The full guide to French adverbs
In contrast to adjectives which modify nouns, adverbs can be used to modify verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs.
An overview of French adverbs
In French, adverbs can be categorized into five primary types: adverbs of manner, frequency, degree, time, and place.
- Adverbs of manner (Adverbes de manière) describe how an action is performed. Examples of adverbs of manner in French include “lentement” (slowly), “rapidement” (quickly), “mieux” (better), and “volontiers” (gladly/willingly).
- Adverbs of frequency (Adverbes de fréquence) describe how often an action takes place. Examples of adverbs of frequency in French include “toujours” (always), “souvent” (often), “parfois” (sometimes), and “rarement” (rarely).
- Adverbs of degree (Adverbes de quantité) describe the intensity of something. Examples include “très” (very), “quelque peu” (somewhat), “moins” (less), and “absolument” (absolutely).
- Adverbs of time (Adverbes de temps) specify when an action occurs. Examples include “hier” (yesterday), “aujourd'hui” (today), “demain” (tomorrow), and “bientôt” (soon).
- Adverbs of place (Adverbes de lieu) specify where an action occurs. Examples include “ici” (here), “là” (there), “à gauche” (to the left), and “à droite” (to the right).
French adverb placement
Although the placement of French adverbs is similar to that of English adverbs, there are some differences. For example, in the English sentence “he often wins”, the adverb is placed in front of the verb. In contrast, in the corresponding French sentence, the adverb is placed after the verb: “il gagne souvent”.
- In French, when an adverb modifies a verb, it is generally placed after that verb.
- When an adverb modifies an adjective, it is generally placed in front of that adjective.
- When an adverb modifies another adverb, it is generally placed in front of it.
The formation of French adverbs
Much like the English language uses the suffix “-ly” to create adverbs from adjectives, French uses the suffix “-ment” for the same purpose.
This pattern has two sets of exceptions: adjectives ending in “-ent” and in “-ant”.
The general case: The formation of adverbs from adjectives that neither end in “-ent” nor in “-ant”
When forming adverbs from these adjectives, in most cases it is the feminine form of the adjective which is used.
An acute accent is added to the ‘e’ in some cases, in order to facilitate the pronunciation. For example:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| précisément (precise) | précise + -ment |
| énormément (enormously) | énorme + -ment |
| profondément (deeply) | profonde + -ment |
| conformément (accordingly) | conforme + -ment |
| intensément (intensely) | intense + -ment |
| communément (commonly) | commune + -ment |
Here is a list of the most common French adverbs which are formed simply by adding the suffix -ment to an adjective.
In most cases, the feminine form of the adjective is used. In the table, we have sometimes indicated the masculine form of the adjective even in cases when the feminine form is used to create the adverb.
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| éventuellement (possibly) | éventuel + -ment |
| entièrement (entirely) | entier + -ment |
| seulement (only) | seule + -ment |
| actuellement (currently) | actuelle + -ment |
| également (also / equally) | égal + -ment |
| simplement (simply) | simple + -ment |
| vraiment (truly) | vrai + -ment |
| nécessairement (necessarily) | nécessaire + -ment |
| facilement (easily) | facile + -ment |
| probablement (probably) | probable + -ment |
| lentement (slowly) | lente + -ment |
| parfaitement (perfectly) | parfait + -ment |
| absolument (absolutely) | absolu + -ment |
| doucement (softly) | douce + -ment |
| rapidement (speedily) | rapide + -ment |
| exactement (exactly) | exact + -ment |
| complètement (completely) | complet + -ment |
| immédiatement (immediately) | immédiate + -ment |
| clairement (clearly) | clair + -ment |
| rarement (rarely) | rare + -ment |
| malheureusement (unfortunately) | malheureux + -ment |
| particulièrement (particularly) | particulier + -ment |
| totalement (totally) | totale + -ment |
| généralement (generally) | générale + -ment |
| heureusement (luckily) | heureux + -ment |
| autrement (otherwise) | autre + -ment |
Exception 1: forming adverbs from adjectives ending in “-ent”
French adverbs which are formed from adjectives ending in “-ent” replace that ending with “-emment”. Here are some examples:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| évidemment (evidently) | évid |
| récemment (recently) | réc |
| apparemment (apparently) | appar |
| impatiemment (impatiently) | impati |
| différemment (differently) | différ |
| précédemment (before now) | précéd |
| prudemment (carefully) | prud |
| fréquemment (often) | fréqu |
| violemment (violently) | viol |
| pertinemment (pertinently) | pertin |
| décemment (decently) | déc |
| consciemment (consciously) | consci |
An exception to this pattern is the adverb “lentement” (lente + ment).
Exception 2: forming adverbs from adjectives ending in “-ant”
French adverbs which are formed from adjectives ending in "-ant" replace that ending with “-amment”. Here are some examples:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| suffisamment (sufficiently) | suffis |
| couramment (fluently or commonly) | cour |
| indépendamment (independently) | indépend |
| abondamment (abundantly) | abond |
| constamment (constantly) | const |
| brillamment (brilliantly) | brill |
| étonnamment (surprisingly ) | étonn |
| bruyamment (noisily) | bruy |
| incessamment (unceasingly) | incess |
French adverbs which do not end in -ment
In French, there are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives. Here are some examples of these:
| Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bien | well |
| jamais | never |
| ainsi | thus, so |
| bientôt | soon, shortly |
| vite | quickly, fast |
| avant | before |
| peu | little, few |
| désormais | from now on |
| loin | far |
| là | there |
| beaucoup | very much |
| dehors | outside |
| mieux | better |
| assez | enough, somewhat |
| néanmoins | nevertheless, nonetheless |
| trop | too much |
| maintenant | now |
| toujours | always |
| alors | then, hence, so |
| ici | here |
| tard | late |
| ailleurs | elsewhere |
| déjà | already |
| tôt | early |
| dorénavant | from now on |
| encore | still, yet, again |
| environ | about |
| enfin | finally, at last |
| presque | almost |
| très | very |
| longtemps | for a long time |
| demain | tomorrow |
| ensemble | together |
| souvent | often |
| derrière | behind |
| cependant | however |
| lors | during |
| surtout | especially |
| parfois | sometimes |
| juste | only, precisely |
| partout | everywhere |
| autrefois | back in the day, in the past |
| autant | as much, equally |
| guère | hardly, barely |
| auparavant | beforehand |
| davantage | more |
| pourtant | however |
| jadis | once, formerly |
| dessus | above |
| dessous | under |
| soudain | suddenly, abruptly |
| toutefois | however |
| volontiers | willingly, gladly |
