In French, adverbs can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. They usually answer questions such as how, how often, how long, when, where, etc.
Table of Contents
- Forming Adverbs in French
- Adverbs of “bon” & “mal”
- The Adverb “si”
- The Adverbs “Aussi” & “Non plus” in French
- The Adverbs “Encore” & “Déjà” in French
- The Adverb “il y a”
- Adverbial Phrases with “Fois”
- Level III – Elementary
A lot of French adverbs have the ending “-ment,” e.g., “rapidement” (quickly), “fortement” (strongly), etc. This is, more or less, similar to the ending “-ly” in English. Nevertheless, there are many other adverbs and adverbial phrases that do not follow this simple rule. We will attempt to classify the most common adverbs into some categories for easier memorization.
Forming Adverbs in French
Many adverbs in French can be formed by simply adding “-ment” to the feminine singular adjective. Here are some examples:
| Adverb in English | Masculine singular adjective | Feminine singular adjective | Adverb in French |
| slowly | lent | lente | lentement |
| quickly | rapide | rapide | rapidement |
| quietly | tranquille | tranquille | tranquillement |
| exactly | exact | exacte | exactement |
| relatively | relatif | relative | relativement |
| strongly | fort | forte | fortement |
| easily | facile | facile | facilement |
| normally | normal | normale | normalement |
| generally | général | générale | généralement |
| literally | littéral | littérale | littéralement |
| popularly | populaire | populaire | populairement |
| regularly | régulier | régulière | régulièrement |
| particularly | particulier | particulière | particulièrement |
Some adverbs ending with “-ment” slightly deviate from the above rules. For example:
| recent | récent | recently | récemment |
| violent | violent | violently | violemment |
Not all adverbs in French are formed by adding the “-ment” ending, similar to the fact that not all English adverbs are formed by adding “-ly” to the corresponding adjective.
Adverbs of “bon” & “mal”
Some adverbs in French do not follow any particular rules. For example, the adverb of “bon” (good) is “bien” (well), and the adverb of “mauvais” (bad) is “mal” (badly).
The Adverb “si”
Another common adverb in French is “si,” which, depending on the context, can be translated as “such” or “so.” For example:
| C’est un si joli chat. | He is such a pretty cat. |
| Ce chat est si joli. | This cat is so pretty. |
The Adverbs “Aussi” & “Non plus” in French
The adverb “aussi” is used to express agreement with an affirmative statement, whereas the adverb “non plus” is used to express agreement with a negative statement. For example:
| A: Je parle français. B: Moi aussi. | A: I speak French. B: Me too. |
| A: Je ne parle pas français. B: Moi non plus. | A: I don’t speak French. B: Me neither. |
To show disagreement with affirmative and negative statements, we simply use “non” (no) and “oui” (yes), respectively, for example:
| A: Je parle français. B: Moi non. | A: I speak French. B: I don’t. |
| A: Je ne parle pas français. B: Moi oui. | A: I don’t speak French. B: I do. |
The Adverbs “Encore” & “Déjà” in French
When followed by a verb in the present tense, “encore” generally means “still” in affirmative and negative expressions. However, “encore” can also mean “yet” in a negative expression when followed by a verb in the present perfect tense, for example:
| J’habite encore en Italie. | I still live in Italy. |
| Je ne parle pas encore bien anglais. | I still don’t speak English well. |
| Je ne suis pas encore rentré. | I have not returned home yet. |
One can think of “déjà,” meaning “already,” as the opposite response to “pas encore.” Below are some examples in both the present tense and the present perfect tense:
a) Present Tense
| Je ne parle pas encore bien anglais. | I still don’t speak English well. |
| Je parle déjà bien l’anglais. | I already speak English well. |
b) Present Perfect Tense
| Je ne suis pas encore rentré. | I have not returned home yet. |
| Je suis déjà rentré chez moi. | I have already returned home. |
In the present tense, the opposite of “encore” (still) is “ne … plus” (no longer). For example:
| J’habite encore en Italie. | I still live in Italy. |
| Je n’habite plus en Italie. | I no longer live in Italy. |
The Adverb “il y a”
The expression “il y a” is also used as an adverb of time meaning “ago” when describing something that happened and ended in the past. Here are some examples:
| J’ai parlé à ma sœur il y a trois mois. | I spoke to my sister three months ago. |
| Je me suis réveillé il y a 15 minutes. | I woke up 15 minutes ago. |
Adverbial Phrases with “Fois”
The feminine noun “fois” is used to describe the frequency of occurrence. The English equivalents are “time,” and its plural “times,” e.g., “how many times did you win?”
Here is a list of some adverbial phrases that use “fois”:
| cette fois | this time | de moins en moins | less and less |
| la prochaine fois | next time | la dernière fois | last time |
| à chaque fois | each time every time | une fois | one time once |
| quelquefois | at times sometimes | trois fois | three times |
| parfois | sometimes | plusieurs fois | many times |
| beaucoup de fois | many times | Combien de fois? | How many times? |
Other lessons in Level III:
