Adverbs in Swedish: what they are and how they work
Before speaking further about adverbs, we must clarify adverb/adjective terminology.
The adverb in the Swedish language is called adverb. As the name suggests, ad‑verb, “to the verb” describes how, when, where, or to what degree something happens. In practice, Swedish adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and sometimes the whole sentence.
English vs. Swedish formation.
In English we often create adverbs with ‑ly: slow → slowly, clear → clearly. Swedish uses a different strategy: very often the adverb is the neuter (-t) form of the adjective, sometimes called the adjective’s t‑form. Because adverbs do not agree with nouns, they do not inflect, they keep that single form.
vacker → vackert → Sara sjunger vackert. (“Sara sings beautifully.”)
plötslig → plötsligt → Bilen stannade plötsligt. (“The car stopped suddenly.”)
noggrann → noggrant → Kocken arbetar noggrant. (“The chef works carefully.”)
There are also many independent adverbs that do not come from adjectives at all: inte (not), alltid (always), ofta (often), kanske (perhaps), tyvärr (unfortunately), här (here), hemma (at home), and so on.
What do adverbs modify?
Verbs – how an action happens
Tåget kom sent. (“The train arrived late.”)
Hon viskade tyst. (“She whispered quietly.”)Adjectives – degree/intensity
Filmen var ovanligt bra. (“The film was unusually good.”)
Det blev riktigt kallt. (“It became really cold.”)Other adverbs – degree of manner
Han sprang förvånansvärt snabbt. (“He ran surprisingly fast.”)Whole sentences – speaker’s attitude
Tyvärr kan jag inte komma. (“Unfortunately, I can’t come.”)
Kanske gör vi det i morgon. (“Perhaps we’ll do it tomorrow.”)
Adjectives change; adverbs don’t
Adjectives agree with the noun; adverbs don’t:
Adjectives: en stor katt, ett stort barn, stora katter and stora barn
Adverb (same form everywhere): Katten går tyst. Barnet sover tyst. Hundarna jagar tyst.
Adjective or adverb? The copula rule
With linking (copular) verbs such as vara (to be), bli (become), verka (seem), se… ut (look, appear), känna sig (feel), Swedish prefers an adjective, not an adverb:
-
“Musiken är hög“. (“The music is loud.”) — adjective
but Bandet spelade högt. (“The band played loudly.”) — adverb -
“Hon blev glad“. (“She became happy.”) — adjective
but “Hon log glatt“. (“She smiled happily.”) — adverb -
“Soppan verkar varm“. (“The soup seems hot.”) — adjective
but “Den ångar kraftigt“. (“It steams strongly.”) — adverb -
“Han ser glad ut“. — He looks happy.
(Adjective: glad – agrees with han) -
De ser glada ut. — They look happy.
(Adjective: glada – plural form to match de)Remember: With “se … ut”, you always use the adjective, not the adverb.
Degree adverbs and meaning shifts
Some words are adjectives on their own but become degree adverbs when we add ‑t to intensify another word. The meaning can shift:
Det var en förskräckligt rolig fest. (“The party was very fun.”) — förskräckligt = “very” (adverb)
Det var en förskräcklig fest. (“The party was terrible.”) — förskräcklig = “terrible” (adjective)
Other common degree adverbs: mycket, väldigt, ganska, lite, otroligt, riktigt.
Word order: where do sentence adverbs go?
Swedish has verb‑second (V2) order in main clauses. Sentence adverbs like inte, ofta, alltid, kanske, tyvärr usually come after the finite verb in a main clause, but before it in a subordinate clause.
Main clause: Jag läser ofta på kvällen. / I kväll läser jag tyvärr inte hemma.
Subordinate clause: … att jag ofta läser på kvällen; eftersom jag inte hinner.
Comparison of adverbs
Many adverbs compare like their adjectives; others are irregular:
snabbt – snabbare – snabbast (“fast – faster – fastest”)
ofta – oftare – oftast (“often – more often – most often”)
gärna – hellre – helst (“gladly – rather – preferably”)
mycket – mer – mest (“much/very – more – most”)
bra works as both adjective and adverb; its comparative/superlative are bättre – bäst.
