French adverbs: say how, when and how often

French adverbs are the small words that say how, when, where or how often something happens, and many end in -ment. This page shows how to build them, lists the common ones by type with audio, and explains where they sit in a sentence. For the words that describe nouns, see French adjectives. For the order of the other parts, see French sentence structure. For the words that join sentences, see French connectors.

What are adverbs in French?

An adverb in French is a word that describes, or modifies, a verb, an adjective, a preposition or another adverb. It never changes form [1]. Lawless French adds that virtually every French word ending in -ment is an adverb, the equivalent of -ly in English, but many adverbs do not end in -ment [1].

The University of Texas grammar pages show the three jobs. “Edouard cuisine bien” has an adverb describing a verb. “Edouard cuisine très bien” has très describing the adverb bien [2].

How do you form French adverbs with -ment?

Add -ment to the feminine form of the adjective. The OQLF says this is the most frequent way to form adverbs of manner [3]. The University of Texas gives the same rule, with lent, feminine lente, giving lentement [2]. A few adjectives have the same spelling in both genders, so you simply add the ending (juste, justement) [3].

Two groups behave differently. When the adjective ends in -ai, -é, -i or -u, the OQLF adds -ment to the masculine form: vrai, vraiment ; joli, joliment [3]. And for some adjectives ending in e, the adverb takes an acute accent on that e: précis, précisément ; intense, intensément [3].

When do you use -amment and -emment?

Use them when the adjective ends in -ant or -ent. The OQLF says adverbs formed from adjectives ending in -ent or -ant end in -emment and -amment [3].

What is a French adverbs list by type?

Lawless French sorts common adverbs by what they tell you. The list below keeps its examples and the University of Texas pairs, and the English glosses come from those two pages [1][2].

What are the adverbs of frequency in French?

The adverbs of frequency say how often. Lawless French lists jamais, parfois, rarement, souvent and toujours as examples [1]. The University of Texas glosses jamais as never, souvent as often and toujours as always [2]. To say never in a full sentence, French uses ne … jamais, which Lawless lists among its negative adverbs [1].

Most adverbs of frequency follow the conjugated verb: “Il étudie souvent”, he often studies [4]. In a negative sentence they follow pas: “Il n’étudie pas souvent” [4]. The exception is parfois, which usually goes at the beginning: “Parfois, il cuisine pour nous”, sometimes he cooks for us [4].

Where does the adverb go in a French sentence?

Very generally, an adverb that modifies a verb goes after the conjugated verb [1][4]. With a helping verb, it goes after the helping verb and before the past participle: “Nous avions déjà mangé”, we had already eaten [4]. Lawless French gives the same pattern with beaucoup: “Je travaille beaucoup” and “J’ai beaucoup travaillé” [1].

Other placements, all from Lawless French [4]:

• Before the word it modifies, when it modifies an adjective or another adverb: “Je suis très fatigué”; “Elle voyage assez souvent”.
• After the first verb in a two-verb phrase: “J’aime beaucoup skier”.
• At the start or end for adverbs of time such as aujourd’hui and demain: “Demain, tu peux venir à midi” or “Tu peux venir à midi demain”.
• At the start or end for long adverbs: “Heureusement, il a trouvé son portefeuille”. A long adverb can also follow the verb for emphasis: “Elle est actuellement à Paris”.
• After the direct object for adverbs of place: “Mets tes affaires là-bas”.

The University of Texas agrees that most common adverbs go directly after the verb, before the objects: “J’aime beaucoup le ketchup” [2]. If the verb is negative, the adverb goes after the negation [2].

What is the difference between bien and mieux?

Bien is the adverb for well, and mieux is its comparative, better. The University of Texas explains that bon is an adjective that modifies a noun, while the adverb bien modifies verbs, adjectives or other adverbs [5]. The comparison does not use plus … que. You say mieux que for the adverb and meilleur(e)(s) que for the adjective [5].

All rows come from [5]. The same page notes that bien can also be an intensifier, so “much better” is sometimes bien meilleur and sometimes bien mieux [5]. For the good-versus-well pair in more depth, see Good in French.

Quick quiz: French adverbs

Common mistakes

• Building the adverb from the masculine adjective. The common route is the feminine: lent, lente, lentement [2][3]. Only adjectives ending in -ai, -é, -i or -u take -ment straight onto the masculine [3].
• Writing -entement for adjectives in -ent. The OQLF gives -emment (prudent, prudemment) [3]. Lent is the one-syllable exception [2].
• Putting the adverb after the past participle by habit. Lawless French puts it after the helping verb: “Nous avions déjà mangé” [4].
• Putting parfois after the verb. It usually begins the sentence [4].
• Using bon for how an action goes. Bon modifies a noun; the adverb bien modifies a verb [5].
• Saying “plus bien” for better. Use mieux [5].
• Making an adverb agree. Adverbs are invariable [1].
• Trusting a rule from a blog, including this one. Check the date of the official page against the date at the top of this one.

Sources