The adverb (ravish) is an independent part of speech that expresses a feature of an action: how, when, where, why, for what purpose and to what extent it is done. An adverb normally does not change: unlike a noun, it takes no case, possessive or plural suffixes. In a sentence it is almost always an adverbial and depends on a verb. The exam asks you to tell adverbs from adjectives, nouns and converbs, to identify the type of adverb and to recognise derived adverbs. Adverbs make speech precise: the difference between keldi (came) and kecha kechqurun shoshib keldi (came in a hurry yesterday evening) is created by adverbs.
§1. Types of adverbs by meaning
By meaning and question, adverbs fall into six types:
Manner (holat) — qanday? qay tarzda? (how? in what way?): asta, tez, sekin, piyoda, birdan, to‘satdan, zo‘rg‘a, yayov (slowly, quickly, quietly, on foot, at once, suddenly, barely, on foot).
Time (payt) — qachon? (when?): kecha, bugun, ertaga, hozir, endi, doim, hamisha, ilgari, kechqurun, ertalab (yesterday, today, tomorrow, now, from now on, always, always, earlier, in the evening, in the morning).
Place (o‘rin) — qayerda? qayerga? (where? where to?): yuqori, quyi, ichkari, tashqari, olg‘a, oldinda, uzoqda, yaqinda (up, down, inside, outside, forward, in front, far away, nearby).
Degree and quantity (miqdor-daraja) — qancha? qay darajada? (how much? to what degree?): ko‘p, oz, sal, juda, g‘oyat, nihoyatda, biroz, ancha (a lot, a little, slightly, very, extremely, exceedingly, somewhat, quite).
Cause (sabab) — nega? nima sababdan? (why?): noiloj, chorasiz, bekorga, nochor (having no choice, helplessly, in vain, reluctantly).
The type is identified by the question: qachon? — time, qayerda? — place, qanday? — manner, qancha? — degree, nega? — cause, nima maqsadda? — purpose.
Degree adverbs modify not only verbs but also adjectives and other adverbs: juda chiroyli (very beautiful), juda erta (very early). Here too they show the degree of a quality.
Worked example
Identify the adverbs in U ataylab kech keldi ("He came late on purpose").
ataylab answers nima maqsadda keldi? (for what purpose did he come?) → an adverb of purpose.
kech answers qachon keldi? (when did he come?) → an adverb of time.
Both depend on the verb keldi — they are adverbials.
Answer: an adverb of purpose and an adverb of time.
§2. Formation of adverbs
Adverbs are formed from other word classes with suffixes:
-an: tasodifan, majburan, qisman (by chance, by force, partly — from Arabic loanwords);
-lab: ertalab, oylab, yillab (in the morning, for months, for years);
-dek/-day: bolalardek, toshdek — comparison (like children, like a stone);
a fossilised case form: kechasi, ichkarida, ertaga, birga, birdan. The suffix no longer works as a case ending; it has merged with the word into one adverb.
-cha forms both nouns (qizcha, kitobcha — diminutives) and adverbs (o‘zbekcha). Decide the word class by the question.
By structure adverbs are of four kinds:
simple: tez, endi, ataylab;
compound: har doim, har zamon, bir yo‘la, hech qachon — written as separate words;
paired: erta-indin, asta-sekin, ilgari-keyin — with a hyphen;
reduplicated: asta-asta, tez-tez, oz-oz — with a hyphen.
Worked example
State the word class of the derived words in Mehmonlarni do‘stona kutib oldik va o‘zbekcha palov tortdik ("We welcomed the guests warmly and served them Uzbek pilaf").
do‘stona answers qanday kutib oldik? (how did we welcome them?) and is formed with -ona → an adverb of manner.
o‘zbekcha here answers qanday palov? (what kind of pilaf?) and depends on a noun → it acts as an adjective.
So a word with the same suffix can belong to different classes depending on what it is linked to.
Answer: do‘stona is an adverb; o‘zbekcha in o‘zbekcha palov is an adjective.
§3. Degrees of adverbs
Some qualitative adverbs, like adjectives, have degrees:
tez — tezroq — eng tez, erta — ertaroq — juda erta
comparative with -roq: Bugun ertaroq keldim (I came a bit earlier today);
superlative with eng, juda, g‘oyat: eng tez yugurdi (ran the fastest), juda sekin gapirdi (spoke very quietly).
Degrees are formed mainly by adverbs of manner and time; adverbs of purpose and cause have none: ✗ ataylabroq. To tell an adverb in a degree form from an adjective, again check the link: tezroq yur (walk faster) — adverb (with a verb), tezroq poyezd (a faster train) — adjective (with a noun).
§4. Telling adverbs from other word classes
The same word may belong to different classes depending on its role:
tez poyezd — adjective (quality of a thing) · tez yurdi — adverb (quality of an action)
kecha kirib keldi — adverb (time: yesterday) · kecha qorong‘i edi — noun (night)
Main criterion: an adverb depends on a verb and shows a feature of an action; an adjective depends on a noun and shows a feature of a thing. Two more things must not be confused with adverbs:
Converbs — verb forms (kulib, o‘qigach, yugurib): they can also be adverbials, but they have a verb root and a verbal suffix, and take voice and negation: kulmasdan (without laughing).
Nouns in the locative (hovlida, maktabda, kuzda — in the yard, at school, in autumn): they can also be adverbials, but they decline: hovli, hovliga, hovlidan.
Not every adverbial is an adverb: it may be expressed by an adverb, a converb, a noun or another word.
§5. The adverb in the sentence
Adverbial (main role): Biz ertaga jo‘naymiz (time: we leave tomorrow), U sekin gapirdi (manner: he spoke quietly), Bolalar tashqarida o‘ynaydi (place: the children play outside), U ataylab kechikdi (purpose: he was late on purpose).
Sometimes a predicate: Majlis ertaga. (The meeting is tomorrow.) — an adverb of time acting as the predicate.
With an adjective it shows the degree of a quality: juda chiroyli gul (a very beautiful flower) — juda depends on the adjective.
Do not confuse it with an adjectival attribute: in ertangi kun (tomorrow’s day) ertangi is an adjective (formed with -gi and linked to a noun).
Worked example
Is there an adverb in Bolalar hovlida qiyqirib o‘ynashardi ("The children were playing in the yard, shrieking with joy")?
hovlida — a noun in the locative; it answers qayerda? but declines → not an adverb.
qiyqirib — a converb in -(i)b, a verb form → not an adverb.
Both are adverbials, but they are expressed by other word classes.
Answer: there is no adverb in this sentence.
§6. Spelling of adverbs
Compound adverbs are written as separate words: har doim, har zamon, bir yo‘la, hech qachon.
Some adverbs are written solid because they have become single words: birdan, birga, hamisha, allaqachon, ertalab.
Paired and reduplicated adverbs take a hyphen: asta-sekin, tez-tez, ora-sira.
The suffixes -larcha and -ona are written solid: qahramonlarcha, mardona.
When in doubt, check whether the word gives a single meaning: birdan (suddenly) is one adverb, written solid; bir dona (one piece) is a numeral plus a classifier, written separately.
Because adverbs normally do not change, their spelling mostly comes down to choosing between solid, separate and hyphenated writing. So it is worth memorising the spelling of the most common adverbs.
Worked example
Which of asta sekin, har doim, birdan is spelt incorrectly?
asta-sekin is a paired adverb and needs a hyphen.
har doim is a compound adverb; separate spelling is correct.
birdan is a single adverb; solid spelling is correct.
Answer: asta sekin is wrong; the correct form is asta-sekin.
Check yourself
Which type of adverb is zo‘rg‘a?
Which type of adverb is noiloj?
How is mardona formed?
What structural type is tez-tez?
Which word class is kecha in Kecha ajoyib edi?
Which part of the sentence is ertaga in Majlis ertaga?
Which type of adverb is jo‘rttaga?
Is qiyqirib an adverb?
Common mistakes
Identifying the word class by form rather than function: tez with a noun is an adjective.
Calling a converb an adverb: qiyqirib, kulib are verb forms.
Treating every word in -cha as an adverb: qizcha is a noun.
Taking a noun in the locative for an adverb of place: maktabda is a noun.
Assuming every adverbial is expressed by an adverb.
Writing compound adverbs as one word: ✗ hardoim.
Score: 0 / 8 correct (0 attempted)
Purpose (maqsad) — nima maqsadda? (for what purpose?): ataylab, atayin, jo‘rttaga, qasddan (on purpose, deliberately).