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I know there are adverbial forms of:

  • adjectives (Adj), 形容詞{けいようし} (連用形{れんようけい} - 早い→早く);
  • adjectival nouns (AdjN), 形容動詞{けいようどうし} (連用形{れんようけい} - 上手だ→上手に).

Are there adverbial forms of nouns (名詞{めいし}) and verbs (動詞{どうし})? If they do exist (regardless of semantics), is there a generic rule like Adjs's and AdjNs's or not? How can they be constructed?

Earthliŋ
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fill0llif
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1 Answers1

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Verbs

I don't think that the て-form and the continuative form verbs qualify as an "adverbial" form, but at least they add meaning to the following verb just like adverbs.

Compare these:

流れている (流れる, an ichidan verb, in the て-form)

ご飯を食べて寝る* (食べる, an ichidan verb, in the て-form)

*everything preceding the て-form verb is included in the "adverbial" clause

ゆっくり話す (just an adverb for comparison)

決して忘れない (This is an interesting one. It is an actual adverb, but clearly based on the verb 決する.)

抱きしめる* (抱く, a godan verb, in the continuative form)

*maybe it is the other way around here, しめる adding meaning to 抱く

早く寝る (早い, an i-adjective from your example)

It should be noted that these verb forms have many other uses in addition to modifying following verbs. For example, the continuative form is used create the て-form:

ichidan: 流れ(cont.)+て

godan: 抱い(alternative cont.)+て)

It attaches to a noun to create another kind of meaning:

やり(cont.)+方

The て-form can also be used in various ways that don't resemble adverbs in my opinion.

Nouns

As Igor Skochinsky pointed out in comments, you can actually add -的 to nouns to make them adjectival nouns and as you said in the question, it will become an adverb when you add -に. The resulting adverbs aren't guaranteed to make sense, but that wasn't a requirement. Other ways to use nouns as adverbs depend on the noun in question. Some examples below:

  • Temporal nouns like 今年 can be both adverbs and nouns without adding anything, and nouns like 後 can be turned into adverbs by adding に or で in addition to being an adverb on their own in some situations.

  • Any noun that works as a verb with する can be used with the て-form (して) like ichidan and godan verbs in the examples. Like the examples, this isn't an adverb but something resembling it.

Community
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siikamiika
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    what about -的 added to nouns? – Igor Skochinsky Apr 06 '17 at 13:30
  • What about the form 連用形{れんようけい}(_N_/_Adj_/_AdjN_)する/なる? Here a noun can also be used and his 連用形{れんようけい} is **Nに**. **Nに** is acting as an adverb in this case, right? – fill0llif Apr 12 '17 at 16:17
  • @fill0llif can you give an example? I understood you mean the 連用形 of a suru/naru verb that is (by definition) a noun and can also be an adjectival noun? In that case, it's like the second last example in the comparison list, maybe adverbial and maybe not. Example: **安心し**切る (n + 連用形 of する + 切る), **安心に**感じる (adjectival noun as an adverbial) – siikamiika Apr 12 '17 at 16:54
  • I actually think that the one in the answer and 安心し切る are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_verb#Japanese rather than anything related to adverbials, but their function is still similar so better let everybody decide for themselves – siikamiika Apr 12 '17 at 17:03
  • @siikamiika The expressions I was referring to are: - 連用形(_N_ / _Adj_ / _AdjN_)する - 塩の量を半分にしました; - 連用形(_N_ / _Adj_ / _AdjN_)なる - ２５歳になります. – fill0llif Apr 12 '17 at 17:55
  • Ah now I see. To me they look like noun + particle-に + する・なる(連用形). Where do you get the information that they would be N/Adj/AdjN? Anyway, in those examples the noun+particle+verb block doesn't act adverbially in my opinion because it just ends with the polite verb ます (unless you want to think that "doing something politely" is the main verb here :D). It falls inside the compound verb classification – siikamiika Apr 12 '17 at 18:01
  • And just to clarify, not just any noun + に is an adverbial. These two (半分, 歳) aren't. It only applies to adjectival nouns. Adverbial uses of 半分 are like 「半分握り締めた手」 "a half-clenched hand". According to my dictionary 半分 is a noun or an adverbial noun, not an adjectival noun – siikamiika Apr 12 '17 at 18:17
  • And finally, if the context makes the word that can be either noun or an adjectival noun a noun, the に following it won't mean that the noun is acting adverbially. Example: 「危険に勇敢に立ち向かう」"confront danger bravely" (lit. "to danger, bravely fight against"). 危険 is a N/AdjN but is a noun here and に is a particle meaning "to". 勇敢に is an adverbial, though. – siikamiika Apr 12 '17 at 18:42
  • Oh, got it, that's clear now, thank you very much. – fill0llif Apr 12 '17 at 19:10