In contrast to adjectives which modify nouns, adverbs can be used to modify verbs, adjectives and even other adverbs.
The two diagrams below show examples of French phrases where the adverb modifies the verb:
Remark about the direction of the arrows: These diagrams are dependency trees which show the syntactic structure of a sentence. The direction of the arrows goes from a head word to its dependent word.
When an adverb modifies a word, the adverb is a dependent of that word. Hence the direction of the arrow is from the word being modified to the adverb.
Here is an example where the adverb (“plus”) modifies the adjective (“joli”):
Here is another example of an adverb (“relativement”) used to modify an adjective (“intuitif”):
Here is an example where the French adverb (“très”) modifies another adverb (“rapidement”):
Here is another example of an adverb (“encore”) used to modify another adverb (“mieux”):
In the same way that many English adverbs are formed by adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective, many French adverbs are formed by adding the suffix “-ment” to an adjective.
Although the rule is simple, there are two special cases to this pattern of forming adverbs from adjectives. These concern adjectives ending in “-ent” and in “-ant”.
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).
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 |
When forming French adverbs from these adjectives, in most cases it is the feminine form of the adjective which is used.
For some French adverbs, an acute accent is added to the ‘e’ 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 |
naturellement (naturally) | naturel + -ment |
strictement (strictly) | stricte + -ment |
sûrement (surely) | sûre + -ment |
typiquement (typically) | typique + -ment |
tellement (so much) | telle + -ment |
volontairement (intentionally) | volontaire + -ment |
prochainement (soon) | prochain + -ment |
relativement (relatively) | relatif + -ment |
finalement (finally) | finale + -ment |
uniquement (uniquely) | unique + -ment |
directement (directly) | direct + -ment |
extrêmement (extremely) | extrême + -ment |
partiellement (partially) | partiel + -ment |
personnellement (personally) | personnel + -ment |
proprement (properly) | propre + -ment |
quotidiennement (daily) | quotidien + -ment |
librement (freely) | libre + -ment |
décidément (obviously) | décidé + -ment |
exclusivement (exclusively) | exclusif + -ment |
traditionnellement (traditionally) | traditionnel + -ment |
essentiellement (essentially) | essentiel + -ment |
certainement (certainly) | certaine + -ment |
soigneusement (carefully) | soigneux + -ment |
brutalement (brutally) | brutal + -ment |
légèrement (lightly) | légère + -ment |
progressivement (progressively) | progressif + -ment |
fortement (strongly) | fort + -ment |
effectivement (indeed) | effectif + -ment |
régulièrement (regularly) | régulier + -ment |
largement (mostly) | large + -ment |
principalement (mainly) | principal + -ment |
spontanément (spontaneously) | spontané + -ment |
franchement (frankly) | franc + -ment |
nettement (neatly) | net + -ment |
efficacement (efficiently) | efficace + -ment |
vraisemblablement (probably) | vraisemblable + -ment |
réellement (really) | réel + -ment |
officiellement (officially) | officiel + -ment |
sensiblement (sensitively) | sensible + -ment |
grièvement (seriously) | grief + -ment |
quasiment (practically, almost) | quasi + -ment |
respectivement (respectively) | respective + -ment |
correctement (correctly) | correcte + -ment |
simultanément (simultaneously) | simultané + -ment |
individuellement (individually) | individuel + -ment |
préalablement (beforehand) | préalable + -ment |
économiquement (economically) | économique + -ment |
définitivement (definitively) | définitif + -ment |
forcément (inevitably) | forcé + -ment |
lourdement (heavily) | lourd + -ment |
difficilement (difficultly) | difficile + -ment |
systématiquement (systematically) | systématique + -ment |
habituellement (usually) | habituelle + -ment |
normalement (usually) | normal + -ment |
gratuitement (for free) | gratuit + -ment |
aisément (easily) | aisé + -ment |
activement (actively) | actif + -ment |
majoritairement (mostly) | majoritaire + -ment |
pleinement (completely) | pleine + -ment |
potentiellement (potentially) | potentiel + -ment |
pratiquement (practically) | pratique + -ment |
longuement (for a long time) | longue + -ment |
contrairement (contrarily) | contraire + -ment |
durablement (durably) | durable + -ment |
gravement (seriously) | grave + -ment |
justement (precisely) | juste + -ment |
véritablement (really) | véritable + -ment |
sérieusement (seriously) | sérieux + -ment |
spécialement (especially) | spécial + -ment |
globalement (overall) | global + -ment |
considérablement (considerably) | considérable + -ment |
automatiquement (automatically) | automatique + -ment |
purement (purely) | pure + -ment |
résolument (resolutely) | résolu + -ment |
littéralement (literally) | littéral + -ment |
visiblement (visibly) | visible + -ment |
annuellement (annually) | annuel + -ment |
massivement (massively) | massif + -ment |
théoriquement (theoretically) | théorique + -ment |
spécifiquement (specifically) | spécifique + -ment |
politiquement (politically) | politique + -ment |
logiquement (logically) | logique + -ment |
obligatoirement (obligatorily) | obligatoire + -ment |
initialement (initially) | initial + -ment |
vivement (forcefully) | vif + -ment |
manifestement (obviously) | manifeste + -ment |
ouvertement (openly) | ouverte + -ment |
anciennement (formerly) | ancienne + -ment |
parallèlement (parallelly) | parallèle + -ment |
formellement (formally) | formel + -ment |
successivement (successively) | successive + -ment |
durement (sternly) | dure + -ment |
ultérieurement (eventually) | ultérieure + -ment |
hautement (highly) | haut + -ment |
conjointement (jointly) | conjoint + -ment |
explicitement (explicitly) | explicite + -ment |
localement (locally) | local + -ment |
financièrement (financially) | financier + -ment |
publiquement (publicly) | publique + -ment |
concrètement (concretely) | concrète + -ment |
grandement (greatly) | grand + -ment |
fermement (firmly) | ferme + -ment |
étroitement (narrowly) | étroit + -ment |
significativement (significantly) | significatif + -ment |
nouvellement (newly) | nouveau + -ment |
There are also many French adverbs which are not produced from adjectives. Here are some examples of these: