Adverbs of frequency (siempre, a veces, normalmente...)

Level A1 · Say how often you do things and how often things happen, using adverbs such as siempre, a veces and nunca.

Siempre desayuno a las siete. A veces voy al gimnasio.I always have breakfast at seven. Sometimes I go to the gym.

Adverbs of frequency answer the question "how often?". They don't change form, and they fit into almost any present-tense sentence, so they are one of the quickest ways to make your Spanish sound more natural. They go especially well with the regular verbs from the lessons on -ar verbs and -er and -ir verbs, since habits and routines are exactly what the present tense is used for.

Quick shortcut: the words run from siempre (always) through a veces (sometimes) to nunca (never). They can go before the verb (Siempre desayuno) or after it (Desayuno siempre), and after the verb nunca needs no in front of the verb (No fumo nunca, or simply Nunca fumo).

The main frequency adverbs

Roughly from most often to least often:

Adverb	Meaning	Example
siempre	always	Siempre desayuno a las siete. (I always have breakfast at seven.)
casi siempre	almost always	Casi siempre como en casa. (I almost always eat at home.)
normalmente, generalmente	usually	Normalmente trabajo desde casa. (I usually work from home.)
a menudo, con frecuencia, muchas veces	often	Mis amigos viajan a menudo. (My friends travel often.)
a veces, algunas veces	sometimes	A veces cocino para mis padres. (Sometimes I cook for my parents.)
de vez en cuando	from time to time	De vez en cuando leo el periódico. (From time to time I read the newspaper.)
casi nunca, rara vez	hardly ever, rarely	Casi nunca bebo café. (I hardly ever drink coffee.)
nunca	never	Nunca fumo. (I never smoke.)

A few things worth noticing:

Several of these are two or three words (a veces, de vez en cuando, casi nunca), but each one works as a single unit. Notice that a veces is two words: ✅ a veces, never ❌ aveces.
Adverbs don't agree with anything, so they keep the same form whoever the subject is: Ellos siempre llegan tarde, not ❌ siempres.
veces is feminine plural, so anything that describes it agrees: algunas veces, muchas veces.

Where the adverb goes

Spanish word order is flexible, and frequency adverbs move around easily. These are the most natural places:

Before the verb, right after the subject if there is one: Ana siempre llega tarde. (Ana always arrives late.) · Nunca fumo. (I never smoke.)
After the verb: Trabajo normalmente en casa. (I usually work at home.) · Llego siempre a las ocho. (I always arrive at eight.)
At the start or end of the sentence, which is especially common for the longer expressions: A veces cocino. / Cocino a veces. (Sometimes I cook.) · De vez en cuando leo el periódico. / Leo el periódico de vez en cuando. (From time to time I read the newspaper.)

Any of these is grammatical. Which one you choose is mostly a matter of rhythm and emphasis, and putting the adverb first draws a little extra attention to it. The same freedom applies with ser, estar and tener: Mi hermano siempre está cansado. / Mi hermano está siempre cansado. (My brother is always tired.) · Siempre tengo hambre. (I'm always hungry. See tener.)

Nunca, jamás and the double negative

nunca (never) and its stronger form jamás (never ever) have two equally correct positions:

Before the verb, with nothing else added: Nunca llego tarde. (I never arrive late.) · Jamás llego tarde. (I never, ever arrive late.)
After the verb, with no in front of the verb: No llego tarde nunca. · No llego tarde jamás.

Both mean the same thing. English doesn't double the negative in the same way, but in Spanish this is simply how a negative word works when it comes after the verb. casi nunca follows the same pattern: Casi nunca bebo café. / No bebo café casi nunca. (I hardly ever drink coffee.) The full rules for no have their own lesson: Negation with no.

How often, in time expressions

Besides single adverbs, Spanish uses time expressions to say how often something happens:

Expression	Meaning	Example
todos los días, todas las semanas	every day, every week	Estudio español todos los días. (I study Spanish every day.)
cada + singular noun	every	Llamo a mi madre cada semana. (I call my mother every week.)
los + day of the week	on Mondays, every Monday	Los lunes trabajo desde casa. (On Mondays I work from home.)
una vez, dos veces + por / a la + period	once, twice a week, month or year	Voy al gimnasio dos veces por semana. (I go to the gym twice a week.)
una vez al mes	once a month (see al and del)	Visito a mis abuelos una vez al mes. (I visit my grandparents once a month.)

todos and todas agree with the noun (todos los días, todas las mañanas), while cada never changes (cada día, cada mañana). These expressions usually go at the end or the start of the sentence.

To ask how often, Spanish uses ¿Con qué frecuencia...? or ¿Cuántas veces...?, and the answer is one of the adverbs or expressions above: ¿Con qué frecuencia comes fuera? (How often do you eat out?) · A veces. / Una vez a la semana. (Sometimes. / Once a week.)

Common mistakes

❌ Aveces voy al cine. → ✅ A veces voy al cine. (a veces is two words)
❌ Ellos siempres llegan tarde. → ✅ Ellos siempre llegan tarde. (adverbs don't take a plural ending)
❌ Fumo nunca. → ✅ No fumo nunca. (or Nunca fumo.; after the verb, nunca needs no in front of it)
❌ Estudio todos las mañanas. → ✅ Estudio todas las mañanas. (mañana is feminine, so it takes todas)
❌ Algunos veces cocino. → ✅ Algunas veces cocino. (veces is feminine)

Quick check

Which word or expression completes each sentence?

Ana ___ llega tarde. (never)
Practico deporte ___ los días. (every day)
Ellos ___ comen en casa. (usually)
___ voy al cine. (from time to time)
No cocino ___. (hardly ever)

Show answers

Ana nunca llega tarde. (or Ana no llega tarde nunca.) 2. Practico deporte todos los días. 3. Ellos normalmente comen en casa. (or generalmente) 4. De vez en cuando voy al cine. 5. No cocino casi nunca.

Key takeaways

The main frequency adverbs run from siempre through casi siempre, normalmente, a menudo, a veces and de vez en cuando to casi nunca and nunca.
Adverbs don't change form; veces is feminine plural, so algunas veces, muchas veces.
They can go before the verb, after the verb, or at the start or end of the sentence; the longer expressions like a veces and de vez en cuando are especially common at the start or end.
Before the verb, nunca and jamás stand alone; after the verb, they need no in front of the verb.
Time expressions such as todos los días, cada semana, los lunes and dos veces por semana also say how often; todos/todas agree with the noun, cada doesn't change.
¿Con qué frecuencia...? and ¿Cuántas veces...? ask how often.