German flag

German adverbs in '-weise' like 'glücklicherweise' and 'teilweise'

In German, most adjectives work as adverbs without any change: Sie singt schön means she sings beautifully, with no ending like English -ly. There is one important exception. When you want to comment on a whole sentence (fortunately, possibly, usually), or describe something done in parts or units (partly, quarterly), German often uses words ending in -weise: glücklicherweise, möglicherweise, normalerweise, teilweise.

English speakers trip over this in two ways. Because English uses -ly for everything, they attach -weise to ordinary manner adverbs where German wants the bare adjective. They also forget the little linking -er- and write glücklichweise instead of glücklicherweise.

Word list
beispielsweiseA1 for example Beispiel + -s- + weise = for example glücklicherweiseA2 fortunately glücklich + -erweise = fortunately normalerweiseA2 usually normal + -erweise = usually üblicherweiseA2 usually üblich + -erweise = usually möglicherweiseB1 maybe möglich + -erweise = possibly teilweiseB1 partially Teil + -weise = partly unglücklicherweiseB2 unfortunately unglücklich + -erweise = unfortunately quartalsweiseC1 quarterly Quartal + -s- + weise = quarterly betrüblicherweiseC2 unfortunately betrüblich + -erweise = unfortunately, sadly
How it works

Compare two jobs an adverb can do. A manner adverb tells you how someone does something. In German this is simply the adjective: glücklich (happy, happily). A comment adverb tells you what the speaker thinks about the whole event: was it lucky, likely, normal? For this job German builds a new word: adjective + -er- + weise.

Das Kind lacht glücklich.
(The child is laughing happily.)
Glücklicherweise hat der Zug gewartet.
(Fortunately, the train waited.)

In the first sentence the child is happy. In the second, the train is not happy at all: the speaker is saying it was lucky that it waited. English uses -ly for both meanings, German keeps them apart.

A second, separate group comes from nouns: noun + -weise, sometimes with a linking -s-. These mean "by parts", "by units" or "in the manner of": Teil gives teilweise, Beispiel gives beispielsweise. The noun Weise itself means way or manner, which explains the ending.

The words
Adjective + -erweise: commenting on the sentence

Glücklicherweise and its opposite unglücklicherweise say whether something was lucky or not. Betrüblicherweise (unfortunately, sadly) is more formal and appears mostly in writing.

Unglücklicherweise war das Restaurant schon geschlossen.
(Unfortunately, the restaurant was already closed.)
Betrüblicherweise müssen wir die Veranstaltung absagen.
(Unfortunately, we have to cancel the event.)

Möglicherweise comments on probability, much like English possibly or might.

Er kommt möglicherweise etwas später.
(He might come a bit later.)

Normalerweise and üblicherweise both mean usually. Normalerweise is the everyday choice, üblicherweise sounds slightly more formal.

Normalerweise stehe ich um sieben Uhr auf.
(I usually get up at seven.)
Der Bus fährt üblicherweise alle zehn Minuten.
(The bus usually runs every ten minutes.)

Words like dummerweise (stupidly, annoyingly) and seltsamerweise (strangely enough) follow the same pattern.

Noun + -weise: parts, units and examples

Teilweise means partly or in part.

Das stimmt nur teilweise.
(That's only partly true.)

Beispielsweise means for example and adds a linking -s-.

Du kannst beispielsweise mit dem Fahrrad fahren.
(You could, for example, go by bike.)

Quartalsweise (quarterly) also takes -s- and describes something happening once per quarter.

Die Miete wird quartalsweise bezahlt.
(The rent is paid quarterly.)

Stückweise (piece by piece), schrittweise (step by step) and ausnahmsweise (for once, as an exception) belong here too.

Watch out
Don't add -weise to manner adverbs

If you are describing how someone does something, use the bare adjective. A careful driver drives vorsichtig, never with an added ending.

Sie fährt bei Regen sehr vorsichtig.
(She drives very carefully in the rain.)
Keep the -er-

With adjectives, the linking -er- is not optional: glücklicherweise, möglicherweise, normalerweise. Forms like möglichweise do not exist. Nouns, on the other hand, never take -er-: they use nothing (teilweise) or -s- (beispielsweise).

Not every comment adverb ends in -weise

Some very common ones are ordinary words: leider (unfortunately), vielleicht (maybe), hoffentlich (hopefully). In everyday speech leider is actually more common than unglücklicherweise.

Ich habe leider keine Zeit.
(Unfortunately, I don't have time.)
Summary

Ask what the adverb is doing. If it describes how someone acts, use the plain adjective: Sie lacht glücklich. If it comments on the whole sentence (lucky, possible, usual), use adjective + -erweise: glücklicherweise, möglicherweise, normalerweise. If it means "by parts" or "by units", use noun + -weise, sometimes with -s-: teilweise, beispielsweise, quartalsweise.