Adverbs – Formation & Placement

Many French adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of an adjective.

Adverb formation: feminine adjective + -ment.

lent → lente → lentement / heureux → heureuse → heureusement

If the masculine adjective ends in a vowel add -ment directly to the masculine form.

Adjective ending in vowel: add -ment to masculine.

vrai → vraiment / poli → poliment / absolu → absolument

Adjectives ending in -ant form adverbs in -amment. Adjectives ending in -ent form adverbs in -emment.

Special pattern: -ant → -amment / -ent → -emment.

courant → couramment / évident → évidemment

In simple tenses adverbs of manner come directly after the conjugated verb.

Adverbs of manner follow the conjugated verb.

Il parle lentement / Elle travaille sérieusement

In compound tenses (passé composé) short common adverbs go between the auxiliary and the past participle.

Short adverbs go between auxiliary and past participle.

J'ai bien dormi / Il a déjà mangé / Nous avons souvent voyagé

Adverbs of frequency: toujours (always) souvent (often) parfois (sometimes) rarement (rarely) jamais (never).

Frequency adverbs — essential vocabulary.

Je lis toujours avant de dormir

Adverbs of time: maintenant (now) déjà (already) encore (still/again) bientôt (soon) hier (yesterday) demain (tomorrow).

Time adverbs — essential vocabulary.

Je suis déjà arrivé / Il vient bientôt

Adverbs of degree: très (very) assez (quite/enough) trop (too) peu (little) beaucoup (a lot).

Degree adverbs — modify adjectives and adverbs.

très grand / assez bien / trop vite / beaucoup mieux

Bien (well) mal (badly) mieux (better) moins (less) plus (more) are common irregular adverbs.

Important irregular adverbs.

Il parle bien / Elle chante mal / Je me sens mieux

Aussi (also/too) and non plus (either — negative) are used to add agreement or agreement-in-negative.

Aussi / non plus = too / either.

Moi aussi! = Me too! / Moi non plus = Me neither