French Adverbs

Understanding Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes or modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
Unlike adjectives, adverbs in French do not agree in gender and number with the word they are modifying.
Many French adverbs are formed by adding ‘-ment’ to the feminine form of adjectives: ‘franchement’ (frankly), ‘facilement’ (easily).
However, if the masculine form of the adjective ends in a vowel, the adverb is formed by adding -ment directly to it: ‘vraiment’ (really), ‘généralement’ (generally).

The placement of adverbs can vary, but they typically follow the verb they are modifying: ‘Elle parle rapidement’ (She speaks quickly).
If the verb is in a compound tense (e.g formed with auxiliary verb), the adverb is usually placed after the auxiliary and before the past participle: ‘Elle a souvent visité’ (She often visited).
However, some short, common adverbs (e.g., ‘bien’, ‘mal’, ‘encore’, ‘toujours’) are often placed before the past participle: ‘Elle a bien dormi’ (She slept well).

To form the comparative of adverbs, use ‘plus’ (more), ‘moins’ (less), or ‘aussi’ (as) before the adverb: ‘Elle parle plus rapidement que moi’ (She speaks more quickly than me).
The ‘superlative’ (the most/the least) is formed with definite articles + ‘plus/moins’ before the adverb: ‘Elle travaille le plus sérieusement’ (She works the most seriously).
Some adverbs have irregular comparative and superlative forms: for example, ‘bien’ (well) becomes ‘mieux’ (better) for comparative and ‘le mieux’ (the best) for superlative.

Become familiar with some of the most common French adverbs which include ‘aussi’ (also), ‘très’ (very), ‘trop’ (too), ‘alors’ (then), ‘ici’ (here), ‘maintenant’ (now) and others.
Remember the important adverbs ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ are used together to make a sentence negative, e.g., ‘Je ne comprends pas’ (I don’t understand).

Adverbial phrases often express time, place or manner and used in French just like in English: ‘à l’heure’ (on time), ‘à pied’ (by foot), ‘pendant ce temps’ (meanwhile), ‘tout à coup’ (all of a sudden).
Keep in mind that the position, relationship to other words and punctuation can affect the meaning and usage of these phrases.