Les Adverbes

Adverbs are words which complete or add to the meaning of a verb, an

adjective or even another adverb. Adverbs, unlike adjectives in French are
invariable, i.e. they do not change in number or gender, since basically they
modify verbs and not nouns.

Eg: She sings sweetly.

- Elle chante doucement.

He works well.
-Il travaille bien.

They walk slowly.

-Ils marchent lentement.

Adverbs can also modify an adjective i.e. add to its meaning:

Eg: a) She is extremely tired.

- Elle est extrêmement fatiguée.
(The adverb ‘extrêmement’ further adds to the meaning of the adjective
fatiguée.)

b) He is a very handsome boy.

- Il est un très beau garçon.

Lastly, adverbs can also modify another adverb.

a) He drinks far too much.
- Il boit beaucoup.

b) She dances very gracefully.

- Elle danse très gracieusement.
(The adverb ‘très’ modifies another adverb ‘gracieusement’)
Formation of Adverbs:

1.If an adjective ends in a vowel, the adverb is formed by adding ‘ment’ to

the masculine form of the adjective.

Masculine Adjective Adverb

absolu (absolute) absolument (absolutely)
Poli (polite) Poliment (politely)
Facile (easy) Facilement (easily)
Joli (pretty) Joliment (prettily, pleasantly)
Libre (free) Librement (freely)
Rapide (fast,rapid) Rapidement (fastly, rapidly)
Vrai (true) Vraiment (truly)
Timide (timid,shy) Timidement (timidly, shyly)
Impoli (rude) Impoliment (rudely)
Exceptions:
Beau (handsome) Bellement (handsomely)
Nouveau (new) Nouvellement (newly)
Mou (soft) Mollement (softly)
Fou (mad) Follement (madly)
Note: These adjectives have masculine forms (bel, nouvel, mol and fol,
respectively and therefore they are first changed to the feminine form and
then the adverb is formed.)
2. If the adjective ends in a consonant, the adverb is formed by adding
‘ment’ to the feminine form. (Note all feminine adjectives always end in an
‘e’

Masculine Adjective Feminine Adjective Adverb

doux (sweet, gentle) douce doucement (sweetly)
fier (proud) Fière Fièrement (proudly)
Heureux (happy) Heureuse Heureusement (happily)
Coquet (smart, stylish) Coquette Coquettement (smartly)
Public (public) Publique Publiquement (publicly)
Léger (light) Légère Légèrement (lightly)
Long Longue Longuement (lengthily)
Lourd (heavy) lourde Lourdement
Vif (lively) vive Vivement
Soigneux (careful) Soigneuse Soigneusement (carefully)
Joyeux (joyous) joyeuse Joyeusement (joyfully)
Franc (frank) Franche Franchement (frankly)
Sec (dry) Sèche sèchement (drily)
Attentif (attentive) attentive attentivement (attentively)
Respectueux respectueuse respectueusement
(respectful) (respectfully)
Gros (fat, big, great) grosse grossement (grossly,
greatly)
3. Adjectives which end in ‘-ent’ or ‘-ant’ form the adverbs by changing
‘-ent’ into ‘-emment’ and the ‘-ant’ into ‘-amment’.

Adjective Adverb
Ardent ardemment (ardently)
Evident evidemment (evidently)
Patient patiemment (patiently)
Prudent prudemment (prudently)
Violent violemment (violently)
Bruyant bruyamment (noisily)
Constant constamment (constantly)
Suffisant (sufficient) suffisamment (sufficiently)
élégant élégamment (elegantly)
Courant (common, current) couramment (commonly, fluently)
Exceptions:
Lent (slow) lentement (slowly)
Véhément (vehement/forceful) véhémentement (vehemently)
4. A few adverbs are formed by making the ‘e’ acute and then adding
‘ment’ to the feminine adjective.

Adjective Adverb
Précis (e) précisément (precisely)
Profond (e) (profound, deep) profondément (profoundly, deeply)
énorme (enormous) énormément (enormously)
Intense (intensive) intensément (intensively)

5. A few adjectives are also used as adverbs and in such cases, they are
invariable, (i.e., they are only used in the masculine singular form.)

Adjective Adverb
Vite (quick) Vite (quickly)
Cher (chère) (dear) Cher (dearly)
Soudain (e) (sudden) Soudain (suddenly) (soudainement)
is also used sometimes
Fort (e) (strong) Fort
Dur (dure) (hard) Dur (hard)
6. A few adverbs do not follow any of the above patterns and are formed
irregularly.

Bon/bonne (good) bien (well)

Mauvais(e) (bad) mal (badly)
Meilleur(e) (better) mieux (better)
Pire (worse) pis (worse)
Gai (gay, happy) gaiement (gaily, happily)
Gentil (nice, kind) gentiment (nicely, kindly)
Brève (brief) brièvement (briefly)
Premier/ première (first) d'abord (firstly)
Dernier/ dernière (last) enfin (finally) / finalement
Prochain (e) (next) ensuite (next)
Petit (e) (small, little) un peu (a little)
Demi (e) (half) à moitié (half)
 Position of Adverbs

1. When the verb is in a simple tense like the Present, Simple Future or
Imperfect Tense, the adverb is immediately placed after the verb. With the
negative verbs, the adverb comes after the complete negation i.e. after
‘pas’.
Eg: 1. She loves her country very much.
- Elle aime beaucoup sa ville.

2. I often used to think of him.

- Je pensais souvent à lui.

3. They will not leave immediately.

- Ils ne partent pas immédiatement / aussitôt.

4. He always says that.

- Il dit toujours ça.

5. I don't like this colour very much.

- Je n’aime pas tellement cette couleur.

2. When the verb is in a compound tense, like the Passe Compose or

Plus-que-parfait, the adverb is placed directly before the Past Participle.
Eg: 1. He drank a lot but he did not eat too much.
- Il a beaucoup bu, mais il n’a pas trop mangé.

2. I have often said that to you.

- Je vous ai souvent dit cela.

3. She has not yet finished it.

- Elle ne l’a pas encore fini.

4. The train has already left.

- Le train est déjà parti.
3. Some adverbs, however, never come between the helping verb and the
past participle. They are placed either right at the beginning or at the end of
the sentence. These are certain adverbs of time and place (eg. hier,
demain, tôt, tard, ici, la, etc.) or long adverbial phrases (eg. de bonne
heure, tout de suite, etc.)
Eg: 1. Yesterday, I went to see a film.
- Hier, je suis allé voir un film.

2. Today, I got up early.

- Aujourd’hui, je me suis levé tôt.

3. I have looked for it everywhere.

- Je l’ai cherché partout.

4. When an adverb describes an adjective or another adverb, it comes just

before it.
Eg: 1. You are too kind.
- Vous êtes trop aimable.

2. She was badly depressed.

- Elle était mal habillée.

3. They worked very well.

- Ils ont très bien travaillé.

(Note: The adverb, ‘très’ cannot be used before ‘beaucoup’, so ‘very much’
should not be translated literally.)The difference between ‘très’ and
‘beaucoup’ is that ‘très’ describes adjectives and adverbs only while
‘beaucoup’ describes verbs only.

4. I like her very much.

- Je l’aime beaucoup. (describing adverb)
 5. Peter is very courageous.
- Peter est très courageux. (describe adjective)

6. She comes very often to my house.

- Elle vient très souvent chez moi. (describe adverb)

(Note: Sometimes in exams, instead of being asked to form the adverb,

from the corresponding adjective, a noun phrase may be given, in which
case it is important to figure out what the adjective for the noun form is, and
then form the corresponding adverb from it.)