French Adverbs – The Simple Guide
Learning French adverbs can be confusing. French adverbs have their own rules and functions, and this article will deepen your understanding of them.
On this page
What can a French adverb modify?How to form a regular French adverb from an adjectiveThe different types of French adverbsThe placement of French adverbsQuick RecapLooking for a simple guide on French adverbs? Here in this article, we’ll break down French adverbs into the simplest terms and make learning all about it a breeze for you.
Like other languages, the main words you’ll learn in French are nouns, verbs, and adjectives. However, you will definitely need more than that to express your full idea. This is where adverbs enter the picture.
I’m sure you already know that French adverbs use the ending “-ment” like the “-ly” in English, but that’s not all there is to it.
This article will answer some questions you may have about French adverbs such as:
- How many types of adverbs are there in French?
- What types of words can a French adverb change?
- Where should you place an adverb in a French sentence?
Let’s spend 5 minutes and all your questions will be answered.
What can a French adverb modify?
A French adverb, like its counterparts in other languages, can modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It can also relate to the whole sentence, telling you what the speaker is thinking or feeling. In other words, it can modify almost everything, except a noun (which is modified by an adjective).
Let’s see some examples:
- An adverb modifying a verb: Je regarde (verb) souvent (adv) la télé.
- An adverb modifying an adjective: Je suis vraiment (adv) touché (adj).
- An adverb modifying another adverb: Nous avons très (adv) bien (adv) mangé
- An adverb modifying a whole sentence: Malheureusement (adv), je ne l’ai pas trouvé. (sentence)
How to form a regular French adverb from an adjective
These are common patterns, with some exceptions. Adjectives in -ant commonly give -amment (constant → constamment), and those in -ent commonly give -emment (prudent → prudemment). Exceptions include lent → lentement and bref → brièvement.
Although there are many adverbs that do not have the ending –ment, this ending is undoubtedly an important category of adverbs. Let’s get through the general rules:
For many adjectives ending in -i or -u, add -ment to the masculine form:
absolu ==> absolument
poli ==> poliment
For many other adjectives, add -ment to the feminine form:
normal ==> normale ==> normalement
éventuel ==> éventuelle ==> éventuellement
The different types of French adverbs
The table below lists the main types of adverbs in French and commonly used examples:
| Type of adverb | Description | Example |
| Adverb of manner | Tells us how something happens. | bien, mal, poliment, énormément… |
| Adverb of quantity (intensity) | Explain how many or how much a thing is | assez, autant, aussi, beaucoup, moins, peu… |
| Adverb of time | Explain the time that something happens | actuellement, alors, hier, déjà, demain… |
| Adverb of place | Explain where something happens | dehors, dedans, devant, derrière, en bas, en haut |
| Adverb of frequency | Explain how often something happens | toujours, souvent, parfois, rarement, jamais |
| Adverb of affirmation | Confirm or emphasize something | certainement, vraiment, sûrement |
| Adverb of doubt | Express a doubt | probablement, apparemment, vraisemblablement |
The placement of French adverbs
When an adverb modifies a verb in a simple tense, it often follows the verb
E.g: Il marche (verb) rapidement (adv)
Note:
In a compound tense, short, common adverbs such as bien, déjà, and souvent often go between the auxiliary and past participle: Nous avons bien dormi. Other adverbs can follow the participle: Il a parlé calmement. Time and place expressions can also appear elsewhere: Hier, il a travaillé ici.
If an adverb modifies an adjective or an adverb, it will be placed before the word it modifies.
e.g.: Cette robe est peu (adv) chère (adj)/ Tu conduis trop (adv) vite (adv).
Note:
Here the adverb « trop » modifies the adverb « vite », so “trop” is placed before “vite”.
Quick Recap
- An adverb can modify almost everything except a noun.
- There are many types of adverbs in French that describe the manner, the time, the place, the frequency, the doubt…
- Many French adverbs end in –ment, but not all of them do (and a few words ending in –ment, like “moment”, are nouns).
Adverbs and adjectives are sometimes confusing, so I hope this article helps you understand them better and speak and write French correctly.
Also check out:
120 Common French Adverbs to Add to Your Vocabulary
