French dialects are not particularly difficult, but they still contain a few secrets that we will reveal together. This article will look at the placement of adverbs in the French language, their formation, and most importantly, we will give you an extensive list of the most useful French adverbs to know.
An adverb is a word that modifies verbs, an adjective, or another adverb. Often expresses how the subject performs an action. In French, many adverbs are formed by adding an ending to the feminine or masculine form of a cognate French adjective. Other adverbs are entirely different and need to be memorized.
Adverbs in French usually occupy the same position in a sentence as in English.
The “-ly” ending allows us to recognize some English adverbs. While the equivalent ending in French is ”ment”. However, unlike the obligatory agreement of French adjectives, adverbs in French do not agree with anything because they change adverbs, adjectives, or verbs, but not pronouns or nouns.
French Adverbs Characteristics
- May modify prepositions, adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs
- Are constant or invariable
- Are classified according to the sort of modification
- Follow particular placing rules
Follow these two rules to form an adverb:
- A singular masculine adjective ending in a vowel adds “ment,” as shown in the below table.
| Adjective | Adverb |
| Poli (polite) | Poliment (politely) |
| Facile (easy) | Facilement (easily) |
| Rapide (rapid) | Rapidement (rapidly) |
- If the singular masculine ends in a consonant, add an adjective to the singular feminine, as shown in the below table. Two exceptions include bref (short or brief), which is brève in the feminine adjective, and brièvement (shortly or briefly) as an adverb, and gentil (nice), which means gentille in its feminine adjective, and gentiment (nicely) as an adverb.
| Masculine Form Of The Adjective | Feminine Form Of The Adjective | Adverb |
| Doux (gentle) | Douce | Doucement (gently) |
| Franc (frank) | Franche | Franchement (frankly) |
| Attentive (attentive) | Attentive | Attentivement (attentively) |
| Seul (only) | Seule | Seulement (only) |
There are some exceptions to the rules when forming French adverbs, These are:
- For multiple adjectives with the ending “e” silent, add é before adding “ment” to it, as given in the below table.
| Adjective | Adverb |
| Intense (intense) | Intensément (intensely) |
| Profonde (profound) | Profondément (profoundly) |
| Précis (precise) | Précisément (precisely) |
- Adjectives ending in -ent and -ant have adverbs ending in -emment and -amment, respectively. An exclusion is lent (slow), which in its adverbial form becomes lentement (slowly). See examples in the following table.
| Adjective | Adverb |
| Courant (common) | Couramment (fluently) |
| Récent (recent) | Récemment (recently) |
| Constant (constant) | Constamment (constantly) |
- Some French adverbs have different forms from adjectives and must be learned.
| Adjective | Adverb |
| Bon (good) | Bien (well) |
| Mauvais (bad) | Mal (badly) |
| Meilleur | Mieux (better) |
| Petit (little, small) | Peu (little) |
Learn The Common French Adverbs
French Adverbs That Start With A, B, C, D, E, F
| absolument | absolutely |
| actuellement | currently |
| ailleurs | elsewhere |
| alors | so |
| ainsi | thus; so |
| après | after |
| assez | quite, fairly |
| aujourd’hui | today |
| aussi | as; as well |
| aussitôt | immediately |
| autant | as much |
| autrefois | in the old days |
| autrement | differently |
| autour | around |
| avant | before |
| avant-hier | on the day before yesterday |
| avec | with |
| beaucoup | a lot |
| bas | low |
| bien | well |
| bientôt | soon |
| brusquement | abruptly |
| cependant | nonetheless |
| certes | admittedly |
| certainement | certainly |
| ci | here |
| combien | how much/many |
| comme | as |
| comment | how |
| complètement | completely |
| d’abord | first |
| davantage | more |
| debout | standing |
| dehors | outside |
| déjà | already |
| delà | beyond |
| demain | tomorrow |
| depuis | since |
| dernièrement | lately |
| désormais | from now on, henceforth |
| dessus | on top of |
| devant | in front of |
| également | as well/equally |
| encore | again/still |
| enfin | finally, eventually |
| ensemble | together |
| ensuite | next, then |
| énormément | enormously |
| environ | about |
| facilement | easily |
| franchement | frankly |
French Adverbs Starts With G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N
| gentiment | kindly |
| guère | hardly |
| haut | high |
| heureusement | fortunately |
| hier | yesterday |
| ici | here |
| immédiatement | immediately |
| jamais | never |
| là | there |
| là-bas | over there |
| là-dedans | in here, in there |
| là-dessus | on here; on there |
| largement | greatly, well |
| légèrement | lightly; slightly |
| lentement | slowly |
| loin | far |
| longtemps | for a long time |
| lors | when |
| lors de | during |
| maintenant | now |
| mal | poorly, badly |
| même | even |
| moins | less |
| naturellement | naturally |
| ne | not |
| non | no; not |
French Adverbs Starts With O, P, Q, R, S, T, V
| oui | yes |
| parfois | sometimes |
| partout | everywhere |
| pas | not |
| parfaitement | perfectly |
| peu | few, little |
| peut-être | perhaps |
| plutôt | rather |
| plus | more, ___-er |
| point | hardly any; almost no |
| pourquoi | why |
| pourtant | yet |
| précédemment | previously |
| précisément | precisely |
| premièrement | firstly |
| près | near |
| presque | nearly |
| profondément | profoundly |
| puis | then |
| quelque | some |
| quelque part | somewhere |
| rapidement | rapidly |
| rarement | rarely |
| seulement | only |
| sérieusement | seriously |
| simplement | simply |
| si | as/so |
| soudain | suddenly |
| souvent | often |
| surtout | especially |
| tant | so much |
| tantôt | sometimes |
| tard | late |
| tellement | so (much) |
| tôt | early |
| toujours | always |
| tout | all |
| très | very |
| trop | too much |
| vite | quickly |
| vraiment | really |
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