Adverbs

Introduction

First, the good news! If you compare adverbs in French and English, you'll find that there are many similarities. This includes how adverbs are used and the way in which many of them are formed. Also, once you know your adverb in French, you don't have to worry about whether it's masculine or feminine - unlike nouns and adjectives in French, where of course the difference is important.
And the... other news? Remember that there are always exceptions to these general rules and these have to be learned. However, you'll soon see that practice makes perfect!

1. What an adverb does

Very often, an adverb describes how something is being done. This is true in both French and English. An example is clairement ("clearly"), as in "J'explique clairement" ("I explain clearly"). Adverbs are the counterparts of adjectives, which are descriptions of a thing; for example, clair ("clear"), as in une explication claire ("a clear explanation"). Although adjectives in French often have different masculine and feminine forms, adverbs are invariable with just one form.
An adverb can also describe an adjective or even another adverb in French, just as in English. Think about how the word relativement ("relatively") is used in the following phrases: tu le fais relativement facilement ("you do it relatively easily"); or le train est relativement lent ("the train is relatively slow").

2. Making adverbs from adjectives

In French, many adverbs can be formed from adjectives simply by taking the feminine form of the adjective, and then adding "-ment" at the end. This is very similar to all the adverbs you can form in English by just adding "-ly" to the end of an adjective.
Note: In some cases adjectives in French may have the same ending whether they are masculine or feminine.

English adjective/adverb	French adjective (masculine)	French adjective (feminine)	French adverb
clear/clearly	clair	claire	clairement
slow/slowly	lent	lente	lentement
happy/happily	heureux	heureuse	heureusement
sad/sadly	triste	triste	tristement
easy/easily	facile	facile	facilement
difficult/with difficulty	difficile	difficile	difficilement
terrible/terribly	terrible	terrible	terriblement
extreme/extremely	extrême	extrême	extrêmement
silent/silently	silencieux	silencieuse	silencieusement
dry/drily	sec	sèche	sèchement
soft/softly	doux	douce	doucement

On the other hand, when adverbs are formed from an adjective that already ends in a vowel, they use the masculine form of the adjective, not the feminine:

English adjective/adverb	French adjective (masculine)	French adjective (feminine)	French adverb (no "e" in the middle)
polite/politely	poli	polie	poliment
true/truly	vrai	vraie	vraiment

Some adverbs are formed by changing the "-e" at the end of the adjective to an "-é" ("e" with an acute accent) to make the adverb:

			(an "e" in the middle)
enormous/enormously	énorme	énorme	énormément
precise/precisely	précis	précise	précisément

In French as in many other languages there are also exceptions. Here are some examples:

English adjective/adverb	French adjective (masculine)	French adjective (feminine)	French adverb
elegant/elegantly	élégant	élégante	élégamment
kind/kindly	gentil	gentille	gentiment
good/well	bon	bonne	bien
bad/badly	mauvais	mauvaise	mal

Adverb for describing when, where and how

Remember what we said about an adverb describing how you do something? Doing something "today" or "right here" means that "today" and "right here" are both acting as adverbs. The same thing is true in French as well. This gives us adverbs of time, place, frequency, quantity and manner. We've already met a few of these above, but here are some further examples.

Examples of adverbs of time in English	Examples of adverbs of time in French
today	aujourd'hui
yesterday	hier
tomorrow	demain
now	maintenant
then	alors
from now on	désormais

Examples of adverbs of place in English	Examples of adverbs of place in French
here	ici
there	là-bas
on the right	à droite
on the left	à gauche
upwards	vers le haut
downwards	vers le bas

Examples of adverbs of frequency in English	Examples of adverbs of frequency in French
often	souvent
seldom/rarely	rarement
frequently	fréquemment (from the adjective "fréquent")
constantly	constamment (from the adjective "constant")

Examples of adverbs of quantity in English	Examples of adverbs of quantity in French
a lot	beaucoup
a little	peu
sufficiently	suffisamment (from the adjective "suffisant")
enough	assez

Examples of adverbs of manner in English	Examples of adverbs of manner in French
carefully	soigneusement
exactly	exactement
hard	durement
powerfully	puissamment
warmly	chaudement

Adverbs made from two or more words (adverbial phrases)

We can already see from the examples above that some adverbs are also phrases that contain two or more words. An example is vers le haut, corresponding to the English adverb "upwards" as in "Je regarde vers le haut," meaning "I look (am looking) upwards." Many phrases like this are used in everyday French: for example, de bonne heure ("early") instead of tôt, and tout de suite ("at once") instead ofimmédiatement.

Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs (degree)

If we want to compare adverbs in French, the general rule is to use the construction "plus" + adverb ("more...") and "le plus" + adverb ("most..."). The contrary is then simply "moins" + adverb ("less...") and"le moins" + adverb ("the least..."). Unlike adjectives in French, superlatives of adverbs are invariably masculine: the correct form is always "le plus/moins facilement" (and never "la plus/moins facilement").

Comparatives and superlatives in English	Comparatives and superlatives in French
easily	facilement
more easily	plus facilement
most easily	le plus facilement
less easily	moins facilement
least easily	le moins facilement

Watch out for irregular comparisons as well, such as:

well	bien
better	mieux
best	le mieux
badly	mal
worse	pis (formal) / pire (informal)
worst	le pis (formal) / le pire (informal)

The position of the adverb in a French sentence

French does not have as much flexibility as English about where to put the adverb. As a general rule, put the adverb immediately after the verb, unless you are asking a question, in which case the adverb is the word that starts the phrase.

English	French
I often read books in French.	Je lis souvent des livres en français.
We can learn to speak clearly.	Nous pouvons apprendre à parler clairement.
They did it well.	Ils l'ont bien fait. ("Avoir/ont" is the verb here.)
When will you come back?	Quand reviendrez-vous?

However, don't be surprised if you sometimes meet adverbs in other positions as well.

Negative adverbs

Saying that you are not doing something also means you are using an adverb! Here are a few examples of how negation is expressed in French.

English	French
I do not read books in French.	Je ne lis pas des livres en français.
You have not yet tried.	Tu n'as pas encore essayé.
We promise to say nothing.	Nous promettons de ne rien dire.