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Avverbi di maniera
Adverbs of manner express how the action of a verb occurs. In English, the vast majority of adverbs of manner end in -ly, whereas in Italian, they mostly end in –mente. In Italian (and English), many of these adverbs are created from adjectives, as follows.
Most of the time, take the feminine adjective and add –mente:
| Masculine | Feminine | Adverb | Translation | ||
| aperto | aperta | apertamente | openly | ||
| attento | attenta | attentamente | carefully | ||
| felice | felice | felicemente | happily | ||
| lento | lenta | lentamente | slowly | ||
| risoluto | risoluta | risolutamente | resolutely | ||
| stanco | stanca | stancamente | tiredly |
Exception: For adjectives that end in –le, –lo, or –re, the final vowel is dropped before adding –mente:
| facile | facile | facilmente | easily | ||
| particolare | particolare | particolarmente | particularly |
Adverbs that describe body movement or position are often created by adding –oni to verb stems (infinitive minus ending) and nouns.
| Adverb | Translation | ||||
| ciondolare | ciondol- | ciondoloni | with arms dangling | ||
| gatto | gatt- | gattoni | catlike |
A few Italian adverbs of manner aren’t derived from other words:
| bene | well | |
| come | as, like | |
| insieme | together | |
| male | poorly, badly | |
| meglio | better | |
| peggio | worse | |
| volentieri | gladly |
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Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.
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