Learn French pronouns and verbs, and you can construct a sentence like “je t’aime” (I love you); learn French adverbs, and you can intensify that sentence: “je t’aime tellement” (I love you so much).
I’ve read half a dozen English books on writing style, and they all advise authors against the excessive use of adverbs.
They say to use strong and specific verbs rather than add an adverb to a weak verb. For example:
| generic verb plus adverb | more specific verb |
|---|---|
| she said softly | she whispered |
| he ran quickly | he sprinted |
| he looked angrily | he glared |
| she shouted loudly | she screamed |
| they talked quietly | they murmured |
I’ve lived in France most of my life and I have noticed the excessive use, in spoken French, of adverbs like:
Many French speakers seem to like using long adverbs (with many syllables), especially in professional settings —perhaps because they think that it makes them sound sophisticated.
But it can lead to pretentious and pedantic speech. It also goes against the notion of conciseness, as there are shorter alternatives with the same meanings. For example: “aussi” instead of “également,” and “en effet” is in some cases synonymous with “effectivement.”
That being said, adverbs are one of the main parts of speech (alongside nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), so anyone who is learning French must learn plenty of French adverbs to reach fluency.
French adverbs are invariable words. This means that they don’t change form according to number and gender —in contrast to French adjectives which do.
In the same way that English uses the suffix “-ly” to form adverbs from adjectives, French often uses the suffix “-ment” (but not always —we’ll explain this in more detail in the following sections).
Take, for example, the adjective “rare,” which is identical in French and English. Add the suffix “-ly,” and you get the English adverb “rarely”; add the suffix “-ment,” and you get the French adverb “rarement.”
French adverbs can be classified into five main types: adverbs of manner, frequency, degree, time, and place.
Adverbs of manner (“Adverbes de manière” in French): these describe how an action is performed. Here are some examples:
| French | English Translation |
|---|---|
| lentement | slowly |
| rapidement | quickly |
| mieux | better |
| volontiers | gladly / willingly |
Adverbs of frequency (Adverbes de fréquence) indicate how often an action takes place. For example:
| French | English Translation |
|---|---|
| toujours | always |
| souvent | often |
| parfois | sometimes |
| rarement | rarely |
Adverbs of degree (Adverbes de quantité) describe the intensity of something. For example:
| French | English Translation |
|---|---|
| très | very |
| quelque peu | somewhat |
| moins | less |
| absolument | absolutely |
Adverbs of time (Adverbes de temps) specify when an action occurs. Here are some examples:
| French | English Translation |
|---|---|
| hier | yesterday |
| aujourd'hui | today |
| demain | tomorrow |
| bientôt | soon |
Adverbs of place (“Adverbes de lieu” in French): these indicate where an action occurs.
| French | English Translation |
|---|---|
| ici | here |
| là | there |
| à gauche | to the left |
| à droite | to the right |
The placement of French adverbs is not always identical to the placement of English adverbs.
For example, in the English sentence, “he often wins”, the adverb is placed before the verb, whereas in the corresponding French sentence, (“il gagne souvent”), the adverb is placed after the verb.
But look at this example: “Il a complètement oublié son anniversaire” (“He completely forgot about her birthday”).
In that example, the French sentence has compound tense, so there are the two verbs: the auxiliary and the past participle. In that example, the adverb was placed between the auxiliary and the past participle.
Basically, when a French adverb modifies a verb that is in a simple tense, the adverb is generally placed after that verb. But when the verb being modified is in a compound tense, there is no absolute rule.
A French adverb that modifies an adjective is generally placed in front of that adjective. For example: “C’est très beau” (it is very beautiful).
A French adverb that modifies another adverb is placed in front of that other adverb. For example: “C’est vraiment très beau” (it is really very beautiful).
In the same way that the English language uses the suffix “-ly” to create adverbs from adjectives, French uses the suffix “-ment.”
This pattern has two sets of exceptions: adjectives ending in “-ent” and in “-ant”.
When forming adverbs from these adjectives, in most cases it is the feminine form of the adjective which is used.
An acute accent is added to the ‘e’ in some cases, in order to facilitate the pronunciation. For example:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| précisément (precise) | précise + -ment |
| énormément (enormously) | énorme + -ment |
| profondément (deeply) | profonde + -ment |
| conformément (accordingly) | conforme + -ment |
| intensément (intensely) | intense + -ment |
| communément (commonly) | commune + -ment |
Here is a list of the most common French adverbs which are formed simply by adding the suffix -ment to an adjective.
In most cases, the feminine form of the adjective is used. In the table, we have sometimes indicated the masculine form of the adjective even in cases when the feminine form is used to create the adverb.
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| éventuellement (possibly) | éventuel + -ment |
| entièrement (entirely) | entier + -ment |
| seulement (only) | seule + -ment |
| actuellement (currently) | actuelle + -ment |
| également (also / equally) | égal + -ment |
| simplement (simply) | simple + -ment |
| vraiment (truly) | vrai + -ment |
| nécessairement (necessarily) | nécessaire + -ment |
| facilement (easily) | facile + -ment |
| probablement (probably) | probable + -ment |
| lentement (slowly) | lente + -ment |
| parfaitement (perfectly) | parfait + -ment |
| absolument (absolutely) | absolu + -ment |
| doucement (softly) | douce + -ment |
| rapidement (speedily) | rapide + -ment |
| exactement (exactly) | exact + -ment |
| complètement (completely) | complet + -ment |
| immédiatement (immediately) | immédiate + -ment |
| clairement (clearly) | clair + -ment |
| rarement (rarely) | rare + -ment |
| malheureusement (unfortunately) | malheureux + -ment |
| particulièrement (particularly) | particulier + -ment |
| totalement (totally) | totale + -ment |
| généralement (generally) | générale + -ment |
| heureusement (luckily) | heureux + -ment |
| autrement (otherwise) | autre + -ment |
French adverbs which are formed from adjectives ending in “-ent” replace that ending with “-emment”. Here are some examples:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| évidemment (evidently) | évid |
| récemment (recently) | réc |
| apparemment (apparently) | appar |
| impatiemment (impatiently) | impati |
| différemment (differently) | différ |
| précédemment (before now) | précéd |
| prudemment (carefully) | prud |
| fréquemment (often) | fréqu |
| violemment (violently) | viol |
| pertinemment (pertinently) | pertin |
| décemment (decently) | déc |
| consciemment (consciously) | consci |
An exception to this pattern is the adverb “lentement” (lente + ment).
French adverbs which are formed from adjectives ending in "-ant" replace that ending with “-amment”. Here are some examples:
| French adverb | formation |
|---|---|
| suffisamment (sufficiently) | suffis |
| couramment (fluently or commonly) | cour |
| indépendamment (independently) | indépend |
| abondamment (abundantly) | abond |
| constamment (constantly) | const |
| brillamment (brilliantly) | brill |
| étonnamment (surprisingly ) | étonn |
| bruyamment (noisily) | bruy |
| incessamment (unceasingly) | incess |
In French, there are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives. Here are some examples of these:
| Adverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bien | well |
| jamais | never |
| ainsi | thus, so |
| bientôt | soon, shortly |
| vite | quickly, fast |
| avant | before |
| peu | little, few |
| désormais | from now on |
| loin | far |
| là | there |
| beaucoup | very much |
| dehors | outside |
| mieux | better |
| assez | enough, somewhat |
| néanmoins | nevertheless, nonetheless |
| trop | too much |
| maintenant | now |
| toujours | always |
| alors | then, hence, so |
| ici | here |
| tard | late |
| ailleurs | elsewhere |
| déjà | already |
| tôt | early |
| dorénavant | from now on |
| encore | still, yet, again |
| environ | about |
| enfin | finally, at last |
| presque | almost |
| très | very |
| longtemps | for a long time |
| demain | tomorrow |
| ensemble | together |
| souvent | often |
| derrière | behind |
| cependant | however |
| lors | during |
| surtout | especially |
| parfois | sometimes |
| juste | only, precisely |
| partout | everywhere |
| autrefois | back in the day, in the past |
| autant | as much, equally |
| guère | hardly, barely |
| auparavant | beforehand |
| davantage | more |
| pourtant | however |
| jadis | once, formerly |
| dessus | above |
| dessous | under |
| soudain | suddenly, abruptly |
| toutefois | however |
| volontiers | willingly, gladly |