Some Italian adjectives can be easily turn into adverbs but adding –mente. For example, you can turn lento slow into lentamente slowly. Let’s see exactly how it works! If you don’t remember the difference between an adjective and an adverb, read our article Difference between adjectives and adverbs.
The rule
The rule is very simple: To form an adverb from an adjective, you should add -mente to the feminine singular form of the adjective:
LENTO > LENTA + MENTE = LENTAMENTE
Remember that adjectives ending in -e don’t change their form for the feminine, so if you have an -e adjective you basically take it as it is and add -mente. That’s very easy:
VELOCE + MENTE = VELOCEMENTE
There is another rule: Adjectives ending in –le and –re lose their e before –mente:
GENTILE > GENTIL + MENTE = GENTILMENTE
Some adverbs ending with -mente
Not every adjective can become an adverb by adding -mente, however this works for a lot of them.
| ADJECTIVE | ADVERB | ||
| lento | slow | lentamente | slowly |
| allegro | cheerful | allegramente | cheerfully |
| attento | careful | attentamente | carefully |
| coraggioso | brave | coraggiosamente | bravely |
| triste | sad | tristemente | sadly |
| veloce | fast, quick | velocemente | quickly |
| gentile | kind, polite | gentilmente | politely, kindly |
| possibile | possible | possibilmente | possibly |
| terribile | terrible, awful | terribilmente | terribly |
| particolare | peculiar, characteristic | particolarmente | particularly, especially |
