French Adverbs

Grammar

What is an Adverb?

Adverbs are words that are used to modify the meaning of a:

• Verb (It tells how, when, or where an action is performed).

  For example, Il parle vite. (He speaks quickly.)

• Adjective (It tells to what extent a quality exists).

  Elle est très fatiguée. (She is very tired.)

• Another Adverb (It tells to what extent another adverb functions).

  Tu marches trop lentement. (You walk too slowly.)

• An Entire Sentence (It offers a comment on the whole situation).

  For example, Malheureusement, il pleut. (Unfortunately, it is raining.)

Adverbs formed from Adjectives

Many adverbs in the French language are derived from adjectives by adding ment to the end of the feminine form of an adjective. If an adjective ends in i, the masculine form of the adjective is used. If the adjective ends in ant or ent then the nt is dropped and mment is added.

Examples

Not every adjective can be converted to an adverb in this way. For example, mauvais means bad, but mal means badly. The adverb form of bon, which means good, is bien. The adverb form of gentil, which means nice, is gentiment.

Adverb placement in a sentence

Adverbs are placed in sentences in a similar manner to English. Adverbs:

• come before the adverb or adjective they modify.
• go at the beginning or end of a sentence if they modify the entire sentence.
  For example: Heureusement, il a fait beau. (Fortunately, the weather was nice.)
• usually directly follow the verb they modify. In a compound verb tense, shorter adverbs usually comes after the first verb and longer adverbs come after the past participle. For example:
  J'ai bien mangé. (I ate well.)
  Ils ont parlé longuement. (They talked at length.)

Examples