intensity of action, speed etc. Degrees of comparison can only be formed from qualitative adverbs which means there's somthing to compare. The process is similar to that of adjectives: быстрый- более быстрый - самый быстрый (adjective, 'fast') - быстро - быстрее - быстрее всех (adverb,"fast","quickly").

 

Normal Comparative Superlative
no comparison show that the attribute or quality is stronger than in others shows the highest degree of a certain quality or attribute
быстро, медленно (fast, slow) он ехал быстрее, чем я; он ехал медленнее, чем ты (he was going faster than me, he was going slower than you) он ехал быстрее всех, он ехал медленнее всех (he was going faster than anybody = he was the fastest, he was going slower that anybody = he was the slowest)

 

Comparative degree could be simple and analytical. Simple is formed from the normal form by adding suffixes -ей, -ее, -ше, -же, -е, -че : глубоко - глубже (deep- deeper) ; широко - шире (wide - wider), легко - легче (easy - easier). Analytical is formed using words более or менее : более интересно (more interesting); менее грубо (less rude) etc

Superlative degree is normally formed analytically with the use of auxilary words наиболее, наименее, всего, всех : наиболее четко (in the most detailed way), наименее строго (the least strictly); дороже всех (the most expensively); удобнее всего (the most conveniently)

 

Read a dialog with adverbs in it :

  • Привет! Что ты так медленно идешь?
  • Привет я сильно устал. Я быстро бегал по стадиону.
  • Понимаю. Если тебе интересно я расскажу, чем я занимался.
  • Конечно интересно,  говори!
  • Я много читал. Больше всего мне понравилась статья о детях на Украине.
  • Как интересно!
  • Hi  Why are you walking so slow?
  • Hi ! I'm very tired. I was running fast on the stadium.
  • I see. If you're interested I'll tell you what I've been doing.
  • Sure I'm interested, go ahead and tell!
  • I've been reading a lot. Most of all I liked an article about kids in Ukraine.
  • How interesting!