Adverbs of Manner

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
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
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 instantly spitefully recently sufficiently
Exception
lent		lentement		slowly

** These are usually present participles.

Some French adverbs of manner aren’t derived from adjectives:

ainsi		thus, so
aussi		also
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

• Introduction to adverbs
• Acute accent
• Adjectives
• Present participles

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