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Adverbes
One of the eight parts of speech, adverbs are descriptors: they can modify several different parts of speech, including themselves. Virtually every French word that ends in -ment is an adverb, equivalent to -ly in English. But there are also many adverbs that don’t end in -ment.
Characteristics of French Adverbs
- May modify verbs, adjectives, prepositions, or other adverbs
- Are invariable
- Are categorized according to type of modification
- Follow specific placement rules
Types of French Adverbs
Here are the different types of French adverbs with a few examples of each. Click the titles for detailed lessons on each type.
Adverbs of Frequency | Adverbs of Manner | |||||
| jamais | ever | bien | well | |||
| parfois | sometimes | heureusement | fortunately | |||
| rarement | rarely | mal | poorly | |||
| souvent | often | poliment | politely | |||
| toujours | always | vite | quickly | |||
Adverbs of Place | Adverbs of Quantity | |||||
| dehors | outside | assez | quite, fairly | |||
| ici | here | beaucoup | a lot | |||
| là | there | peu | few, little | |||
| partout | everywhere | très | very | |||
| quelque part | somewhere | trop | too much | |||
Adverbs of Time | Exclamative Adverbs | |||||
| bientôt | soon | ce que | how, so | |||
| déjà | already | combien (de) | so much/many | |||
| hier | yesterday | comme | how, so | |||
| longtemps | for a long time | que (de) | how, so | |||
| maintenant | now | qu’est-ce que | how, so | |||
Interrogative Adverbs | Negative Adverbs | |||||
| combien | how much/many | ne … guère | hardly | |||
| comment | how | ne … jamais | never | |||
| où | where | ne … pas | not | |||
| pourquoi | why | ne … plus | not any more | |||
| quand | when | ne … que | only | |||
Comparative Adverbs | Superlative Adverbs | |||||
| moins | less | le moins | the least | |||
| plus | more, ___er | le plus | the most, the ___est | |||
| aussi | as | |||||
Pronominal Adverbs | ||||||
| en | of it | |||||
| y | there | |||||
French Adverbs and Word Order
Very generally speaking, when adverbs modify verbs, they are placed after the (first) verb.
| Je travaille beaucoup. | I work a lot. | |
| J’ai beaucoup travaillé. | I worked a lot. | |
| Je dois beaucoup travailler. | I have to work a lot. |
When adverbs modify any other part of speech, they precede it.
| Je suis très fatigué. | I’m very tired. | |
| Je suis assez souvent fatigué. | I’m tired fairly often. | |
| Il habite tout près de moi. | He lives quite near me. |
Word order with adverbs will be addressed in more detail in a future lesson.
Related lessons
- PwLF super list of adverb lessons
- Adjectives
- Adjectives used as adverbs
- Adverbs used as adjectives
- Prepositions
- Verbs
- Parts of speech
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