
If we look again at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories, it follows that we need to split the adverbs into several different categories. To begin with, some adverbs are placed after a verb:
- bien, doucement, lentement, mal, vite, volontiers, fort, trop, quelquefois, souvent, peu, rarement, tard, tôt, toujours, déjà, bientôt, beaucoup, etc.
- bè, pianamenti, pianu, mali, in freccia, vulinteri, forti, troppu, calchì volta, à spessu, pocu, raramenti, tardi, in freccia, sempri, dighjà, prestu, mori, etc.
- well, gently, slowly, badly, quickly, willingly, strongly, too much, sometimes, often, little, rarely, late, early, always, already, soon, a lot, etc.
Here are some examples: “il mange beaucoup; tu fumes trop” (he eats a lot; you smoke too much): manghja mori ; fumi troppu
Let’s call these categories verb modulators. The fact of being placed after the verb is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the verb. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a verb followed by a modulator remains a verb: V-MODV = V.