French Adverbs For Beginners

Adverbs are similar to adjectives, but they add description and detail to verbs.

Adverbs In English

Adverbs are mainly used in English to give us more information about a verb.

If you think about the verb dance, and if you say “I dance” it doesn’t really tell us much compared to “I dance badly” or “I dance slowly”. The addition of adverbs gives us more detail.

As I said above, adverbs are similar to adjectives, and this is actually because most adverbs are made from adjectives.

All you need to do is add –ly and you have a formed a adverb

incredible – incredibly

slow – slowly

gentle – gently

Adverbs With Adjectives In English

Although they are mainly used to give more detail to verbs, they can also be used with adjectives, to give them even more detail. When they do this, they go before the adjective

The car is old – the car is extremely old

Adverbs With Adverbs In English

You can also use an adverb with another adverb. Where the first one gives even more detail about the second one

The car drives quickly – the car drives extremely quickly

As you can see, adverbs can actually be a little complicated as there is a number of ways they can be used in English.

Adverbs In French

French Adverbs work in the same way as they do in English. They are mainly used to give further description to a verb, but they can also be used in number of other ways, so just like in English, they can be a little tricky.

The good news is that they do not need to agree with anything else in the sentence. There is no gender involved. This is because it is linked with the verb, which has no gender, so I guess in that sense it does agree with that.

This means there is only one word you need to learn for each adverb, which is always nice.

How To Form An Adverb In French

It is also easy to spot an adverb in French as the vast majority are formed by adding -ment to an adjective. (In the same way we mostly add –ly in English)

Incredible – Incredibly ….Incroyable – Incroyablement

Slow – Slowly …Lent – Lentement

Gentle – Gently …Deuce – Doucement

There are a few rules about how to exactly change an adjective to an adverb in French, but this isn’t too important right now and of course there are a number of adverbs that do not end in –ment.    

How To Use An Adverb In french

Lets look at how to use Adverbs in French:

Using An Adverb With A Verb in French

This is the most common way to use an adverb and it works the same way as in English, the adverb comes after the verb it is giving description to.  

I dance slowly   – Je danse lentement

So basically the adverb follows the verb that has been conjugated.

This is important when you start talking in certain tenses. Often it is Avoir or Etre that this conjugated and the verb that follows is in the infinitive form.

This means that that adverb needs to come after Avoir or Etre, as it is the conjugated verb.

I eat well – Je mange bien

I ate well – j’ai bien mange (the adverb is after the conjugated avoir)

Using An Adverb With An Adjective In French

When using adverb to give more description to an adjective, it works in the same way as English. You add the adverb before the adjective.

The car is old – The car is extremely old

La voiture est vieille – La voiture est extrêmement vieille

Using Adverbs With Adverbs In French

You can also use an adverb to give more detail to an adverb. This works the same way as it does in English. You the first adverb will give further detail to the one following it. 

The car drives quickly – the car drives extremely quickly

La voiture roule vite – la voiture roule extrêmement vite

Conclusion

Although adverbs may seem tricky in both English and French, they are actually pretty straight forward when you get used to them.

In general, if you use them in French the same way you would in English you cannot really go wrong. Just think of where the word you want to add would go in an English sentence and it most likely going to be in the same position as a French sentence.

As you read and listen to more French your ear will get better at picking upon adverbs and where they are placed.

(Read the next lesson – French Demonstrative Adjectives)