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Italian Adverbs

Adverbs are generally used to qualify a verb. In this respect they're similar to adjectives, which are used for qualifying nouns. Adverbs are invariable. There're a different categories of adverbs, as you can see by looking at the following list.

• Formation of adverbs
• Comparision of adverbs
• Time and frequency adverbs
• Place adverbs
• Interrogative adverbs
• Negation adverbs

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Formation of Adverbs

The qualifying adverbs, which are derived from qualifying adjectives, are quite easy to form. adjectives in "-o" form the corresponding adverb by substituting "-amente" for it, while adjectives in "-e" form it by replacing it with "-mente":
coraggioso(brave, courageous)----->coraggiosamente
gentile(kind)----->gentilmente

Qualifying adverb usually follow the verb:
I soldati combatterono coraggiosamente, The soldiers fought courageously
But they can be placed before the verb, especially in literary Italian, if the speaker wants to stress the meaning of the adverb.
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Comparision of Adverbs

As for adjectives, you can have the comparative and superlative forms for advebs too. For the comparative form you can use the same pattern you use when you form the comparative of adjectives:

• X fa qualcosa più adverb di Y
  X does something more adverb than Y
• X fa qualcosa adverb come Y
  X does something as adverb as Y
• X fa qualcosa meno adverb di Y
  X does something less adverb than Y

The superlative can be formed in more than one way, but the easiest way is to follow the following pattern:
X fa qualcosa il più adverb possibile.

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Time and Frequency Adverbs

Time adverbs indicates the time or the frequency at which an action takes place.

Italian	English	Italian	English
òra, ormài, adèsso	now	allòra	then
dòpo	after	prìma	before
sèmpre	always, ever	spèsso	often
talvòlta, quàlche vòlta	sometimes	mài	never
prèsto	soon	tàrdi	late
ancòra	still, yet	ièri	yesterday
òggi	today	domàni	tomorrow
dopodòmani	the day after tomorrow	stamàni	this morning

"Mai" is quite a crazy word because when used in negative statements it mean "never":
Non sono mai stato in Inghilterra; I've never been in England
but when used in interrogative or conditional statements, in means "ever":
Sei mai stato in Inghilterra? Have you ever been in England?

Please note that in Italian:
negative+negative=more negative,
while in English:
negative+negative=affermative.

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Place Adverbs

Italian	English	Italian	English
qui,qua	here	là, lì	there
laggiù	over there, down there	lassù	up there
dentro	inside	dietro	behind
intorno, attorno	around	via	away
sotto	under,below	sopra	upon, above
dovunque, ovunque, dappertutto	everywhere	altrove	elsewhere somewhere else

These adverbs usually are placed after the verb, though other position are possible. Take look at the following examples:
Mi seguiva dovunque andassi he followed me everywhere I went.
Quei manifesti sono ovunque That posters are everywhere.
La pistola era lì, sotto il letto The gun was there, under the bed.
Andate via! Go away!

A lot of these adverbs can be used as prepositions
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Interrogative Adverbs

Interrogative adverbs are obviously used to ask questions about where, when, how something has been done. The most important are listed below:

• Come: it is used to ask how something is, happens or is done.
  Come stai? How are you?
  Come si dice "palla" in inglese? How do you say "palla" in English?
  Come funziona questa macchina? How does this machine work?
  Non so come sia successo. I don't know how it happened.
  
• Dove:it is used to ask where something is, happens or is done.
  Dov'è (dove è) la toilette Where is the toilette?
  Potrebbe dirmi dov'è la banca? Could you tell me where the bank is?
  Dove stai andando? Where are you going?
  
• Quando: it is used to ask when something is, happens or is done.
  Quando è il tuo compleanno? When is your birthday?
  Non sai quando si sono sposati? Don't you know when they get married?
  Quando parte il treno? When does the train leave?
  
• Da quando, da quanto tempo: it is used to ask how much time has elapsed since an action started.
  Da quanto tempo siete fidanzati? How long have you been engaged?
  Da quanto tempo lavori lì? How long have you worked there?
  
• Perchè:It is used to ask why something happens or is done. The answer always begin with "perché" again.
  Perchè non sei passato ieri? Why didn't you come over yesterday?
  Non so perchè succedono queste cose. I don't know why such things happen.
  

One thing we should examine more carefully is the word "quanto". It can mean both "how much" or "how many", but it is an adjective, not an adverb:
Quanto costano quelle mele? How much do those apples cost?
Though in the above expression the word seems to be used as an adverb, it isn't so, because you can think the word "denaro"(money) is understood after "quanto":
Quanto (denaro) costano quelle mele
Look at the Interrogative Pronouns and Adjectives page.
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Negation Adverbs

Negation adverbs are words which negate other words like verbs. There's an important rule in Italian you should get used to: two negation adverbs in the same sentence make the negation stronger. In English, the same sequence produces an affermation. Look at the following examples:
Non ho mai vissuto una ragazza così bella.
means:
I have never seen such a beatiful girl. OR I haven't ever seen such a beatiful girl.
In Italian both the verb and the adverb has a negative meaning. If you ignore the rule, you will have the impression that the Italian speaker is saying:
I haven't never seen such a beatiful girl. WHICH MEANS I have always seen such a beatiful girl.
I hope the explanation is clear!(^^) The most used are:

• Non: it is the most common form or negation. It is used in the negative for of verbs:
  Non sono Paolo I'm not Paolo
  Non andrò al cinema I won't go to the cinema
  Laura non è andata in Inghilterra quest' estate Laura didn't go to England this summer
  
• Nemmeno, neanche, neppure: these words are used in two ways.
  they can be used as the English "nor", when they follow a negative sentence: Paolo non va al cinema. Nemmemo io Paolo doesn't go to the cinema. Nor do I.
  If you want to express the opposite meaning, you have to use the conjunction "anche":
  Paolo va al cinema. Anche io Paolo goes to the cinema. So do I.
  
  They can be used to make the negation stronger, and to express surprise:
  Non vendono neanche i biglietti dell'autobus! They don't even sell the bus tickets!
  

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