Adjective to Adverb: How to Form -ly Adverbs
To turn an adjective into an adverb, you usually add -ly: quick becomes quickly, strong becomes strongly. A handful of endings change their spelling first, a small group of adjectives never take -ly at all, and a few have an -ly form that means something different. Those exceptions are where nearly every mistake happens, so they are the heart of this guide.
The adjective describes a noun (a quick answer); the adverb describes how something is done (she answered quickly). If you are unsure which one a sentence needs, see adverbs of manner, which covers exactly that choice.
The spelling rules at a glance
| If the adjective ends in… | Do this | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| most endings | add -ly, no change | quick → quickly, tight → tightly, strong → strongly |
| consonant + y | change y to i, add -ly | happy → happily, greedy → greedily, hasty → hastily |
| -ful | add -ly (you get double l) | wonderful → wonderfully, careful → carefully |
| -le after a consonant | drop the e, add -y | gentle → gently, simple → simply, terrible → terribly |
| -ll | add -y only | full → fully, dull → dully |
| -ic | add -ally | basic → basically, tragic → tragically |
| -e (other cases) | keep the e, add -ly | rare → rarely, extreme → extremely, nice → nicely |
Five exceptions are worth memorising because they break the table: true → truly, due → duly and whole → wholly drop their final e; public → publicly takes plain -ly, not -ically; and one-syllable adjectives ending in y usually keep it: shy → shyly, sly → slyly, dry → dryly (also spelled drily).
When there is no -ly form
Good becomes well. It is the only common adjective whose adverb is a different word. She is a good singer, but she sings well. (Well is also an adjective meaning healthy, which is why I feel well and I feel good are both correct and mean slightly different things.)
Flat adverbs keep the adjective’s form. Fast, hard, late, early, straight, high, low, daily and weekly work as adverbs without any change: a fast car, she drives fast. There is no fastly.
Some -ly forms mean something else entirely. Hardly means “barely”, not “with effort”, so he hardly works is close to the opposite of he works hard. Lately means “recently”, not “not on time”. Highly is about degree (highly recommended), while high is about position (fly high).
Adjectives that already end in -ly cannot take another. Friendly, lovely, lonely, silly, costly, likely and ugly are adjectives with no adverb form. You rephrase instead: she smiled in a friendly way, not she smiled friendlily.
When the -ly form is the mistake
A few set phrases use the plain form as the adverb, and “correcting” them sounds stilted: hold tight, sit tight, sleep tight, shut tight; go slow on a road sign; think big. Outside fixed phrases like these, use the -ly form.
The other trap runs the opposite way. After a linking verb such as feel, look, seem, taste or sound, English needs the adjective, because the word describes the subject, not the action: the soup tastes good, I feel bad about it. But when the verb is an action, the adverb is right: he feels strongly about the issue describes how firmly he holds a view, so he feels strong about the issue is wrong.
Five adverbs in detail
Knowing the spelling rule is half the job; the other half is knowing which words an adverb usually travels with, and which neighbour you meant instead. These five each show a different rule.
Tight → tightly (add -ly)
The default rule, as in neat → neatly and sharp → sharply. Tightly means firmly, with little give: the lid was screwed on tightly; she held the letter tightly. Figuratively it means with no slack: a tightly packed schedule, tightly controlled, a tightly knit community (also written tight-knit).
Choose the neighbour that fits: firmly is about steadiness rather than pressure, securely is about safety (fastened securely will not come loose), and snugly is a close but comfortable fit where tightly can imply too close. In hold tight and sit tight, keep the plain form.
Strong → strongly (add -ly)
Also the default rule, like warm → warmly. Strongly is most common with verbs of advice and opinion: I strongly recommend the second option, the committee strongly opposed it, a strongly worded letter. Strongly agree and strongly disagree are the standard ends of a survey scale.
Firmly suggests a position held steadily, while strongly suggests intensity; vigorously is about energy (vigorously denied); emphatically is about the way something is said. Apart from a few set phrases such as still going strong, strong is not used as an adverb in modern English, so the -ly is not optional the way it is with tight.
Wonderful → wonderfully (-ful + ly)
The adjective already ends in l, so adding -ly gives two: wonderfully, like beautifully, helpfully and peacefully. The usual misspelling, wonderfuly, comes from the noun wonder, which has no -ful at all: the adjective means “full of wonder”, and the adverb keeps both l’s.
It usually intensifies something pleasant: wonderfully quiet, wonderfully simple, wonderfully preserved, and affectionately, wonderfully absurd. Marvellously (American marvelously) is close and a little old-fashioned; delightfully stresses the pleasure taken; gloriously is grander and often ironic.
Greedy → greedily (y becomes i)
Consonant plus y, so greedy → greedi + ly, like clumsy → clumsily and lazy → lazily. Writing greedyly is the common slip. Greedily goes with consuming and taking: ate greedily, eyed the last slice greedily, grabbed greedily, and figuratively, expanded greedily into every market.
It nearly always passes judgement. A starving person eats hungrily, not greedily; someone who reads three books a week reads voraciously or avidly, both of which can be compliments. If you do not mean to criticise, choose one of those instead.
Hasty → hastily (y becomes i)
The same rule: hasty → hasti + ly, like heavy → heavily. Note that the noun is haste and the verb hasten; the y belongs only to the adjective. Hastily is a news-writing favourite: a hastily arranged meeting, a hastily drafted statement, he hastily added that nothing was decided.
It hints that the speed caused, or may cause, a problem. Quickly is neutral; hurriedly is about time pressure with less blame; rashly is about poor judgement whatever the speed. If you simply mean fast, quickly is the safer word.
Spelling mistakes to check for
| Incorrect | Correct | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| greedyly, hastyly | greedily, hastily | consonant + y → -ily |
| wonderfuly, carefuly | wonderfully, carefully | -ful keeps its l, then -ly |
| simplely, terriblely | simply, terribly | -le drops the e and adds y |
| basicly | basically | -ic takes -ally |
| publically | publicly | the one -ic exception |
| truely, wholely | truly, wholly | the e drops in these two |
| fullly | fully | -ll adds only y |
Where the adverb goes once you have formed it is a separate question; see position of adverbs. For adverbs that do not come from adjectives at all, such as soon and here, see adverbs of time and adverbs of place.
Practice
Turn each adjective into its adverb and use it in the gap. Answers are below.
- She closed the door very ___. (gentle)
- He ___ took the last three biscuits. (greedy)
- The plan was ___ explained. (basic)
- I ___ believe we can finish by Friday. (strong)
- The museum has been ___ restored. (wonderful)
- They answered ___. (true) The question was easy.
- She plays the piano very ___. (good)
- The report was ___ written and full of errors. (hasty)
- He works ___ every day. (hard)
- The rules were ___ announced on Monday. (public)
Answers. 1 gently (-le → -ly); 2 greedily (y → i); 3 basically (-ic → -ally); 4 strongly (add -ly); 5 wonderfully (-ful keeps its l); 6 truly (the e drops); 7 well (good → well); 8 hastily (y → i); 9 hard (flat adverb; hardly would mean “barely”); 10 publicly (the -ic exception).
Quick answers
Do all adverbs end in -ly? No. Flat adverbs such as fast and hard do not, and many adverbs (soon, here, very, often) never came from an adjective. And not every -ly word is an adverb: friendly and lovely are adjectives.
What is the adverb of good? Well. Goodly exists but means “considerable”, as in a goodly sum.
Is it “drily” or “dryly”? Both are accepted. Dryly is more common in American English, drily in British English.
Why is it “publicly” and not “publically”? Public is the main exception to the -ic rule. Nearly every other -ic adjective takes -ally (basically, tragically, specifically, automatically), which is why publically feels natural and still looks wrong to an editor. Dictionaries list publicly as the standard spelling.
