Adjectives and Adverbs

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Adjectives, adverbs

and comparisons

Aim of this lesson

You know:

• the difference between adjectives and adverbs and comparisons
  
• how to form them
  
• how to use them

Adjectives

(bijvoegelijke naamwoorden)

1. Frank is a good singer 

2. My brother is a careful driver.

3. This is a really big school.

An adjective describes something or someone, it says something about the noun (zelfstandig naamwoord). 

Adverbs

1. Frank sings well. 

2. My brother drives carefully.

Adverbs (Bijwoorden) beschrijven andere woorden. Ze geven aan hoe iets wordt gedaan. Ze slaan dan ook vaak terug op een werkwoord dat in de zin wordt genoemd. Frank zingt mooi. Zingt is het werkwoord.

An adverb can also describe an adjective.

1. Frank is an extremely good singer.

2. My brother is an awfully careful driver.

3. It's an absolutely perfect video clip.

4. This is a really big school.

An adverb can also describe anothe adverb in the sentence.

1. Frank sings absolutely beautifully.

2. My brother drives really well.

3. That clip was filmed extremely perfectly. 

To summarize

Een bijwoord verwijst naar een van de volgende dingen.

1. Een werkwoord

2. Een bijvoeglijk naamwoord

3. Een ander bijwoord

-ly

Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly after the adjective.

Beautiful - beautifully

Remember! Sometimes the spelling of the adverb changes. 

Terrible - terribly

Easy - easily

Fantastic - fantastically

Irregular  adverbs

There are also irregular adverbs. The adverb for good is  well - She's a good performer. She performs well. 

A few adverbs have the same form as the adjective.

Fast (snel), fair (sportief/eerlijk), low, high, hard, long, late, loud  and straight (onmiddelijk) - He's a fast driver, He drives fast. 

Pay attention!

If you use a 'verb of the senses' (een zingtuiglijk werkwoord, waarmee je iets doet met je zintuigen), you use an adjective where you should normally use an adverb. 

Your senses are your eyes, nose, mouth, fingers and ears, so 'verbs of the senses' are: see, smell, taste, feel, hear

For example: 

The song sounds beautiful. (not beautifully). 

The softness of your jacket feels good. (not well)

Comparisons

Vergrotende trap

Deze boot is mooier dan die boot.

This boat is more beautiful than that boat.

James is ouder dan John. James is older than John. 

Overtreffende trap

Deze boot is het mooiste. This is the most beautiful boat.

James is het oudste. James is the oldest.

Comparisons

Which one is the adjective?

1. Beautiful
2. Well
3. Normally
4. Wonderfully

The singer sings really ...

1. Good
2. Well

This hamburger tastes ...

1. Awful
2. Awfully

You can ... open the box.

1. Easy
2. Easily
3. Easyly

The football players ... sang along with the national anthem.

1. passionate
2. passionately

Jamie Oliver cooks ...

1. Fantastic
2. Fantasticly
3. Fantastically

I think this is ... painting in this museum.

1. Most beautiful
2. the beautifullest
3. the most beautiful
4. beautifullest

The man ... walked to the baker's.

1. joyful
2. joyfully

Dutch students are .... German students.

1. As good as
2. As well as
3. Better
4. Good