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Adverbes de manière
Adverbs of manner express how the action of a verb occurs. In English, the vast majority of adverbs of manner end in -ly, whereas in French, they mostly end in –ment. In French (and English), these adverbs are created from adjectives, as follows.
1) French adjective ends in vowel: add –ment
Adjective | Adverb | Translation | ||
bête erroné joli résolu timide vrai |
bêtement erronément joliment résolument timidement vraiment |
stupidly mistakenly nicely resolutely timidly truly, really |
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Exceptions | ||||
gai mou nouveau |
gaiement mollement nouvellement |
gaily softly newly |
2) Adjective ends in consonant*: make feminine, then add –ment
Adjective | Feminine | Adverb | Translation | |||
actuel certain décisif frais heureux premier |
actuelle certaine décisive fraîche heureuse première |
actuellement certainement décisivement fraîchement heureusement premièrement |
currently certainly decisively freshly fortunately firstly |
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Exceptions | ||||||
bref gentil |
brève gentille |
brièvement gentiment |
briefly kindly |
* Except –nt, see 3, below.
Some adverbs follow the above rules with an additional requirement: the e in front of –ment takes on an acute accent.
Adjective | Adverb | Translation | ||
confus dense énorme obscur précis profond |
confusément densément énormément obscurément précisément profondément |
confusedly densely enormously obscurely precisely profoundly |
3) Adjective ends in –ant or –ent**: replace this ending with –amment or –emment.
Adjective | Adverb | Translation | ||
apparent fréquent instant méchant récent suffisant |
apparemment fréquemment instamment méchamment récemment suffisamment |
apparently frequently insistently spitefully recently sufficiently |
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Exception | ||||
lent | lentement | slowly |
** These are usually present participles.
Some French adverbs of manner aren’t derived from adjectives:
ainsi | thus, so | |
bien | well | |
comme | as, like | |
debout | standing up | |
ensemble | together | |
exprès | on purpose | |
mal | poorly, badly | |
mieux | better | |
néanmoins | nevertheless | |
pire | worse | |
vite | quickly | |
volontiers | gladly |
Related lessons
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