A manner adverb tells you how an action is done — she sings well, he drives slowly, talk quietly. In Icelandic these split into two groups with very different learning strategies. The handful of most common manner adverbs are irregular and suppletive — vel ('well'), illa ('badly') — and must simply be memorised. Everything else is regular and productive: you generate the adverb from an adjective, either by taking its neuter (-t) form (hratt, hægt) or by adding -lega (varlega, greinilega). This page gives you the frequent irregular ones, the two formation patterns, and where manner adverbs sit in the sentence.
The high-frequency irregulars: vel and illa
Start here, because these are the manner adverbs you will use most. 'Well' is vel and 'badly' is illa. Neither is built from the adjective it corresponds to — vel is not derived from góður ('good'), and illa is not the neuter of vondur ('bad', neuter vont). They are suppletive: irregular forms you learn by heart, exactly like English good → well.
Hún syngur mjög vel.
She sings very well. — vel 'well', the suppletive adverb (not a form of góður).
Mér gekk illa í prófinu.
I did badly on the exam. — illa 'badly', ending in -a, not the neuter vont.
Hann talar góða íslensku og skrifar líka vel.
He speaks good Icelandic and writes well too. — note: góða (adjective 'good' describing the noun) but vel (adverb 'well' describing the verb).
Pattern 1: the neuter adjective is the adverb
The main productive pattern needs no suffix at all. To form a manner adverb, take the strong neuter singular of the adjective — the -t form — and use it as is. This is the same shortcut introduced in the adverbs overview: learn the neuter adjective and you have the adverb for free.
| Adjective (masc.) | Neuter | = Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| hraður | hratt | hratt | fast |
| hægur | hægt | hægt | slowly |
| fljótur | fljótt | fljótt | quickly |
| hár | hátt | hátt | loudly / high |
Hann keyrir alltaf hægt í snjónum.
He always drives slowly in the snow. — hægt, the neuter of hægur, working as the adverb.
Talaðu ekki svona hátt!
Don't talk so loudly! — hátt, neuter of hár, here 'loudly'.
Kláraðu þetta fljótt.
Finish this quickly. — fljótt, the neuter adverb 'quickly'.
Pattern 2: the -lega suffix
The second productive pattern adds -lega to the adjective stem. This is the closest Icelandic equivalent of English -ly, and it is favoured by longer, more abstract adjectives — especially those that already end in -legur, where the adverb in -lega feels most natural.
| Adjective | Adverb (-lega) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| varlegur | varlega | carefully |
| greinilegur | greinilega | clearly |
| eðlilegur | eðlilega | naturally |
| fallegur | fallega | beautifully |
Keyrðu varlega, það er hált.
Drive carefully, it's slippery. — varlega 'carefully', a -lega adverb.
Hún útskýrði reglurnar greinilega.
She explained the rules clearly. — greinilega 'clearly'.
Allt gekk eðlilega fyrir sig.
Everything went normally. — eðlilega 'normally / naturally'.
How do you know which pattern an adjective takes? The honest answer is that there is no single mechanical rule, but a reliable heuristic: short, basic adjectives tend to use the bare neuter (hratt, hægt, hátt), while adjectives ending in -legur almost always form their adverb in -lega (greinilegur → greinilega). When in doubt with a -legur adjective, -lega is the safe choice.
Intensifying a manner adverb
Manner adverbs can themselves be turned up or down with a degree adverb placed in front: mjög ('very'), of / alltof ('too / far too'), frekar ('rather'), svo ('so'). The degree word comes before the manner adverb it modifies.
Hann keyrir mjög hratt.
He drives very fast. — mjög intensifies the manner adverb hratt.
Þú talar alltof hratt, ég næ þessu ekki.
You talk far too fast, I can't keep up. — alltof 'far too' modifying hratt.
These degree adverbs get their own treatment on the degree adverbs page; here the point is simply that they stack in front of the manner adverb.
Comparison, in brief
Manner adverbs form comparatives much like adjectives do, typically with -ar: hægt → hægar ('more slowly'), hratt → hraðar ('faster'). The irregulars are, predictably, irregular: vel → betur ('better'), illa → verr ('worse').
Talaðu hægar, takk.
Speak more slowly, please. — hægar, the comparative of hægt.
Núna líður mér miklu betur.
I feel much better now. — betur, the irregular comparative of vel.
Where manner adverbs go
Manner adverbs have a strong pull toward the end of the clause — after the verb and its objects. This differs from frequency adverbs (which cling to the spot right after the finite verb). "She sings beautifully" puts fallega at the end: Hún syngur fallega.
Hún talar íslensku mjög vel.
She speaks Icelandic very well. — the manner phrase mjög vel comes at the end, after the object íslensku.
Börnin léku sér rólega í garðinum.
The children played quietly in the garden. — rólega 'quietly' sits late in the clause.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún syngur mikið.
Incorrect for 'she sings well' — mikið means 'a lot'; 'well' is vel.
✅ Hún syngur vel.
She sings well.
❌ Mér gekk vont í prófinu.
Incorrect — 'badly' is the suppletive adverb illa, not the neuter adjective vont.
✅ Mér gekk illa í prófinu.
I did badly on the exam.
❌ Hann talar hraðlega.
Incorrect — short adjectives like hraður use the bare neuter hratt; there's no -lega here.
✅ Hann talar hratt.
He talks fast.
❌ Keyrðu varlegt.
Incorrect — adjectives in -legur take the -lega adverb, not the neuter -t form.
✅ Keyrðu varlega.
Drive carefully.
Key Takeaways
- The two most frequent manner adverbs are irregular/suppletive: vel ('well'), illa ('badly') — memorise them first.
- Productive pattern 1: the adverb equals the neuter (-t) adjective — hraður → hratt, hægur → hægt. No suffix.
- Productive pattern 2: add -lega, favoured by longer and -legur-type adjectives — varlega, greinilega, eðlilega.
- Intensify with a degree adverb in front: mjög hratt, alltof hratt.
- Comparatives add -ar (hægar, hraðar); the irregulars give betur and verr.
- Manner adverbs gravitate to the end of the clause, unlike frequency adverbs.
Now practice Icelandic
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Adverbs: Types and FormationA2 — A map of the Icelandic adverb system — manner adverbs derived from the neuter adjective (hratt, vel), plus the dedicated adverbs of time, place, and degree and the three-way directional system.
- Frequency and Habitual ExpressionsA2 — How to say how often something happens — the frequency scale, the dedicated single-word adverbs einu sinni / tvisvar / þrisvar for one-to-three times, the X sinnum pattern from four up, and per-period frequencies like tvisvar í viku.