VI  l’adverbe

Adverbs make up an ensemble of words and expressions having a great diversity of forms, roles and behaviors. Adverbs are invariable; there is no agreement made with the words they modify. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even entire phrases. Adverbs add meaning, in French as in English, by telling how, how much, to what extent, when, and where.

VI.1  la forme de l’adverbe

Quite a number of adverbs are formed by adding -ment to an adjective form. In this way, -ment can be thought of as the -ly used in English. (slow à slowly; lentàlentement) However, this way of creating adverbs is much less practiced in French. A number of adverbs ending in -ly in English are most easily expressed by using an adverbial expression. In addition, there are quite a few adverbs which are not formed, but simply exist as adverbs.

a.  feminine adjective + ment--Many adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine singular form of an adjective:

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
affreux / affreuse / affreusement / frightfully
amer / amère / amèrement / bitterly
bas / basse / bassement / lowly
certain / certaine / certainement / certainly
clair / claire / clairement / clearly
distinct / distincte / distinctement / distinctly
doux / douce / doucement / softly
fou / folle / follement / madly
franc / franche / franchement / frankly
léger / légère / légèrement / lightly
naturel / naturelle / naturellement / naturally
ouvert / ouverte / ouvertement / openly
public /publique / publiquement / publicly
secret / secrète / secrètement / secretly
sûr / sûre / sûrement / surely
vif / vive / vivement / lively

NOTE: There are rare spelling irregularities:

bref / brève / brièvement / briefly
gentil / gentille / gentiment / kindly; gently

b.  masculine adjective +ment--If the masculine singular form of the adjective already ends in a vowel , then the adverb is based on the masculine form:

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
aisé / aisée / aisément / easily
assuré / assurée / assurément / assuredly
aveuglé / aveuglée / aveuglément / blindly
forcé / forcée / forcément / necessarily
joli / jolie / joliment / prettily
poli / polie / poliment / politely
précisé / précisée / précisément / precisely
résolu / résolue / résolument / resolutely
vrai / vraie / vraiment / really, truly

NOTE: There are some exceptions:

gai /gaie / gaiement / cheerfully

NOTE: In some cases when the vowel is a u, the adverb gets a circumflex accent::

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
goulu / goulue / goulûment / greedily, voraciously
assidu / assidue / assidûment / regularly, diligently
continu / continue / continûment / continuously
cru / crue / crûment / crudely
dû / due / dûment / duly; under obligation

c.  -ément--In some cases the mute e ending on the feminine form of the adjective becomes é when the adverb is formed. There is no general rule to govern when this happens; however, it can be observed quite often when both the masculine and feminine forms end in mute e:

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
commun / commune / communément / commonly
confus / confuse / confusément / embarrassedly; confusedly
énorme / énorme / énormément / enormously
immense / immense / immensément / immensely
importun / importune / importunément / disagreeably
intense / intense / intensément / intensely
obscur / obscure / obscurément / obscurely
opportun / opportune / opportunément / appropriately
profond / profonde / profondément / profoundly; deeply

NOTE: Not all adjectives whose masculine and feminine forms share the mute e form follow this rule.

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
autre / autre / autrement / otherwise
calme / calme / calmement / calmly
facile / facile / facilement / easily
probable / probable / probablement / probably
véritable / véritable / véritablement / veritably, really

Exercice || Exercice

d.  -amment / -emment--Adjectives which end in -ant and -ent generally form adverbs which end in -amment and -emment:

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
abondant / abondamment / abundantly
apparent / apparemment / apparently
brillant / brillamment / brilliantly
conscient / consciemment / consciously
constant / constamment / constantly
courant / couramment / fluently
différent / différemment / differently
évident / évidemment / evidently
fréquent / fréquemment / frequently
inconscient / inconsciemment / unconsciously
notant (old French) / notamment / notably
précédent / précédemment / beforehand
prudent / prudemment / prudently
récent / récemment / recently
vaillant / vaillamment / valiantly; with valor
violent / violemment / violently

NOTE: There are a few exceptions:

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
lent / lentement / slowly
présent / présentement / presently

Exercice || Exercice

e.  Adjectives as adverbs--Some adjectives can also function as adverbs when they are used in combination with certain verbs and in idiomatic expressions. There is no need for the addition of the suffix -ment. When they are used as adverbs, they are invariable. The following adjectives are used in this way. The examples shown are typical uses of these adverbs.

ADJECTIF / ADVERBE
bas / parler bas / to speak low, quietly
bon / tenir bon / to hold on tightly
sentir bon / to smell nice
cher / payer cher / to pay a lot (for something)
coûter cher / to cost a lot
clair / voir clair / to see clearly
court / s’arrêter court / to stop short
droit / aller droit / to go straight ahead
dur / travailler dur / to work hard
faux / chanter faux / to sing out of tune
sonner faux / to sound off-key
fort / parler fort / to talk loudly
haut / crier haut / to yell out loud
juste / viser juste / to aim correctly
deviner juste / to guess correctly
lourd / peser lourd / to weigh heavily
mauvais / sentir mauvais / to smell bad
net / casser net / to break cleanly
s’arrêter net / to stop dead
profond / creuser profond / to dig deep

f.  Common adverbs--A number of common adverbs are not formed from adjectives. The following is a list of the most common of them:

ailleurs / elsewhere / demain / tomorrow / peut-être / maybe
ainsi / thus, in this way / enfin / at last / plus / more
alors / then / ensemble / together / plutôt / rather
après / afterwards / ensuite / then, next / près / near
assez / enough / exprès / on purpose / presque / almost
aujourd’hui / today / encore / still, yet, again / puis / then
auparavant / before / fort / very / quelquefois / sometimes
aussi / too, also / hier / yesterday / si / so
aussitôt / immediately / ici / here / souvent / often
autant / as much / là / there / surtout / especially
autrefois / formerly / loin / far / tant / so much
beaucoup / much; a lot / longtemps / a long time / tard / late
bien / well / maintenant / now / tellement / so much
bientôt / soon / mal / badly / tôt / early, soon
cependant / meanwhile / même / even / toujours / always, still
comme / as / mieux / better / tout / quite, entirely
davantage / more / moins / less / très / very
dedans / inside / parfois / sometimes / trop / too, too much
dehors / outside / partout / everywhere / vite / quickly
déjà / already / peu / little; not very

g.  Adverbial expressions--The single word adverb is much more common in English than it is in French. Instead, a number of adverbial expressions which are composed of prepositions, nouns and adjectives are used where a simple adverb would be used in English. Getting accustomed to expressing yourself in this way is one of the marks of an advanced French student.

g.1  Quite often where no adverb exists, French speakers use d’une façon or d’une manière followed by a descriptive adjective.
Elle avance d’une manière hésitante. / She advances hesitantly.
Tu parles d’une façon intelligente. / You speak intelligently.
Ils parlent d’une manière sophistiquée. / They speak sophisticatedly.
Je pars d’une façon urgente. / I arrive urgently.

NOTE: There are other similar expressions which work in the same way.

Il m’a répondu d’un ton vengeur. / He responded to me vengefully.
Sur un ton moqueur elle posait les questions. / Mockingly she asked the questions.
Il l’a regardée d’un air incrédule. / He looked at her incredulously.
D’un pas furtif, il entra dans le garage. / Furtively, he entered into the garage.
g.2  Other common adverbial expressions are composed of avec or sans followed by a noun.
Tu chantes avec enthousiasme. / You sing enthusiastically. (with enthusiasm)
Ils se disputaient avec colère. / They argued angrily. (with anger)
Il s’est battu avec courage. / He fought courageously. (with courage)
Vous avez sans doute oublié! / You have undoubtedly forgotten.
M. Rodriguez vole l’argent sans scrupules. / M. Rodriguez unscrupulously steals the money. (without scrupules)
J’écris sans cesse. / I write incessantly (continuously; without cease).
g.3  A great number of adverbial phrases are constructed from the same building blocks (prepositions , nouns, adjectives). Their use is often idiomatic and reveals a high level of fluency when used by a non-native speaker. The following is a representative, though not exhaustive, list of the most common of these adverbial phrases.
à côté / nearby; beside / du matin au soir / from morning to night
à droite / à gauche / right / left / du moins / at least; in any case
à l’heure / on time / en arrière / behind
à la fin / finally / en avance / early
à la fois / at the same time / en avant / in front
à merveille / wonderfully / en général / generally; in general
à part / separately / en même temps / at the same time
à peine / hardly / en particulier / in particular
à peu près / nearly / en retard / late
à présent / presently; now / en tout cas / anyway; in any case
à temps / in time / encore une fois / once again
à tout prix / at any cost / et ainsi de suite / and so on, and so forth
au fur et à mesure / as we go along / n’importe où / anywhere
au maximum / to the utmost / n’importe quand / anytime
au moins / at least; at the least / par ailleurs / in addition
côte-à-côte / side by side / par conséquent / consequently
d’avance / in advance; beforehand / par contre / on the other hand
d’habitude / usually / par hasard / by chance
d’ordinaire / usually / par la suite / subsequently
de bon cœur / willingly; gladly / peu à peu / little by little
de bonne heure / early / peut-être / maybe; possibly
de jour en jour / from day to day / sur-le-champ / immediately
de moins en moins / less and less / tant bien que mal / rather badly; so so
de nouveau / again / tout à (d’un) coup / suddenly
de plus en plus / more and more / tout à fait / completely
de rigueur / (socially) required / tout à l’heure / in a moment; later
de temps à autre / from time to time / tout de même / just the same; nevertheless
de temps en temps / occasionally / tout de suite / right away

VI.2  le sens de l’adverbe

There are five main types of adverbs: manner, degree, time, place, and sentence-modifying.

a.1  Manner adverbs describe the manner in which something is done. They answer the question “How?” They typically only modify verbs. The following examples will help illustrate:
ainsi / like this/that; thus / correctement / correctly
bien / well / facilement / easily
debout / standing / lentement / slowly
ensemble / together / soigneusement / carefully
exprès / on purpose / vaguement / vaguely
mal / badly / à dessein / purposely
mieux / better / à genoux / on one’s knees
vite / quickly / à pied / on foot
affectueusement / affectionately / à tort / wrongly
autrement / differently / à travers / crookedly
clairement / clearly / d’un air amoureux / lovingly
a.2  Degree adverbs indicate the degree or the extent to which something is the case. They answer the questions “How much?” and “To what extent?” They can modify nearly every sentence element. Consider the following examples of degree adverbs:
assez / sufficiently / plutôt / rather
aussi / as / presque / almost
autant / as much / si / so
beaucoup / much / tant / so much
bien / really / tout / completely; quite
davantage / more / très / very
encore / again; still; another / trop / too
juste / just / à peine / hardly
même / even; very / à peu près / nearly; around
moins / less / de loin / by far
peu / little; not very / tout à fait / completely
plus / more / un peu / a little

NOTE: This group of adverbs supplies all the necessary tools to give the degree of qualification of adjectives and adverbs. A number of them also serve as quantifiers of nouns. They also form the building blocks for the comparative and superlative. Consult the appropriate chapters for a more detailed discussion.

a.3  Time adverbs indicate the time at which something takes place or the duration or frequency of an event. They answer the questions “When?” and “How often?” They typically modify verbs although most of them can be construed as giving a time frame to the entire sentence or clause in which they fall. The following table shows a representative sample of time adverbs.
alors / then, at that time / soudain / suddenly
aujourd’hui / today / souvent / often
auparavant / beforehand / tantôt / this afternoon
aussitôt / immediately / tantôt…tantôt / one minute…the next
bientôt / soon / tard / late
déjà / already / tôt / early
demain / tomorrow / toujours / always; still
depuis / since then / actuellement / currently