N2 Adverbs
Adverbs are easily the hardest part of learning new vocabulary for me. They can completely alter the meaning of a sentence but they just slip from my mind so easily, I often need to read them in a wide variety of sentences before the meaning will stick in my head. Very occasionally, they will just stick but more often than not, I’ll end up having to look it up despite knowing I’ve seen it before. A giant list is probably not the most useful way of presenting these, but I intend to use this as a basis for an Anki deck, which should hopefully get some of these to finally stick in my head.
Starting with ones that I can remember without any trouble (finally):
まるで－quite, entirely, as if, as though わざと－on purpose 一切－いっさい－all, everything, the whole ようやく－finally, at last いつの間にか－いつのまにか－before one knows it 一応－いちおう－roughly, somewhat, once, tentatively, just in case ひょっとする－perhaps, maybe, possibly 既に－すでに－already, too late 何とか－なんとか－something or other, so-and-so 必死に－ひっしに－frantically, desperately 早速－さっそく－at once, immediately そのまま－without change, as it is めったに－rarely, seldom (used with verbs in negative form) 万一－まんいち－by some chance
Next, ones that either take me a couple of seconds to remember or that I can work out the meaning of:
改めて－あらためて－another time, again, over again 中でも－なかでも－among (other things) 近々－ちかぢか－soon, before long はるかに－far off, in the distance, long ago 案外－あんがい－unexpectedly 自ら－みずから－for one’s self, personally よほど－very, greatly 当分－とうぶん－for the present, currently
And finally, a whole load of adverbs that just won’t stay in my head.
ちっとも－not at all (used with verbs in negative form) めっきり－remarkably まさに－exactly, surely, certainly 思い切って－おもいきって－resolutely, boldly, daringly しきりに－frequently, repeatedly, often かえって－on the contrary, rather, instead あらかじめ－beforehand, in advance, previously ぐっと－suddenly, at once, in one go たちまち－at once, in a moment, suddenly 今に－before long, even now わずか－only, merely 実に－じつに－indeed, really, absolutely ぼんやり－dimly, faintly, vaguely 一段と－いちだんと－more, much more 決まって－きまって－always, without fail, usually ひとまず－for the present, once, in outline 次第に－しだいに－gradually せっせと－diligently, industriously 必ずしも－かならずしも－(not) always, (not) necessarily, (not) entirely じっくり－deliberately, carefully
This isn’t the full list of adverbs that are needed at N2 level, just the ones I picked out from maybe the first fifth of my book. There’s still many more that I struggle to remember, including all the ones that include 今, so you can probably expect another list like this at some point.
Hmmm, now that you mention it, I feel the same way about a lot of them. Maybe the ones you and I can’t remember just don’t come up very often?
