German Adverbs of Time

Temporaladverbien

by Ingrid Bauer
Ingrid Bauer, who is fluent in German, has been teaching and tutoring the German language since 1996. She has a teaching degree and an M.A. in German studies.
Updated March 17, 2017

Adverbs of time indicate when the action or event takes place. Adverbs of time answer the questions

wann, wie oft, wie lange?
Er kommt später.
Wann kommt er? Später.
allezeit
bald
bisher
damals
eben
früher
heute
heutzutage
immer
jahrelang
jemals
jetzt
morgen
nachher
neuerdings
nie/niemals
seitdem
stets
übermorgen
vorher
zuerst
  • Adverbs with –s-
    Many nouns with time-related meanings can be transformed into adverbs by adding the letter –s

    montags, dienstags, etc
    sommers, winters but not Herbst or Frühling
    morgens, mittags, abends
    zeitlebens (all one’s life)
    anfangs
    • Montags gehe ich zur Deutschklasse.
  • Adverbs with two timeframes/points in time
    einst/ once, at one time: used to describe a timeframe/point in the future as well as the past. For example,

    Einst wollte er heiraten, aber jetzt nicht mehr. (At one time he wanted to get married, but not any more.)
    Einst wird der Tag kommen, wo ich Großmutter sein werde. (The day will come where I'll be a grandmother.)

    gerade: used to describe a timeframe/point in time in the present as well as the past that just occurred. For example,

    Mein Vater ist gerade bei der Arbeit. (My father is at work at present.)
    Sie ist gerade zur Kirche gegangen. (She just went to church.)