Often means many times, again and again. I often walk to work. How often does it run? It sits in the middle of the frequency scale, above sometimes and below usually.
Its position follows the standard adverb rule: before the main verb, after be, after the first auxiliary. I often forget, I am often late, I have often wondered. Two notes on the word itself. The t is silent in most British speech — OFF-en — though OFF-ten is also standard and increasingly common. And it takes comparative forms with more: more often, most often, never oftener in modern usage. How often is the standard question for frequency.
1adverboftenMany times; on many occasions.
“She often works late on Thursdays.”
synonyms: frequently, regularly, repeatedly
2adverbcasesIn many cases.
“The cheapest option is often the most expensive in the end.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
often is a frequency.
Also accepted in games: frequently
Often is oft with an ending stuck on it, added in Middle English by analogy with selden, our seldom. The shorter oft still turns up in poetry.
Middle English
often
English, today
often
Built from
From Middle English often, alteration (with final -n added due to analogy with Middle English selden (“seldom”)) of Middle English ofte, oft, from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic ufta, uftō (“often”). 2 Cognate with Scots affen, aften, af'en, oaffen, oaften, oftin (“often”), frr aaft, oftem, oofting (“often”), stq oafte (“often”), German -, lb - and pdc oft (“often”), Yiddish אָפֿט (“often”), Danish -, Norwegian Bokmål - and Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Faroese -, Swedish ofta (“often”), Icelandic oft (“often”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌰 (“often”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA