Often, it is difficult to find a great list of French adverbs alongside their definitions to look over and practice when learning the French language. On top of this, it can be difficult to know where to place these adverbs in a sentence.

That is where we come in, at Italki.com, we are experts in helping those tackle their difficulties in learning French, and have compiled a helpful guide on French adverbs for you to help you get started.

In this guide you will:

• Learn more about how to form French adverbs
• Understand where to place them in a sentence
• Find a list of common French adverbs and their translations

By learning this vital information, you will be able to understand French further, making it easier to master the language and add these adverbs to your everyday French conversation. Let’s get started.

What are French adverbs

Adverbs in any language are words that describe or change verbs, other adverbs, or adjectives to give further detail or context. It can change any kind of word apart from nouns. They can change the meaning of entire sentences with their addition, and this is the same in the French language. While in English, many verbs will end with the letters ‘ly’, the most common French adverbs will end in the phrase ‘ment’, but there are also other examples to look for.

How to form a normal French adverb from an adjective

As we mentioned above, the most common French adverbs end in ‘ment’, so let’s take a look at the basic rules.

If the adjective you are looking to form an adverb from ends with a vowel, then ‘ment’ can be added directly on to the end. For example absolu becomes absolument. If, however, the word ends in a consonant, then an ‘e’ should be added to the end of the world, changing it to the feminine form, before adding ‘ment’ on the end. An example of this is normal, which becomes normalement.

Within the French language there are some adjectives that have a silent ‘e’ at the end of the word – for example, intense. In these cases, an accent should be placed on top of the ‘e’ before adding ‘ment’ onto the end of the world – therefore, intense becomes intensément.

Any French adjectives that end in either ‘ent’ or ‘ant’ have different endings when they become adverbs. The letters ‘amment’ and ‘emment’ should be added on to these words respectively. For example, courant becomes couramment, and evident becomes evidemment..

Finally, there are some adverbs that do not follow any of the rules above, and instead, have to be remembered. See the table below for some examples of these:

Adjective	Adverb
bon	bien
mauvais	mal
meilleur	mieux
petit	peu

There are many different types of French adverbs, each with its own way of changing a sentence. In the next section below is a table of some of the most common adverbs within the French language.

List of French Adverbs

There are many different adverbs within the French language, with many sharing similar endings as discussed above. Below is a list of French adverbs that are commonly used, as well as their English translation to help you get started. The list is in alphabetical order for your convenience.

You will notice that many of the adverbs end in the phrase ‘ment’, and this can help you identify them when reading French text or practising speaking in French.

French Adverb	English Translation
absolument	absolutely
actuellement	currently
ailleurs	elsewhere
alors	so
ainsi	thus; so
après	after
assez	quite, fairly
aujourd’hui	today
aussi	as; as well
aussitôt	immediately
autant	as much
autrefois	in the old days
autrement	differently
autour	around
avant	before
avant-hier	on the day before yesterday
avec	With
beaucoup	a lot
bas	low
bien	well
bientôt	well
bientôt	soon
brusquement	Abruptly
cependant	nonetheless
certes	admittedly
certainement	certainly
ci	here
combien	how much/many
comme	as
comment	how
complètement	Completely
d’abord	first
davantage	more
debout	standing
dehors	dehors
déjà	already
delà	beyond
beyond	tomorrow
depuis	since
dernièrement	lately
désormais	from now on, henceforth
dessus	dessus
devant	in front of
doucement	Doucement
également	également
encore	again/still
enfin	finally; eventually
ensemble	together
ensuite	next, then
énormément	enormously
environ	About
facilement	easily
franchement	Frankly
gentiment	kindly
guère	Hardly
haut	high
heureusement	fortunately
hier	yesterday
ici	here
immédiatement	Immediately
jamais	Never
là	there
là-bas	over there
là-dedans	in here, in there
là-dessus	on here; on there
largement	greatly; well
légèrement	lightly; slightly
lentement	slowly
loin	far
longtemps	for a long time
lors	when
lors de	During
maintenant	now
mal	poorly; badly
même	even
moins	less
mieux	Better
naturellement	naturally
ne	not
non	no; not
oui	Yes
parfois	sometimes
partout	everywhere
pas	not
parfaitement	perfectly
peu	few, little
peut-être	perhaps
plutôt	rather
plus	more, ___-er
point	hardly any; almost no
pourquoi	why
pourtant	yet
précédemment	previously
précisément	precisely
premièrement	firstly
près	near
presque	nearly
profondément	profoundly
puis	Then
quelque	some
quelque part	Somewhere
rapidement	rapidly
rarement	Rarely
seulement	only
sérieusement	seriously
simplement	simply
si	as/so
soudain	suddenly
souvent	often
surtout	Especially
tant	so much
tantôt	sometimes
tard	late
tellement	so (much)
tôt	early
toujours	always
tout	all
très	very
trop	too much
vite	quickly
vraiment	really

Common French Adverbs Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are some of the most commonly asked questions on French adverbs, and the answers that you need to know from our expert French teacher online.

Where do adverbs fit in French sentences?

Within the French language, the adverb is added to a sentence after the verb, with its purpose being to change the meaning of the verb by adding more detail. If the adverb is in the sentence to change another adverb or an adjective, then it should instead go before the word in question.

Are there any patterns in the formation of French adverbs and their spelling?

If the adjective that the adverb is attached to ends with a letter that is a vowel, then the adverb is likely to end in the phrase ‘ment’. On the other hand, if it ends in a consonant, you will first need to add an ‘e’ by changing it to the feminine form, before adding ‘ment’ at the end.

What about if the sentence in French is describing a time?

If the sentence in French is describing when an action happened, or how often or how long it lasts, then the adverb should be added after both the object and the verb within the sentence.

Where do I put the adverb in a negative form French sentence?

When you are writing or speaking a sentence that is in the negative form, the adverb itself should be added into the sentence after the phrase ‘pas’.

How can italki help you?

If you are looking to learn more about the French language and learn French online, then look no further than italki.com. Our expert staff can help you out with a number of different French queries about translations, how to build your sentences, and how to answer questions in French. Learning a new language can be challenging, but our expert staff is here to help with any questions you may have. Join one of our French classes today to give it a try, or contact us to ask any questions.

Conclusion

To sum it up, adverbs can be used within the French language to change different types of words such as verbs and adjectives to give more detail. They cannot, however, be used on nouns. Within French, adverbs can be used to describe a number of different things, such as the frequency, the manner, or the place in which something happened.

We hope that our list of French adverbs will help you get started. You will notice a lot of the words on our list end in the phrase ‘ment’ and this is a great way to start to identify them within French writing. To learn more about French grammar, and to master more of the language, why not learn French online today, by booking a lesson with italki.com.