Formation of Adverbs

In Persian, adjectives can function as adverbs: the word آرام can mean “slow” or “slowly”, depending on the context. Generally speaking, English does not have this grammatical feature but there are adjectives like “fast” that can have the role of an adverb. Additionally, certain nouns particularly those related to “time”, can have an adverbial role. For example, the noun دوشنبه (“došanbe”: Monday) can mean “on Monday” and its plural form دوشنبه‌ها (“došanbehâ”: Mondays) can mean “on Mondays”. In addition to the words of other parts of speech, there are words that are naturally adverbs: هرگز (“hargez”: never), همیشه (“hamiše”: always). There are also grammatical structures that can function as an adverb. For instance, the prepositional phrases به دقت (in a careful way) and با دقت (with care). These are called “adverbials”: a word or a group of words having the same function as an adverb.

Dative Adverbials

The combination of the dative preposition به (“be”; to) with nouns, constructs a prepositional phrase that can function as an adverb. This adverbial structure is very productive.

The suffix “-i” (ی) transforms an adjective into a noun. By replacing “noun” with “adjective + i” in the above structure, we can construct a dative adverbial from an adjective.

Regarding adjectives that end in a vowel other than “-e”, the epenthetic consonant “-y-” is added between the adjective and the suffix “-i”. In adjectives that end in “-e”, the consonant “g” appears between the adjective and the suffix. This consonant belongs to the older form of the word and is not the result of epenthesis.

Demonstrative Forms

The demonstrative adjectives این (“in”; this) and آن (“ân”; that) can be added to dative adverbials to create distal and proximal dative adverbials. For instance, به این سادگی means “so easily” but with a proximal sense i.e. “this easily, as easily as this”. Likewise, به آن سادگی means “so easily” but with a distal sense i.e. “that easily, as easily as that”.

• باورم نمی‌شود به این سادگی شکست خورده باشند
  ⟨bâvar-am nemišavad be in sâdegi šekast xorde bâšand⟩
  I cannot believe they have been defeated so easily
• به این زودی دارید می‌روید؟
  ⟨be in zudi dârid miravid?⟩
  Are you leaving already? (so early)

The following example demonstrates that distal and proximal adverbs can entirely change the meaning of a sentence:

• امروزه، پدر و مادرها فرزندانشان را به آن شدت تنبیه نمی‌کنند
  ⟨emruze, pedar-o-mâdarhâ farzandân-ešân râ be ân šeddat tanbih nemikonand⟩
  Today, parents do not punish their children so severely

  ---

  The distal demonstrative آن points to the past, to a period of time before now. Therefore, this sentence means that today, parents do not punish their children that much or as severely as parents generally did in the past generations.

• امروزه، پدر و مادرها فرزندانشان را به این شدت تنبیه نمی‌کنند
  ⟨emruze, pedar-o-mâdarhâ farzandân-ešân râ be in šeddat tanbih nemikonand⟩
  Today, parents do not punish their children so severely

  ---

  The proximal demonstrative این points to the present, to a time close to now. Therefore, this sentence means that today, parents do not punish their children as severely as the parents have done in this case.

Adverbs of Manner

There are certain structures that form a prepositional phrase and function as an adverb. They are comparable to English structures “in a … way” and “in a … manner”.

Forming Adverbs with به طور

The suffix “-i” (ی) transforms a noun into an adjective. Therefore, in the first formula, ADJECTIVE can be replaced with NOUN plus SUFFIX “-i” to construct and adverbial phrase from a noun. The adverb به طور رسمی, is obtained from the second formula.

• به طور معمول
  ⟨be towr-e maømul⟩
  normally
• به طور ساده
  ⟨be towr-e sâde⟩
  simply
• به طور مرتب
  ⟨be towr-e morattab⟩
  regularly
• به طور کامل
  ⟨be towr-e kâmel⟩
  completely
• به طور رسمی
  ⟨be towr-e rasmi⟩
  officially
• به طور متفاوت
  ⟨be towr-e motafâvet⟩
  differently
• به طور خودکار
  ⟨be towr-e xodkâr⟩
  automatically

Forming Adverbs with به طرز

The indefinite article is normally placed at the end of a noun phrase but it can be optionally placed directly after the noun replacing the genitive postposition “-e”. This is particularly use when adjectives end in the vowel “-i”. For instance, the adjective باور‌نکردنی (“bâvarnakardani”: unbelievable) normally forms the adverb به طرزی باور‌نکردنی. However, به طرز باور‌نکردنی‌ای is also possible and common.

• به طرز عجیبی
  ⟨be tarz-e ajib-i⟩
  به طرزی عجیب
  ⟨be tarz-i ajib⟩
  strangely
• به طرز شگفت‌آوری
  ⟨be tarz-e šegeftâvar-i⟩
  به طرزی شگفت‌آور
  ⟨be tarz-i šegeftâvar⟩
  amazingly
• به طرز خطرناکی
  ⟨be tarz-e xatarnâk-i⟩
  به طرزی خطرناک
  ⟨be tarz-i xatarnâk⟩
  dangerously
• به طرز باور‌نکردنی‌ای
  ⟨be tarz-e bâvarnakardani-i⟩
  به طرزی باور‌نکردنی
  ⟨be tarz-i bâvarnakardani⟩
  unbelievably
• به طرز چشمگیری
  ⟨be tarz-e češmgir-i⟩
  به طرزی چشمگیر
  ⟨be tarz-i češmgir⟩
  remarkably, dramatically

Instrumental Adverbials

The combination of the instrumental preposition با (“bâ”; with) with nouns, constructs a prepositional phrase that can function as an adverb. This structure is found in English (e.g. “with care”) but it is not as productive.

The instrumental case contains the sense of “using” and “being accompanied”, which is reflected in instrumental adverbials as well. For instance, the noun دقت (attention, care, precision) yields the adverbials ⟨با دقت⟩ and ⟨به دقت⟩. Both of them basically mean “carefully, attentively” but there is a nuance in their meaning.

• کارش را با دقت انجام داد
  ⟨kâr-aš râ bâ deǧǧat anjâm dâd⟩
  He did his job carefully
  (with care)
• او را به دقت زیر نظر گرفتم
  ⟨u râ be deǧǧat zir-e nazar gereftam ⟩
  I watched him carefully
  (in a careful manner)

Arabic Adverbs

Many Arabic adjectives and nouns have brought their adverbial form into Persian as well. These adverbs end in “-an”. It is generally possible to replace them with an equivalent adjective or an adverbial phrase. This has led to a rich and colorful set of synonymous adverbs.