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Adverbs

Adverbs

Basic Formation of Adverbs

• Adverbs modify the action that is taking place.
• Basic adverbs can be formed by adding –ment at the end of an adjective when it is in the feminine singular.
• Adjectives ending with –é, –i and –u turn into adverbs by adding –ment at the end when it is in the masculine singular.
• Adjectives ending with –ant turn into adverbs by removing –ant and adding –amment instead.
• Similarly, adjectives ending with –ent turn into adverbs by removing –ent and adding –emment instead.

• Certain adjectives may need to change their ending from –e to –é and then add –ment. This is completely irregular and must be remembered by heart.
  • Common adverbs like this include:
    • Profondément (Deeply)
    • Énormément (Enormously) 
    • Confusément (Confusingly)
    • Intensément (Intensely)
    • Précisément (Precisely)
    • Communément (Commonly)

Adverb Placement

• Adverb placement is equally important to adjective placement; they can change the meaning of the sentence entirely.
• Adverbs can be placed before or after the sentence.
• Adverbs can be placed in the middle of the sentence, but almost never between the subject and conjugated verb.
  • Note: Adverbs of Time (not to be confused with Adverbs of Frequency) are never placed in the middle of the sentence—either before or after.
• Adverbs must be placed after the auxiliary verb in a composed tense (like Passé Composé), but before the past participle
• Adverbs must be placed after the 2^nd part of the negation
• However, certain adverbs must be placed before the 2^nd part of the negation—common adverbs include:
  • Peut-être (Maybe)
  • Probablement (Probably)
  • Aucun doute (Without a doubt)
  • Généralement (Generally)
  • Certainement (Certainly)
  • Même (Even)
• Furthermore, there are also adverbs where they can placed both before or after the 2^nd part of the negation, but its meaning changes—common adverbs include:
  • Toujours
    • Je n’ai toujours pas dansé. (I still haven’t danced.)
    • Je n’ai pas toujours dansé. (I didn’t danced always.)
  • Vraiment
    • Je n’ai vraiment pas dansé. (I didn’t really dance.)
    • Je n’ai pas vraiment dansé. (I didn’t dance really.)

Adverbs of Quantity

• They are used to describe the quantity of an adjective, verb or adverb.
• Common adverbs of quantity in French include:

Adverbs	Meaning
Beaucoup de	A lot of
Trop de	Too much/many
Autant de	As much/many
Tant de	So much/many
Assez de	Enough/Quite
Plus/Moins de	More/Less
(Un) Peu de	Few

Adverbs of Time

• They are used to describe an action taking place in a certain time.
• Common adverbs of frequency in French include:

Adverbs	Meaning
Toujours	Always
Tout le temps	All the time
D’habitude/Normalent	Normally
Regulièrement	Regularly
Généralement/En général	Generally
Souvent	Often
Quelquefois/Des fois/Parfois	Sometimes
De temps en temps	From time to time
Rarement	Rarely

• Common adverbs of points in time in French include:

Adverbs	Meaning
Demain	Tomorrow
Ce soir	Tonight
Hier	Yesterday
Maintenant	Now
Aujourd’hui	Today