If you're trying to learn French Adverbs you will find some useful resources including a course about Adverbs of time place manner and frequency... to help you with your French grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn French. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the French Adverbs is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the French language. But first we need to know what the role of Adverbs is in the structure of the grammar in French.
French adverbs are part of speech. Generally they're words that modify any part of language other than a noun. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They are invariable.
In French, they are usually formed from an adjective, by adding suffix -ment.
Examples: vrai becomes vraiment, terrible becomes terriblement.
If the masculine form of an adjective ends with a consonant, the adverb is formed by adding -ment to the feminine form:
Examples:
|
adjective |
adverb |
|
Plat (flat) |
platement |
|
Heureux (happy) |
heureusement |
|
Naturel (natural) |
naturellement |
|
Frais (fresh) |
fraîchement |
Exceptions:
gentil (nice) becomes gentiment
bref (brief) becomes brièvement
In some cases, the -e of the feminine form becomes an -é in the adverb.
For example:
profond (deep)becomes profondément, confus (confused) becomes confusément.
If the masculine form of an adjective ends with a vowel, the adverb is created by adding -ment to it:
examples:
|
adjective |
adverb |
|
Joli (pretty) |
joliment |
|
Grave (serious) |
gravement |
|
Passionné (passionate) |
passionnément |
|
Absolu (absolute) |
absolument |
Exceptions:
|
Beau (beautiful) |
bellement |
|
Gai (happy) |
gaiement |
|
Traître (treacherous) |
traîtreusement |
|
Impuni (unpunished) |
impunément |
In some cases, the -e of the masculine form becomes an -é in the adverb. For example, intense (intense) becomes intensément, aveugle (blind) becomes aveuglément.
In some adverbs formed from adjectives ending with -u, a circumflex is added. Examples: cru (raw) becomes crûment, goulu (gluttonous) becomes goulûment).
Adverbs from adjectives ending with -ant are formed dropping -ant and adding -amment.
Examples:
|
Galant (courteous) |
galamment |
|
Bruyant (noisy) |
bruyamment |
Adverbs from adjectives ending with -ent are formed dropping -ent and adding -emment.
Examples:
|
Fréquent (frequent) |
Fréquemment |
|
Évident (obvious) |
évidemment |
Exceptions:
|
Lent (slow) |
lentement |
|
Présent (present) |
présentement |
A lot of adverbs do not end with -ment (for example: bien (well), mieux (better), peu (little), vite (fast)).
Here are some examples:| English Adverbs | French Adverbs |
|---|---|
| adverbs | adverbes |
| I read a book sometimes | Je lis un livre parfois |
| I will never smoke | Je ne fumerai jamais |
| are you alone? | Êtes-vous seul? |
Notice the structure of the Adverbs in French has a logical pattern. Locate the Adverbs above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in French.
While in English adverbs are usually formed by adding (-ly) to adjectives. In French many adverbs are formed from adjectives, simply by adding the suffix –ment to the singular feminine form of adjectives. Examples:
Lent (slow) becomes lentement (slowly)
Parfait (perfect) becomes parfaitement (perfectly)
However that’s not always the case. Some words are adverbs by nature. For example:
Maintenant (now), vraiment (really), and bientôt (soon) are all French adverbs.
Below is a list of the Adverbs of time place manner and frequency in French placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your French vocabulary.
| English Adverbs | French Adverbs |
|---|---|
| adverbs of time | adverbes de temps |
| yesterday | Hier/ La vielle |
| today | aujourd'hui |
| tomorrow | demain |
| now | maintenant |
| then | puis |
| later | plus tard |
| tonight | ce soir |
| right now | pour le moment/ en ce moment |
| last night | dernière nuit |
| this morning | ce matin |
| next week | semaine prochaine |
| already | déjà |
| recently | récemment |
| lately | récemment |
| soon | bientôt |
| immediately | immédiatement |
| still | encore |
| yet | encore |
| ago | il y a |
| adverbs of place | adverbes de lieu |
| here | ici |
| there | là |
| over there | là-bas |
| everywhere | partout |
| anywhere | n'importe où |
| nowhere | nulle part |
| home | maison |
| away | loin |
| out | dehors |
| adverbs of manner | adverbes de manière |
| very | très |
| quite | tout à fait/assez |
| pretty | joli |
| really | vraiment |
| fast | rapide |
| well | bien |
| hard | dur |
| quickly | rapidement |
| slowly | lentement |
| carefully | soigneusement |
| hardly | à peine |
| barely | à peine |
| mostly | surtout |
| almost | presque |
| absolutely | absolument |
| together | ensemble |
| alone | seul |
| adverbs of frequency | adverbes de fréquence |
| always | toujours |
| frequently | fréquemment |
| usually | habituellement |
| sometimes | parfois |
| occasionally | de temps en temps |
| seldom | rarement |
| rarely | rarement |
| never | jamais |
Adverbs of time place manner and frequency have a very important role in French. Once you're done with French Adverbs, you might want to check the rest of our French lessons here: Learn French. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
Menu: | |||
The links above are only a small sample of our lessons, please open the left side menu to see all links.