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Just as
adjectives can describe and modify nouns, adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and many other sentence elements. Like adjectives, adverbs
usually follow the word they modify and have only one form.
Examples: |
.xaven yartE nAvU blo
(.tsaven yartē nāvū blo)
It lives approximately ten days.
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.Kenen Kera b'riS
(.kenen kera b'rish)
She is very brave. |
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.recUrtantE selEt ago
(.rechūrtantē selēt ago)
The new students write well. |
Adverbs answer
the questions "how," "when," "where," and
"to what extent." Asking these questions is often one of the best
ways to figure out what word the adverb modifies if it's unclear. If we turn
the sentence Kenen Kera
b'riS, she is very brave, into an appropriate question, "How
brave is she?", the answer, very brave,
gives us both the adverb and the word it modifies. Thus we know that the adverb
is b'riS, very,
and that it modifies the adjective Kera, brave. We can ask similar questions for the
adverbs in the other two examples as well. How do the
students write? They write (selEt) well (ago). How are the ten days that it lives, in other words, to
what extent are the days that it lives ten? Those days amount
to ten (nAvU) only
approximately (blo).
One important
class of adverb is an exception to the placement rule: temporal adverbs, those
that express an aspect of time or frequency. Unlike most, these adverbs are
generally placed before the word they modify rather than after.
Examples: |
.renava preniv mEsen
(.renava preniv mēsen)
The master speaks again. |
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.gaT Ken erTtelrov
(.gath ken erthtelrov)
I am still a guildsman.
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.Atrus xan selen sevtE
(.ātrus tsan selen sevtē)
Atrus always writes Ages. |
Lesson 13
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