Swedish: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition

tidigt
tidigare
tidigast
early, earlier, earliest
sent
senare
senast
late, later, latest
högt
högre
högst
high, higher, highest
långt
längre
längst
long, longer, longest
(distance), far, further,
furthest
Others include:
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
länge
längre
längst
long, longer, longest 
(time)
väl
bättre
bäst
well, better, best
illa
sämre
sämst
badly, worse, worst
värre
värst
See 4.5.7(2) for 
usage
mycket mer(a)
mest
a lot, more, most
fort
fortare
fortast
quickly, more quickly,
most quickly
gärna
hellre
helst
willingly, more willingly,
most willingly
ofta
oftare
oftast
often, more often,
most often
nära
närmare
närmast
close, closer, closest
8
Adverbs
144

---

Use of adverbs
1 Adverbs may qualify:
(a) A verb:
Han sprang fort.
He ran quickly.
(b) An adjective: Sjön var otroligt vacker.
The lake was incredibly
beautiful.
(c) An adverb:
Hon sjöng ovanligt vackert. She sang unusually
beautifully.
(d) A clause:
Det blir troligen regn ikväll. It will probably rain
tonight.
2 Amplifiers
(a) These are adverbs that qualify an adjective or another adverb,
especially one denoting degree or kind. They include:
mycket (very), helt (completely), alldeles (completely), ganska
(quite), lagom (suitably), rätt (very), för (too), lite (a little), 
inte alls (not at all), bra (very)
Det var en mycket intressant film.
It was a very interesting film.
Det gick inte alls bra.
It didn’t go at all well.
(b) Mycket = ‘very’ when qualifying an adjective in the positive or an
adverb:
Han var mycket lång.
He was very tall.
De gick mycket fort.
They walked very fast.
Mycket = ‘much, a lot’ when qualifying an adjective in the comparative
or a verb:
Han var mycket längre än sin bror.
He was much taller than his brother.
Han sjöng mycket på den tiden.
He sang a lot in those days.
Cf. Väldigt mycket . . . = ‘very much . . .’
Han är väldigt mycket rikare än alla sina bröder.
He is very much richer than all his brothers.
8.2
1111
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1011
1
12111
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
20111
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
30111
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
40
41111
Use of
adverbs
145

---

(c) Inte särskilt . . . = ‘not very . . .’
Han är inte särskilt rik.
He is not very rich.
Cf. Inte mycket . . . = ‘not much . . .’
Han är inte mycket rikare än sin bror.
He isn’t much richer than his brother.
(d) Sometimes adverbs formed from adjectives (see 8.1) are used as
amplifiers:
Det blev förskräckligt varmt.
It became awfully hot.
Jag har hemskt bråttom.
I am in a terrible hurry.
Vi såg en fantastiskt bra match.
We saw a fantastically good
match.
Adverbs indicating location and motion
1 Adverbs express this distinction in Swedish which is now no longer found
in English. One form is found with verbs indicating location at a place,
another with verbs indicating motion towards a place and a third with
verbs indicating motion away from a place: