Irregular adverbs
In most cases, to create an adverb we simply add –ly to the adjective:
Quick becomes quickly, slow becomes slowly, etc.
Some adverbs are irregular, however. Here’s a list of common irregular adverbs in English:
| Irregular adverbs | |
| Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective (e.g. slow ⇒ slowly). Here is a list of irregular adverbs, i.e. adverbs which do not follow the normal rule. | |
| Adjective | Adverb |
| good | well |
| fast | fast |
| hard | hard |
| late | late |
| early | early |
| daily | daily |
| straight | straight |
| wrong | wrong, wrongly |
Here are some example sentences:
- He drives too fast.
too fastly
- He speaks good English. / He speaks English well.
- My mother always worked hard.
always worked hardly
- They arrived late for the party.
arrived lately
Anonymous - September 21, 2015, 3:12 pm
I found this very helpful
Thank you
Anonymous - October 26, 2016, 8:54 pm
yes
Anonymous - October 22, 2024, 7:23 am
Me too
bahodir - September 25, 2015, 1:49 pm
useful for me
Iloveengland - October 14, 2015, 10:40 pm
What about “lately”? I’ve seen that word many times…
Stuart Cook - October 15, 2015, 1:21 pm
Yes, lately is an adverb, but it doesn’t correspond to the adjective late; it means recently:
I haven’t seen him lately.
or
I haven’t seen him recently.
Anonymous - November 8, 2015, 6:44 pm
what is the adverb for sooner and later
Anonymous - August 24, 2016, 4:35 pm
“Sooner” is a comparative, therefore it does not have an adverb. However, “soon” is an adjective and aI would dare to say that its adverb is “promptly”
Margaret_Gloag - September 8, 2016, 5:54 pm
How about using shortly as an adverb for sooner? Or earlier, since sooner suggests the arrival will be earlier than expected? Promptly indicates the arrival will be at the exact time.
Drkha - August 28, 2018, 6:22 pm
Short is an adjective that is the opposite of ” long”. Shortly” is another word to say ” soon” though.
Prosper - January 9, 2021, 1:05 pm
Good and thanks for your teachings
Anonymous - December 23, 2020, 1:38 pm
That was helpful thanks!
John Morgan - December 10, 2015, 12:20 pm
Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective (e.g. slow ⇒ slowly).
BUT most adjectives ending in y change the y to i and add ly (e.g. easy ⇒ easily)
Exceptions to this are when the y has the /ɑı/ sound, not the /Iː/ sound: shy ⇒ shyly, sly ⇒ slyly
As Stuart Cook says, lately means recently.
Also the adverb for hard is usually hard (e.g. He hit it hard)
Hardly is used to mean unkindly or harshly – (e.g. He treated her hardly)
but more usually to mean very scarce – (e.g. There’s hardly any sugar left)
or almost not – (e.g I can hardly see it.)
Anonymous - December 6, 2023, 3:11 am
Thanks for the detailed description.
Mbali - February 7, 2016, 8:52 pm
Can you give me sentences with fast, hard, late working as adjective and adverb
Stuart Cook - February 8, 2016, 10:25 pm
He’s a hard worker. (adjective)
He works hard. (adverb)
He’s a fast driver. (adjective)
He drives fast. (adverb)
He was a late developer. (adjective)
He arrived late. (adverb)
Anonymous - March 9, 2017, 11:25 am
what’s the adverb of fat, small, old , tall
Stuart Cook - March 14, 2017, 12:25 pm
Some adjectives cannot be made into adverbs, such as the ones you’ve listed.
Kayode - September 19, 2017, 10:01 am
What of:
David is growing old? Is ‘old’ not answering the question how?
Stuart Cook - September 27, 2017, 8:52 am
No, it is saying what he is becoming, not describing how he is doing it. Compare:
‘He’s growing old. ‘(old = adjective)
‘He’s growing quickly.’ (quickly = adverb)
Secrets of hearts - November 7, 2020, 12:09 pm
Excellent great response
Alexander Semochkin - March 27, 2017, 11:37 pm
There are adjectives ending in -ly, such as friendly, lonely. How do I form the adverbs or are they the same?
Milla - May 19, 2017, 11:35 am
some words ending in -ly are adjectives like the ones you mentioned in above and costly, cowardly, deadly, likely, lively, lonely, lovely, silly, ugly, unlikely. there are no adverb forms but we can use them like:
she smiled in a friendly way.
He gave a silly laugh.
daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early and leisurely are both adjectives and adverbs.
anon - December 13, 2017, 5:47 pm
I thought you could change -ly adjectives to -ily adverbs? For example happy becomes happily
Abeer - May 2, 2018, 6:23 pm
Yep like “happy” becomes “ happily “
mimi - January 15, 2018, 11:56 pm
great question.
Anonymous - April 22, 2020, 2:23 am
I have seen ‘straightly’ as an adv.what is the diff.betwn straight and straightly as an adv?
I want a sentence using ‘so’ as an adv of manner.
Anonymous - January 20, 2021, 12:56 pm
I’ve also read that lively and far are irregular adjectives, Is that correct?
Stuart Cook - January 30, 2021, 1:59 pm
‘Lively’ is an adjective (‘lively party’, ‘lively atmosphere’, etc.). There is no adverb equivalent.
Yes, ‘far’ could be termed irregular, coming form the adjective ‘far’ (‘the far reaches of the universe’) and not having an -ly ending.
Yeseniya - October 11, 2021, 3:25 pm
How to make adverb for “bad”?
Stuart Cook - October 18, 2021, 9:12 am
badly
Sussy Baka Anonymus - December 19, 2022, 7:21 am
You can add more of them
Sussy Baka Anonymus - December 19, 2022, 7:21 am
You can add more of them.
Carol - June 23, 2023, 12:13 am
I’m looking for adverbs that are irregular because they’re formed from a noun + ly, as in “purposely,” which to me means something slightly different from “purposefully.” Purposely seems to have been around since 1800 at least (see etymonline). Is it the only adverb formed this way?
Amani - November 15, 2023, 7:31 pm
Is there an adjectif that I cannot add ly to change it to an adverb?