Adverbs
adverbs: formation and placement
uses
In French as in English, an adverb describes the action of a verb. It answers such questions as ‘where’, ‘when,’ ‘how,’ ‘how long,’ or ‘how often.’ Adverbs are invariable and may be used with almost all verbs. For example:
| Edouard cuisine bien. | Edouard cooks well. | |
| Joe-Bob mange beaucoup. | Joe-Bob eats a lot. |
An adverb may also qualify an adjective or another adverb. Consider the sentence: ‘Edouard cuisine très bien‘ (Edouard cooks very well). Très qualifies bien and both describe the action of the verb ‘cuisiner’.
common adverbs
Following is a list of frequently used adverbs, categorized by type.
| manner | bien, well | mal, badly | vite, quickly |
| time | souvent, often | quelquefois, sometimes | toujours, always | |||
| jamais, never | tôt, early | tard, late | ||||
| bientôt, soon | aujourd’hui, today | hier, yesterday | ||||
| maintenant, now | déjà, already | demain, tomorrow |
| place | dedans, inside | dehors, outside | ici, here | |||
| là, there | partout, everywhere | quelque part, somewhere |
| quantity or degree | beaucoup, a lot | très, very | trop, too much | |||
| assez, enough | peu, little, not much | peut-être, maybe |
| sequence | d’abord, at first | puis, then, next | alors, then, so | |||
| donc, thus | enfin, finally |
formation of regular adverbs
A large number of French adverbs are derived from adjectives.
They are usually formed by adding -ment to the feminine singular form of the adjective. Note the exception ‘gentiment’, which is derived from the adjective ‘gentil’ (nice).
| lent(e), slow | lentement, slowly | |
| doux (douce), soft | doucement, softly | |
| heureux (heureuse), happy | heureusement, happily, fortunately | |
| franc (franche), frank | franchement, frankly |
However, -ment is added to the masculine singular form of adjectives that end with a vowel. Note the exception ‘gaiement’ which is derived from the adjective ‘gai’ (cheerful).
| poli(e) polite | poliment, politely | |
| absolu(e), absolute | absolument, absolutely | |
| vrai(e), true, real | vraiment, truly, really | |
| modéré(e), moderate | modérément, moderately |
Add -emment to the stem of adjectives that end in -ent; add -amment to the stem of adjectives ending in -ant. The stem is what remains of the adjective when -ent or -ant have been removed. Note that the one-syllable adjective ‘lent’ does not form its adverb, ‘lentement’, on this model.
| récent, recent | récemment, recently | |
| fréquent, frequent | fréquemment, frequently | |
| suffisant, sufficient | suffisamment, sufficiently | |
| méchant, wicked, malicious | méchamment, wickedly, nastily |
Note the addition of an acute accent to form the following adverbs:
| précis(e), precise | précisément, precisely | |
| profond(e), deep | profondément, deeply | |
| énorme, huge, enormous | énormément, enormously |
placement
Use the following guidelines for placement of adverbs.
adverbs that modify an adjective or another adverbs
Adverbs are placed directly before the adjective or adverb that they modify.
| Edouard: J’habite le Texas depuis très longtemps, mais je trouve que le barbecue est vraiment dégueulasse! | Edouard: I’ve lived in Texas for a very long time, but I find that barbecue is truly disgusting! |
adverbs that modify a verb
Adverbs are usually placed immediately after the conjugated verb. If the verb is negative, the adverb is placed after the negation.
| Edouard comprend mal les habitudes culinaires américaines. | Edouard understands poorly American culinary habits. | |
| Edouard ne marche pas vite, parce qu’il sait déjà ce que les clients vont commander. | Edouard is not walking fast, because he already knows what the customers are going to order. | |
| Edouard: Ils exigent toujours du ketchup, mais il n’y a pas de ketchup dans mon restaurant. | Edouard: They always demand ketchup, but there is no ketchup in my restaurant. |
Note that most common adverbs are placed directly after the verb before the objects.
| Joe-Bob: J’aime beaucoup le ketchup! | Joe-Bob: I like ketchup a lot! | |
| Edouard: J’aime davantage le foie gras! | Edouard: I like foie gras even more! |
adverbs that modify a whole sentence
If an adverb is a comment on the entire sentence (malheureusement, en plus), it may be placed at the beginning or end of the sentence. Adverbs of this type include adverbs of time and place. In the following dialogue, contrast the adverbs that modify the whole sentence to those that modify just the verb.
| Joe-Bob: Edouard, viens dîner avec nous ce soir! | Joe-Bob: Edouard, come out to eat with us this evening! | |
| Edouard: Je n’aime pas dîner dans des restaurants américains parce que je trouve du ketchup partout. | Edouard: I don’t like to eat in American restaurants because I find ketchup everywhere. | |
| Vous allez sûrement au Salt Lick, et tu sais que je déteste le barbecue. | You’re surely going to go to the Salt Lick and you know that I detest barbeque. | |
| Joe-Bob: Malheureusement, on n’a pas assez d’argent pour aller dans un restaurant snob! | Joe-Bob: Unfortunately, we don’t have enough money to go to a snobby restaurant! | |
| Edouard refuse obstinément l’invitation de Joe-Bob: Tu m’invites souvent, mais toujours à l’américaine! | Obstinately, Edouard refuses Joe-Bob’s invitation: You invite me out to eat often, but always in the American style. |
See placement of adverbs with passé composé and the periphrastic future for further examples.
