Learn German A1: Frequency Adverbs Lesson 39. The following adverbs of frequency indicate how often someone does something:

• oft – often
• manchmal – sometimes
• selten – rarely
• nie – never

Adverbs of frequency are usually placed after the verb or like at the end for emphasis.

Learn German A1: Formal German Lesson 36

oft

The adverb “oft” indicates how often someone does something.

Ich besuche oft meine Familie. – I often visit my family.

Adverbs such as “oft” have to go after the accusative objects “mich” & ”ihn”. Check the examples below:

Sie besucht mich oft. – She often visits me.

Du besuchst ihn oft. – You often visit him.

Ich besuche meine Großeltern sehr oft. – I visit my grandparents very often.

nie

Adverbs of frequency are usually placed after the verb or like here, at the end for emphasis.

Adverb “nie” has to go after the accusative objects: Check the examples below:

Ich besuche meine Familie nie. – I never visit my family.

selten

Adverb such as “selten” has to go after the accusative objects. Check the examples below:

Sie besucht mich selten. – She rarely visits me.

Wir besuchen ihn selten. – We rarely visit him.

Wir können uns nur selten treffen.– We rarely see each other.

manchmal

Adverb such as “manchmal” hasto come after an accusative object.

For example:

Ich besuche sie manchmal. – I sometimes visit them.

Er besucht mich manchmal. – He visits me sometimes.

Wir besuchen euch manchmal. – We visit you (plurals) sometimes.

Ich besuche meine Familie nur manchmal. – I only visit my family sometimes.

Learn German A1: Using Adverbs in German Lesson 33

Modification of Frequency Adverbs

These phrases provide additional information about the frequency or rarity of an action.

You can even modify adverbs of frequency with “nicht” (not), “zu” (too) or “so gut wie” (pretty much).

“nicht” comes before the adverb “oft” to negate it: “nicht oft“. Check following examples:

Wir besuchen dich nicht oft. – We do not visit you often.

Er besucht mich nicht oft. – He does not visit me often.

Ich besuche meine Cousine leider nicht oft. – Unfortunately, I don’t visit my cousin often.

“zu selten” means something doesn’t happen often enough, implying that you’re unhappy with it. “zu” comes before “selten” to say it doesn’t happen often enough: “zu selten“. Check these examples:

Du besuchst mich zu selten. – You visit me too rarely.

Ich besuche ihn zu selten. – I visit him too rarely.

Sie leben in Dänemark und ich besuche sie leider zu selten. – They live in Denmark and unfortunately I rarely visit them.

“so gut wie nie” suggests extreme rarity, comparable to almost never happening.

Ich besuche meine Familie so gut wie nie. – I pretty much never visit my family.

Du besuchst deine Vater so gut wie nie. – You pretty much never visit your father.

Meine Tante und meinen Onkel sehe ich so gut wie nie. – I hardly ever see my aunt and uncle.

Questions with Frequency Adverbs

The question “Wie oft?” asks about the frequency of an action: oft (often), selten (rarely), nie (never).

Wie oft besuchst du deine Familie? – How often do you visit your family?

To ask someone how often they see someone else, ask: “Wie oft besuchst du…?“

You can answer “Wie oft…?” with an expression of frequency (einmal, zweimal, dreimal…) and the preposition “pro” paired with a timeframe (Woche / Monat / Jahr).

There is no break between “zwei” and “mal”: “zweimal” is one word. And so for others dreimal……… and so on.

And focus on following examples, these are placed at the end.

Meine Oma besucht mich zweimal pro Woche. – My grandma visits me twice a week.

Ich besuche meine Großeltern einmal pro Monat. – I visit my grandparents once a month.

Farrukh besucht Mari dreimal pro Jahr. – Farrukh visits Mari three times a year.

The “ei” in “dreimal” sounds like the “ei” in “nein”. The “h” in “Jahr” is silent.

Sie besucht mich zweimal pro Monat. – She visits me twice a month.

“einmal” (1x), “zweimal” (2x) and “dreimal” (3x) count occurrences or repetitions of an action.

Another way to make questions with frequency adverbs:

Besuchst du sie oft? – Do you visit them often?

Summary of Frequency Adverbs

These are three conditions of frequency adverbs.

First condition: We place frequency adverb after the verb:

Ich besuche oft meine Mutter. – I often visit my mother.

Second condition: We place frequency adverb at the end of the sentence for emphasis:

Ich besuche meine Mutter oft. – I often visit my mother.

Third Condition: We place frequency adverb after an accusative object:

Ich besuche ihn oft. – I often visit him.

Mari besucht mich selten. – Mari rarely visits me.

Ich besuche sie manchmal. – I visit her sometimes.

Conclusion

Both sentences are correct in following example.

Ich besuche oft meinen Vater. | Ich besuche meinen Vater oft.

Adverbs of frequency can be placed after the verb or at the end of the sentence.

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