German modal adverbs

Lesson outline

1.What are Modal adverbs?
2.The most important German modal adverbs in an overview
3.Answering questions with modal adverbs

What are Modal adverbs?

Modal adverbs are descriptive of how something is. That means you can use them for describing how an action is done. Additionally with them you can give information about the amount of something.

Have a question?

Take online language lessons with a professional teacher

Native & verified teachers
Free trial lesson
Learning materials included

Yannick S.

Manuela B.

Roman H.

Claus B.

Eleonora L.

Daniele D.

Marco S.

Uta H.

Svava W.

Belinda W.

Sign up for free

The most important German modal adverbs in an overview

Modal adverb	Translation	Example	Example translation
Gut	well	Mir geht es gut.	I'm doing well
Schlecht	bad	Das war nicht schlecht.	That wasn't bad
Mittelmäßig	average	Der Film war mittelmäßig.	The movie was average
So	like this / so	Das geht so.	It goes like this
Vorsichtig	carefully	Fahr vorsichtig!	Drive carefully!
Gerne	very much	Ich esse gerne Schokolade.	I like to eat chocolate very much
Langsam	slowly	Mein Computer arbeitet sehr langsam.	My computer works very slowly
Schnell	fast	Er rennt sehr schnell.	He's running fast
Anders	differently	Sie sieht anders aus als früher.	She looks different then before
Kaum	barely	Das glaube ich kaum.	I barely believe it
Leider	unfortunately	Das weiß ich leider nicht.	Unfortunately I don't know that
Sehr	very (much)	Ich freue mich sehr.	I'm very much looking forward to it
Vielleicht	Maybe	Vielleicht gehe ich später schwimmen.	Maybe I go swimming later
Reihenweise	In a row	Er aß reihenweise Chips.	He ate chips in a row
Größtenteils	mainly	Es war größtenteils seine Schuld.	It was mainly his fault
Genauso	the same way	Das sehe ich genauso.	I see it the same way
Äußerst	utterly	Das finde ich äußerst löblich von dir.	I think this is utterly commendable
Einigermaßen	somewhat	Ist das Sofa einigermaßen bequem?	Is the sofa somewhat comfortable?
Nur	only	Das schaffen wir nur, wenn wir trainieren.	We can only do this, if we practice
Zumindest	at least	Das ist zumindest mal ein Anfang.	That is at least a start
Folgendermaßen	as follows	Das geht folgendermaßen.	That works as follows
Fast	almost	Ich bin fast fertig mit dem Buch.	I am almost finished with the book
Möglicherweise	perhaps	Es gibt möglicherweise eine Alternative.	There is perhaps an alternative
Wirklich	really	Das ist wirklich toll!	That is really great

Answering questions with modal adverbs

You can use modal adverbs to answer questions like these:

Question	Question translation	Answer with modal adverb	Answer Translation
Wie geht es dir?	How are you doing?	Mir geht es gut.	I'm doing well
Auf welche Weise erfolgt das?	In which way will it happen?	Das verläuft anders als vorher.	It happens differently than before
Wie viel Speicher hat dein Computer noch?	How much memory does your computer have?	Mein Computer hat kaum noch Speicher?	My PC barely has any memory anymore
Wie sehr gefällt dir das?	How much do you like this?	Es gefällt mir einigermaßen.	I like it averagely

Now prove your knowledge with our exercises!