--- title: "Adverbs: no -ly needed" level: A2 chapter: "Adjectives and adverbs" canonical: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/adverbs-no-ly updated: 2026-10-09 author: Dutch Fluency license: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) --- # Adverbs: no -ly needed To say how something happens, Dutch uses the plain adjective (the describing word as you find it in the dictionary). English turns quick into quickly, but Dutch adds nothing: _Ze zingt mooi_ means she sings beautifully, and _Hij rijdt snel_ means he drives fast. A word used like this is an adverb (a word that describes an action), and it gets no -e. ## The pattern > To say how something happens, use the adjective in its dictionary form. Dutch adds no -ly and no -e. - Most adjectives can do this job unchanged: _snel_ is fast and quickly, _mooi_ is beautiful and beautifully, _rustig_ is calm and calmly. - _goed_ means both good and well. Do not use _wel_ for well: it is a different word. - Comparatives work the same way: _langzamer_ means slower and more slowly. - The bare form also goes in front of another adjective: _heel koud_ (very cold), _erg duur_ (very expensive). - In the perfect tense, the adverb comes before the participle at the end: _Ik heb goed geslapen._ More on order in [time, manner, place](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/time-manner-place). ## Examples | Fatima zingt **mooi**. | Fatima sings beautifully. | | Daan fietst altijd **snel** naar zijn werk. | Daan always cycles to work quickly. | | De trein rijdt vandaag **langzaam**. | The train is running slowly today. | | Kunt u wat **langzamer** praten? | Could you speak a bit more slowly? | | De huisarts legt alles **duidelijk** uit. | The GP explains everything clearly. | | Mijn buurvrouw groet me altijd **vriendelijk**. | My neighbour always greets me in a friendly way. | | Je spreekt al **goed** Nederlands! | You already speak Dutch well! | | Emma heeft vannacht **goed** geslapen. | Emma slept well last night. | | Het is een **heel** koude dag. | It is a very cold day. | | Bas heeft een **erg** dure fiets gekocht. | Bas has bought a very expensive bike. | ## Why it works this way English uses -ly as a label that says: this word describes an action. Dutch skips the label. When a describing word says how an action happens, it works as an adverb and stays unchanged. Its position is not the clue: in _Hij koopt mooie bloemen_, _mooie_ comes right after the verb, but it describes the flowers, so it gets -e. Think of the -e as a handshake with a noun. In [adjective endings](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/adjective-endings) you saw that an adjective often adds -e when it stands in front of a noun. An adverb has no noun to shake hands with: it describes an action or another adjective, so it stays bare. Compare these pairs: - _Priya heeft een mooie stem._ (Priya has a beautiful voice.) Here _mooie_ describes the noun _stem_. - _Priya zingt mooi._ (Priya sings beautifully.) Here _mooi_ describes the singing. - _een vreselijk dure jas_: a terribly expensive coat - _een vreselijke, dure jas_: a horrible, expensive coat In the last pair, one letter changes the meaning. Without -e, _vreselijk_ describes _dure_. With -e, it describes the coat itself. In casual speech you will hear _een hele mooie dag_. Lots of people say it, but in writing and in exams, use _heel_. For more words like this, see [heel, erg and echt](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/intensifiers). Words such as _duidelijk_ and _vriendelijk_ end in _-lijk_, which looks a lot like -ly. Here _-lijk_ is simply part of the adjective, so _duidelijk_ means clear and clearly at once. Spanish speakers can forget about -mente too, and German speakers are in luck: German works the same way. Remember: no noun, no -e. If a word describes a thing, check the adjective rules. If it describes an action or another adjective, use the bare form, with no -e. ## Watch out - Not: _Lotte slaapt slechte._ Say: _Lotte slaapt slecht._ (_slecht_ says how she sleeps, and there is no noun, so no -e) - Not: _Joris heeft gefietst snel._ Say: _Joris heeft snel gefietst._ (the participle goes last, so the adverb comes before it) - Not: _Carlos praat langzame en duidelijke._ Say: _Carlos praat langzaam en duidelijk._ (both words say how he talks, so both stay plain) - Not: _Yara heeft een heel mooi jas._ Say: _Yara heeft een heel mooie jas._ (_heel_ stays bare, but _mooie_ describes _de jas_ and needs -e) ## Quick check 1. Choose: _Mei fietst ... naar de supermarkt._ (_voorzichtig_ or _voorzichtige_) 2. Choose: _Sanne heeft een ... auto._ (_snel_ or _snelle_) 3. Choose, for a very expensive phone: _Ahmed heeft een ... dure telefoon gekocht._ (_erg_ or _erge_) 4. Fix the sentence: _Bas heeft gewerkt hard._ ## Answers 1. _voorzichtig_: it says how Mei cycles, so no -e. 2. _snelle_: it describes the noun _auto_, a de-word after _een_, so it gets -e. 3. _erg_: it describes _dure_, not the phone, so it stays bare. 4. _Bas heeft hard gewerkt._ The adverb comes before the participle at the end. ## Use it today Tonight, write three Dutch sentences about how your day went: how you slept, how you travelled, how someone spoke to you. For example: _Ik heb slecht geslapen_ or _Ik ben rustig naar huis gefietst._ Check each one: no -ly thinking, and no -e. ## Questions learners ask **How do you make an adverb in Dutch?** For most adverbs that say how something happens, you simply use the adjective with no ending. Snel means both fast and quickly, and mooi means both beautiful and beautifully, so you do not add anything like -ly. **Is goed good or well in Dutch?** Both. Dutch uses goed as an adjective (een goed idee) and as an adverb (Je kookt goed), so there is no separate word for well. **Do Dutch adverbs get an -e ending?** No, not in standard Dutch. The -e belongs to adjectives in front of a noun, as in een snelle fiets, while a word that says how something happens stays bare, as in Hij fietst snel. In casual speech you will hear een hele mooie dag, but standard written Dutch uses heel. From the Dutch Fluency Grammar: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.