Les Adverbes

What is an adverb?
An adverb is a word you add to the verb (ADD-VERB) to give some information
about this verb.

How do we build it?

In English, most of the adverbs end with »ly » like rapidly.
In French, most of the adverbs end with »ment » like rapidement.

In that regard, many adverbs are quite similar in French and English, here are
some examples:
– extremely: extrêmement
– dangerously: dangereusement
– totally: totalement
– completely: complètement
– entirely : entièrement
– remarkably : remarquablement
– terribly : terriblement
– generally : généralement
– especially : spécialement
– largely: largement
– simply: simplement
– personally: personnellement
– probably: probablement
Other type of adverbs
There is some other very frequent adverbs that don’t follow this rule.
Usually, we like to classify them into categories. The main categories are:
Adverbs of location
Ex : ici (here)
Adverbs of time
Ex : maintenant (now)
Adverbs of frequency
Ex : toujours (always)
Adverbs of quantity
Ex : beaucoup (a lot)
Adverbs od manner
Ex : bien (well)
Adverbs of logic (linking words, cause, consequence,
concession or opposition)
Ex : cependant (however)
Construction of the -ment adverbs
I told you that a lot of adverbs use the ending -ment. But what do we put before
the ending -ment?

Case 1
Usually it’s the feminine form of the adjective.
You remember that we have studied the adjective and that there is a
masculine and a feminine form, contrary to the English.
So, to form the adverb, you use the feminine adjective and you add -
ment.

Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

certain certaine certainement

heureux heureuse heureusement

Sometimes you need to add an accent (so the pronunciation changes

a bit):

Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

précis précise précisément

profond profonde profondément

Exception:
Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

gentil gentille gentiment

Case 2
The masculine ends with a vowel, so we keep the masculine to form the adverb :
Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

vrai vraie vraiment

absolu absolue absolument

rapide rapide rapidement / vite

Sometimes you need to add an accent (so the pronunciation changes a bit):

Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

énorme énorme énormément

intense intense intensément

It’s almost the same rule as before, we just want to keep the
alternance of consonant and vowels sounds, typical of the French
language. As we already have the vowel at the end of the masculine
so we don’t need the feminine before -ment.
Case 3
This concerns the adjectives ending with -ent or -ant. In that case the adverb is slightly
different.
When the adjective ends with -ent or -ant, we remove this syllable and we replace it by -
emment and -amment that are both pronounced [amã].

For example:
Masculine adjective Adverb Pronunciation

fréquent fréquemment [fré ka mã]

évident évidemment [é vi da mã]
suffisant suffisamment [su fi za mã]
Exception:
Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb

lent lente lentement

Here is an example of text with a lot of adverbs:

( très vite , rapidement, lentement, vraiment, immédiatement, poliment, tranquillement,

calmement )

Je marche…………. dans la rue. Les voitures roulent…….. et les vélos (roulent) ………..
J’ai ……………… besoin de faire une pause. Je m’arrête…………….. dans un café et je
commande…………. un thé et un croissant. Je mange ………….. et je repars ……………...