Sound laws · Law 28 · Endings
Adverbs in -mente / -ment
ablative MENTE 'with a … mind'
Spanish
-mente
French
-ment
Italian
-mente
Portuguese
-mente
Romanian
— (the bare adjective serves: vorbește clar)
Catalan
-ment
What happened
Latin phrases like CLĀRĀ MENTE 'with a clear mind' were reanalysed as 'in a clear way', and MENTE became an adverb suffix in the western sisters and Italian. Because MENS was feminine, the adjective stands in the feminine: claramente, clairement, chiaramente, clarament. French and Catalan dropped the final vowel as usual (-ment). Romanian never adopted the suffix: it uses the masculine adjective as the adverb (clar, încet).
Examples
| Latin | Italian | Spanish | French | Portuguese | Romanian | Catalan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLĀRĀ MENTE‘clearly’ | chiaramente | claramente | clairement | claramente | — | clarament |
| SŌLĀ MENTE‘only’ | solamente | solamente | seulement | somente | — | solament |
| LENTĀ MENTE‘slowly’ | lentamente | lentamente | lentement | lentamente | — | lentament |
| FIRMĀ MENTE‘firmly’ | fermamente | firmemente | fermement | firmemente | — | fermament |
Decoder
Take the feminine adjective and add -mente (es, it, pt) or -ment (fr, ca): lenta → lentamente; lente → lentement; lenta → lentament. For Romanian, just use the adjective.
Exceptions
French adjectives in -ant, -ent give -amment, -emment (constamment, prudemment). Italian drops -e after l and r (facilmente, regolarmente). Spanish keeps the written accent of the adjective (rápidamente) where Portuguese drops it (rapidamente); Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan can share one suffix in a series (clara y concisamente, clara i concisament).
In your word bank
- immediatelyinmediatamenteimmédiatementimmediatamenteimediatamenteimediatimmediatament
- eventually, in the endal finalfinalementalla fineno finalpână la urmăal final
- onlysoloseulementsolosódoarnomés
- really, trulyde verdadvraimentdavverode verdadeîntr-adevărde debò
- probablyprobablementeprobablementprobabilmenteprovavelmenteprobabilprobablement
- especiallyespecialmentesurtoutspecialmenteespecialmentemai alesespecialment
- exactlyexactamenteexactementesattamenteexatamenteexactexactament
- usually, generallygeneralmentegénéralementgeneralmentegeralmentede obiceigeneralment
- simplysimplementesimplementsemplicementesimplesmentepur și simplusimplement
- absolutelyabsolutamenteabsolumentassolutamenteabsolutamenteabsolutabsolutament
- easilyfácilmentefacilementfacilmentefacilmenteușorfàcilment
- literallyliteralmentelittéralementletteralmenteliteralmenteliteralliteralment
- apparentlyaparentementeapparemmentapparentementeaparentementeaparentaparentment
- possiblyposiblementepossiblementpossibilmentepossivelmenteposibilpossiblement
- slightlyligeramentelégèrementleggermenteligeiramenteușorlleugerament
- specificallyespecíficamentespécifiquementspecificamenteespecificamentespecialespecíficament
- approximatelyaproximadamenteapproximativementapprossimativamenteaproximadamenteaproximativaproximadament
- unfortunatelydesafortunadamentemalheureusementsfortunatamenteinfelizmentedin păcatemalauradament