当你想说某人怎样做某事时——不只是说他开车,而是说他 carefully 开车——英语会用一个方式副词。She speaks quietly. He works hard. They sang beautifully. 这些小词通常来自形容词,而且大多数都遵循一个简单的规律。
方式副词描述一个动词(动作),回答*怎样?*这个问题——How does she speak? Quietly.
快速提示:大多数方式副词只要给形容词加上 -ly——slow → slowly、careful → carefully、quiet → quietly。有几个常用词是不规则的(下面会看到),但 形容词 + -ly 涵盖了大部分方式副词。
从形容词构成副词
大多数方式副词就是形容词 + -ly:
slow → slowly · quiet → quietly · careful → carefully · bad → badly
有些在加 -ly 时拼写会变化:
| 形容词结尾 | 副词结尾 | 例子 |
|---|---|---|
| 辅音 + -y | -ily | happy → happily、easy → easily、angry → angrily |
| 辅音 + -le | 去掉 e,加 -y | gentle → gently、simple → simply、terrible → terribly |
| -ic | -ically | automatic → automatically、dramatic → dramatically |
少数较短的形容词保留 -y,只加 -ly(shy → shyly);-ic 的一个常见例外是 public → publicly。
不规则副词
一小组日常词不加 -ly。最重要的是 good,它的副词是 well:
- ✅ She's a good singer. She sings well.——在标准英语里,而不是 ❌ She sings good.
有几个形容词与副词形式相同——完全不加 -ly:
| 形容词 | 副词 | 例子 |
|---|---|---|
| fast | fast | He runs fast.(绝不是 ❌ fastly) |
| hard | hard | They work hard. |
| late | late | I arrived late. |
| early | early | She got up early. |
有两个词需要特别小心——它们看起来像 hard 和 late 的副词,意思却完全不同:
- hardly = 几乎不——I hardly slept.(不是 hard 的副词)
- lately = 最近——Have you seen him lately?(不是 late 的副词)
副词放在哪里
方式副词通常放在动词之后,或动词 + 宾语之后。要避免的位置是动词和短宾语之间:
- ✅ She speaks English fluently. / ❌ She speaks fluently English.
- ✅ He opened the box carefully. / ❌ He opened carefully the box.
没有直接宾语时,它常常紧跟在动词后面:They waited patiently. 想要略显正式的语气,它也可以放在主要动词之前:She carefully opened the box.
形容词还是副词?
这是几乎让所有人都犯难的选择。形容词描述名词(人或物);方式副词描述动词(动作):
- a quick runner(形容词 + 名词)→ She runs quickly.(动词 + 副词)
- a beautiful voice → ✅ She sings beautifully.,绝不是 ❌ She sings beautiful.
所以,当一个词说明动作怎样发生时,几乎总是需要 -ly 副词。
在中文里,状语通常用助词 地 来标记:安静 → 安静地说、认真 → 认真地看。英语则用 -ly 来标记(careful → carefully)——道理相通,新的地方在于不能直接用光秃秃的形容词:❌ She sings beautiful。另外,中文的「好」在英语里要分成 good(形容词)和 well(副词)。
有一个重要的例外。在 be 以及 look、feel、smell、taste、sound 等感官动词之后,英语用形容词,因为这个词描述的是主语,而不是动作:
- ✅ The soup smells good.(不是 ❌ smells well)
- ✅ You look tired. — ✅ That sounds great.
(值得注意:well 也可以是形容词,意思是健康——I feel well today——所以 feel well 也是对的。)
常见错误
- ❌ She sings very beautiful. → ✅ She sings very beautifully.
- ❌ He drives too fastly. → ✅ He drives too fast.
- ❌ I speak English good. → ✅ I speak English well.
- ❌ They work very hardly. → ✅ They work very hard.(hardly 意思是几乎不)
- ❌ He speaks English perfect. → ✅ He speaks English perfectly.
- ❌ She speaks fluently French. → ✅ She speaks French fluently.
小测验
选出正确的词:
- He always drives ____ (careful / carefully).
- She speaks three languages ____ (fluent / fluently).
- I can't hear you — you're speaking very ____ (quiet / quietly).
- They worked ____ (hard / hardly) all weekend.
- This cake tastes ____ (good / well).
显示答案
- carefully 2. fluently 3. quietly 4. hard 5. good(taste 是感官动词,所以用形容词)
要点回顾
- 方式副词说明动作怎样发生,描述动词:She sings well。
- 大多数是形容词 + -ly(slow → slowly),并对 -y(happy → happily)、-le(gentle → gently)和 -ic(automatic → automatically)有拼写变化。
- 关键不规则形式:good → well;fast、hard、late、early 保持相同形式(绝不是 ❌ fastly)。
- 副词放在动词或其宾语之后,而不是中间:✅ speaks English fluently。
- 在 be 和 look、smell、taste 等感官动词之后,用形容词而不是副词:✅ It smells good。