The 116 most common German adverbs

These are the 116 adverbs among the 500 most common German words, in the order a corpus of everyday writing says you will meet them.

Meanings are given in English on this page. In the app they appear in your own language, translated on your device.

#	Word	Type	Meaning
13	nicht	Adverbs	not, non-
21	auch	Adverbs	also, too
29	so	Adverbs	so, thus; like this
37	noch	Adverbs	still, yet; another
38	nur	Adverbs	only, just
40	gut	Adverbs	well (accurately, competently, satisfactorily)
52	dann	Adverbs	then, after that
53	schon	Adverbs	already (happening rather early, continuing rather long)
55	ja	Adverbs	obviously; certainly; of course; as you know
64	mal	Adverbs	times (indicating multiplication of two numbers)
66	hier	Adverbs	here; in this place
72	jetzt	Adverbs	now (at this moment, right now)
73	immer	Adverbs	at all times without exception
76	ganz	Adverbs	quite, rather
78	wieder	Adverbs	again
80	sehr	Adverbs	very
91	einfach	Adverbs	easily
103	weit	Adverbs	far
118	heute	Adverbs	today
122	gerade	Adverbs	now (at the moment)
128	hoch	Adverbs	up, upwards
135	schön	Adverbs	well, beautifully
136	dabei	Adverbs	with one, on one
140	gleich	Adverbs	alike
141	dort	Adverbs	there, yonder
142	recht	Adverbs	very, quite, rather, pretty, fairly
146	wirklich	Adverbs	really, actually
147	richtig	Adverbs	really
148	erst	Adverbs	first, at first
149	warum	Adverbs	why; for what reason
150	weiter	Adverbs	further, farther, more
158	vielleicht	Adverbs	perhaps, maybe
160	wohl	Adverbs	possibly, probably
163	genau	Adverbs	just, exactly
166	dazu	Adverbs	in addition to it, in addition, besides
170	bitte	Adverbs	please
176	dafür	Adverbs	for that, for it
179	kurz	Adverbs	briefly (for a short extent)
183	bereits	Adverbs	already
184	nie	Adverbs	never
185	weg	Adverbs	away
187	natürlich	Adverbs	naturally
188	schnell	Adverbs	quickly
191	einmal	Adverbs	once, one time (one and only one time)
194	gern	Adverbs	willingly; gladly; with pleasure
202	gar	Adverbs	at all; even
203	klar	Adverbs	obviously, surely
205	eigentlich	Adverbs	really, actually
212	etwa	Adverbs	approximately
215	sicher	Adverbs	safely
220	lange	Adverbs	long, for a long time
224	davon	Adverbs	from it, from that, therefrom, off it, off that
225	fast	Adverbs	almost; nearly
231	zurück	Adverbs	back, backward, backwards, to the rear
235	zusammen	Adverbs	together, jointly
245	echt	Adverbs	really; indeed
249	darauf	Adverbs	after (behind; later in time; following)
250	sogar	Adverbs	even, actually, in fact
252	zwar	Adverbs	Signals a following contrary clause
258	allerdings	Adverbs	but, however
264	später	Adverbs	later
273	eben	Adverbs	just, simply
274	verschieden	Adverbs	differently
275	bestimmt	Adverbs	certainly, definitely
276	darüber	Adverbs	above, above it/this/that
279	oft	Adverbs	often
289	direkt	Adverbs	directly
290	besonders	Adverbs	especially, particularly
292	leicht	Adverbs	slightly
296	hin	Adverbs	there, thither
298	rund	Adverbs	around
299	einzig	Adverbs	only
300	morgen	Adverbs	tomorrow
301	sonst	Adverbs	otherwise (under different circumstances)
308	weniger	Adverbs	less
321	schlecht	Adverbs	badly, poorly, not well (in a bad or poor manner)
322	je	Adverbs	ever
326	deshalb	Adverbs	therefore; for that (reason), because of that
331	deutlich	Adverbs	distinctly, clearly
333	außerdem	Adverbs	in addition; furthermore, besides
334	leider	Adverbs	unfortunately
335	früher	Adverbs	formerly, in the past
340	daher	Adverbs	from there, thence
341	kaum	Adverbs	barely, hardly (qualifying verbs or adjectives)
344	daran	Adverbs	on it, on that
345	halt	Adverbs	Indicating that something is generally known
348	gemeinsam	Adverbs	together, jointly
350	meist	Adverbs	mostly, most often, usually
356	überhaupt	Adverbs	overall, in general
360	voll	Adverbs	fully
362	rein	Adverbs	purely
367	anders	Adverbs	different, differently
375	ebenfalls	Adverbs	also, likewise, as well
376	eher	Adverbs	fairly, relatively, somewhat
384	bald	Adverbs	soon (near in time)
386	sofort	Adverbs	immediately, at once
393	danach	Adverbs	after it, after that; thereafter (formal), afterwards
399	endlich	Adverbs	eventually, at last, finally
403	damals	Adverbs	at that time (in the past); at the time, then
406	offen	Adverbs	openly
409	egal	Adverbs	no matter
414	los	Adverbs	rid of, free of
420	oben	Adverbs	above
432	bisher	Adverbs	so far, until now, as yet
438	her	Adverbs	hither, to this place, to here, to me/us
452	zunächst	Adverbs	first, first of all, in the first place, to begin with
454	einzeln	Adverbs	singly
456	darum	Adverbs	around it, around that
459	persönlich	Adverbs	personally, in person
462	bisschen	Adverbs	bit; (a) little
463	schließlich	Adverbs	in the end, finally, eventually
484	ziemlich	Adverbs	pretty, quite, rather, fairly, kind of
491	häufig	Adverbs	frequently, often
495	hart	Adverbs	hard (with force or effort)
499	manchmal	Adverbs	sometimes
500	raus	Adverbs	out, out of there, outta there

All 500 A1 words are on this page, free, with no sign-up.

The rest of the list

A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsvöllig · Interesse · Freunde · Kosten · obwohl
B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsrechnen · Szene · Anteil · Stein · Energie
B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordsstärken · zunehmen · Übersetzung · leeren · umgehen

A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, in the app, where you can also send any word straight into spaced review and meet it again on the day you are about to forget it.

Where this comes from

The order is measured: it comes from how often each word appears in a large corpus, counted across all the forms of a word rather than each form separately, so a verb is ranked where you really meet it. The band edges are a convention rather than a measurement. Nothing says word 501 is harder than word 500; the levels are cut where established graded reader series cut theirs.

wordfreq 3.1 (frequency order) + en.wiktionary via kaikki.org (part of speech, gender, gloss). Corpus read on 2026-09-16.

Questions

Where does the order come from?

From how often each word appears in a large corpus of everyday writing. Frequency is counted across all the forms of a word and attributed to the dictionary form, so a verb is ranked where a reader really meets it rather than being spread thinly over a dozen endings.

Why are these lists shorter than the ones with 5,000 or 10,000 words?

Because past about 2,500 a frequency rank stops meaning much. Rank 6,000 in a web corpus is not a harder word, it is a word that happens to be common in journalism. Established graded reader series top out near 2,500 headwords for the same reason.

Is every word in the list a real dictionary word?

Yes. Every headword is checked against the language's own Wiktionary entry, which is where the part of speech, the gender and the meaning come from. That check is what removes the proper nouns, single letters and corpus noise that raw frequency lists are full of.

Do I need the app?

Not for this page. The A1 list is free here and free in the app. A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, and the app is also where a word can go from a list into a review queue, which is the part a page cannot do.

Has a native speaker checked these?

Not yet. The frequency order and the part of speech are mechanical, and the meanings come from a dictionary rather than being written by hand, but nothing here has been through native review. If you spot a meaning that is technically right and practically useless, we would like to hear about it.