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Gothic/3/Adverbs

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Introduction to Adverbs

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An adverb is a word or an expression that modifies a verb. For example: The man hardly works. The adverb hardly modifies the verb work

In Gothic, most adverbs are formed from adjectives using the suffix -ba. Examples: mikils great; mikilaba greatly; raihts right; raihtaba rightly.

Another way Gothic created adverbs was through the suffix -o. Some examples:

Gothic English
andaugjo openly
analeiko in the same manner
sinteino continually
sprauto quickly
sniumondo quickly, with haste

Comparative Degree

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The comparative degree of adverbs generally end in -is, -os. Examples:

Gothic English
aris earlier
faurþis beforehand
framis further
hauhis higher
sniumondos with more haste

Superlative

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Only two adverbs of the superlative degree are attested:

Gothic English
frumist first of all
maist most of all

Adverbs of Time

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Adverbs of time are expressed either by simple adverbs such as:

Gothic English
air early
ƕan when
ju already
nu now
þan then

Or by oblique cases of nouns and pronouns such as:

Gothic English
himma daga today
gistradagis tomorrow
du maurgina tomorrow
dagis ƕizuh day by day
ni aiw never

Adverbs of Place

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Adverbs of place end in -r or -a. Some examples:

Gothic English
aljar elsewhere
her here
ƕar where
þar there
faura before

Adverbs of Motion

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Adverbs of motion have either no suffix or end in -þ(d), -dre. Some examples:

Gothic English
dalaþ down
ƕaþ, ƕadre whither
jaind, jaindre thither
hidre hither

Adverbs with the Genitive Case

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The genitive case is something used adverbially as allis wholly; andwairþis over against; nahts at night; and raihtis indeed.