Adverbs (1): reqular forms An adverb is a word that adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb, for example carefully, loudly, mostly, extremely. In French, most adverbs are formed by adding -ment to a form of the adjective. Elle a simplement refusé. She simply refused. [EN For adjectives ending in a consonant the adverb is formed from the feminine form of the adjective. The table below shows a few examples. Elle parle trés doucement. She speaks very quietly, Masculine adjective Feminine adjective Adverb complet compléte complétement completely france franche franchement frankly heureux. heureuse heureusement happily Li Adjectives ending in a vowel add -ment to the masculine form of the adjective. Je trouve cela absolument absurde. J find that absolutely absurd. Masculine adjective Adverb absolu absolument absolutely facile facilement easily vrai vraiment zruly Exceptions to this rule are fou (mad), gai (gay, happy) and nouveau (new), which form the adverb from the feminine form of the adjective. Il se battait follement. He strugged madly. [@ Two groups of adverbs are exceptions to the general rules. e Adjectives ending in -ant and -ent change the -nt to -mment. Il parle italien couramment. He speaks Italian fluently. courant + couramment fluently évident + évidemment evidently A Lent is an exception to this rule and becomes Ientement. e@ Asmall number of adverbs end in -ément, for example: commun ~ communément commonly énorme — énormément hugely précis + précisément precisely profond + profondément profoundlyAdverbs (2): irregular forms A number of adverbs are very irregular, and some adjectives can Ge Prat alge EX The adverbs in the table below are irregular. Il parle briévement He talks briefly. Elle écrit bien. She writes well. Je travaille peu en ce moment. Il court trés vite. I'm not working much at the moment. He runs very quickly. Masculine adjective Adverb bon bien well bref briévement briefly gentil gentiment kindly, nicely mauvais mal badly meilleur mieux better moindre moins less petit peu little A Vite, meaning quickly, has no related adjective; use rapide quick instead, Bi Some adjectives can be used as adverbs in particular expressions or with particular meanings. bas low voler bas to fly low bon good sentir bon to smell good mauvais bad sentir mauvais to smell bad cher expensive cofiter cher to be expensive fort loudly parler fort to speak loudly juste straight, precise viser juste to aim accurately dur hard travailler dur to work hard court short couper court to cut short clair clearly voir clair to see clearly faux Salse sonner faux to sound wrong haut loud chanter haut to sing loudly net short, clean s’arréter net to stop deadAdverbs (3): position E\ In simple tenses (the present, imperfect, future) and in conditional sentences the adverb usually comes straight after the verb it relates to. Elle parle sérieusement. She talks seriously. I] travaille lentement. He works slowly. Ly Some adverbs may appear at the beginning of a sentence when qualifying the whole phrase. This can be done to give an element of emphasis. Malheureusement, il était parti. Unfortunately, he had gone. Demain, elle va a Paris. Tomorrow, she’s going to Paris. ( When an adverb qualifies an adjective, the adverb goes first. Where adverbs occur together, trés very, trop too and bien really, very go first. Elle est extrémement jolie. She's extremely pretty. Une maison trés moderne. A very modern house. Je le vois trop rarement. T see him too rarely. DB) Note that very much is beaucoup. Trés can never be used with it. Il l’a beaucoup aimée. He loved her very much. [In compound tenses (e.g. the perfect and pluperfect tenses), some shorter adverbs come between the auxiliary verb (avoir or étre) and the past participle. Tla bien travaillé. He has worked well. Elle |’a vite fait. She did it quickly. assez enough jamais never bien well mal badly beaucoup a lor mieux better bientét soon moins less déja already souvent often encore yet toujours always, still enfin at last trop foo much vite quickly tout A fait completely G In compound tenses, adverbs of place, some adverbs of time, adverbs ending in -ment and other longer adverbs usually follow the past participle. Je suis arrivé hier. / arrived yesterday. Ila voyagé rapidement. He travelled quickly. aujourd'hui today (avant-)hier (the day before) demain tomorrow yesterday (aprés-)demain (the day after) tomorrow autrefois in former times hier yesterday tard late