- What is an adverb of time?
- Examples of adverbs of time
- Sentences with adverbs of time
- Other types of adverb
We explain what adverbs of time are, their function, examples and their use in sentences. Also, other types of adverbs.
What is an adverb of time?
Adverbs of time are one of the different types of adverb contemplated by the Spanish language, that is, words that fulfill a modifying function of other words, in this case of verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, and even of prayers whole. Its name comes from the Latin word adverbium, made up of the words ad- ("Towards") and verbum ("verb").
In general, adverbs are pieces of the idiom that do not vary their form and that have their own lexical meaning, linked to a certain circumstance such as a place, a way of doing things, or in the specific case that concerns us, a certain time or a historical, chronological relationship, within the sentence. That is why we refer to adverbs of time.
In this way, adverbs of time indicate the specific time in which an event takes place, with respect to others, or ourselves, or we refer to a specific historical context that we wish to allude to.
In addition, together with the adverbs of place, mode and quantity (or degree), they serve to express a concrete relationship with the real, while other types of adverbs such as those of doubt, order or exclamation have more to do with a reality subjective (mental) of who uses them.
Examples of adverbs of time
Some examples of adverbs of time are the following: before, later, after, soon, still, still, already, yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day before yesterday, always, never, hardly, soon, last night, right away, now, while, previously, formerly, yesteryear, when, the night before last, recently, recently, and so on.
Sentences with adverbs of time
As an example of use, here are some sentences with highlighted time adverbs:
- I will try to arrive immediately, but I am late, as always.
- My soccer team recently won a game that they used to lose before.
- Are you going out now? It is still early.
- Yesterday we went to that place I once dreamed of.
- Today I will stop smoking.
- That's what you said the day before yesterday.
- I'll clear the table while you come back from the supermarket.
- As soon as a drop of rain falls, we will go home in no time.
Other types of adverb
In addition to adverbs of time, there are other adverbial categories, such as:
- Adverbs of place. As their name says, they express a spatial relationship in the sentence, that is, they indicate where a referent is located. For example: there, here, there, outside, up, down, inside, between, etc.
- Adverbs of manner. They are those that describe a specific way in which things happen or in which certain actions are carried out. For example: fast, good, bad, better, quick, regularly, etc.
- Quantity adverbs. They are those that express a proportion in which things occur, that is, a degree in which something happens. For example: a little, a lot, a lot, more, less, etc.
- Adverbs of order. They are those that express a chronological or continuity relationship, that is, of order between the referred references. For example: first, then, after, etc.
- Adverbs of doubt. In this case, they express a certain degree of uncertainty on the part of the speaker regarding what was said or something that could happen. For example: surely, perhaps, perhaps, probably, etc.
- Affirmative and negative adverbs. As their name indicates, they serve to affirm or deny situations, that is, to express a certain degree of agreement with what has been said. For example: yes, no, certainly, exact, never, never, etc.
- Interrogative and exclamatory adverbs. Those that allow the introduction of sentences interrogatives or exclamatory, respectively, and therefore tend to be accentuated. For example: where, when, how, what, who, etc.