French Adverbs of Manner Ending in Ment

les adverbes de manière qui se terminent en ment

Adverbs are words that describe how other words in a sentence are done, giving more information about the verbs mentioned in a sentence. “She speaks quickly”, “They give generously”. These are adverbs of manner, which end in -ly in English and mostly commonly by -ment in French.

examples of sentences with adverbs

Il parle honnêtement avec sa femme. He speaks honestly with his wife.
Je pose la question poliment. I ask the question politely.
Elle parle lentement. She speaks slowly.
C’est exactement ce que je veux dire! That’s exactly what I want to say!

french adverb lists

Many French adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of adjective.

MASCULINE ADJECTIVE	FEMININE ADJECTIVE	FRENCH ADVERB	ENGLISH
amer	amère	amèrement	bitterly
bref	brève	brièvement	briefly
cher	chère	chèrement	dearly, at a price
curieux	curieusement	curieusement	strangly, oddly
doux	douce	doucement
dur	dure	durement	strongly, severely
fier	fière	fièrement	proudly
fin	fine	finement	finely, thinly
fort	forte	fortement	very much, a lot
fou	folle	follement	completely, madly
heureux	heureuse	heureusement	fortunately
mou	molle	mollement	gently, half-heartedly
naïf	naïve	naïvement	naively, innocently
net	nette	nettement	clearly
nul	nulle	nullement	in no way, by no means, not at all
sain	saine	sainement	healthily, well, properly
sec	sèche	sèchement	curtly, coldly
seul	seule	seulement	only
sûr	sûre	sûrement	most likely, very probably
tel	telle	tellement	so, so much
vain	vaine	vainement	in vain, to no avail
vif	vive	vivement	lively
égal	égale	également	equally

When a adjective ends in a vowel in the masculine form the adverb is formed simply by adding -ment.

MASCULINE ADJECTIVE	FRENCH	ENGLISH
absolu	absolument	absolutely, completely
ample	amplement	largely, abundantly
avare	avarement	miserly
brave	bravement	bravely, courageously
calme	calmement	calmly
carré	carrément	straight, squarely
difficile	difficilement	with difficulty
drôle	drôlement	amusingly, strangely, extremely, very
facile	facilement	easily, with ease
ferme	fermement	firmly, solidly, steadfastly
forcé	forcément	necessarily, surely, certainly, inevitably
gai	gaiment	happily, joyfully
honnête	honnêtement	honestly
goulû	goulûment	greedily, voraciously
grave	gravement	seriously, critically
joli	joliment	prettily, nicely
juste	justement	exactly, precisely, justly, rightly
largement	largement	to a great extent
libre	librement	freely
lâche	lâchement	in a cowardly way
noble	noblement	nobly
poli	poliment	politely
quasi	quasiment	nearly, almost, practically
rare	rarement	rarely
rude	rudement	harshly, roughly
sincère	sincèrement	sincerely, genuinely, honestly
sobre	sobrement	in moderation, modestly
tiède	tièdement	half-heartedly, unenthusiastically, tepidly
utile	utilement	usefully, helpfully
vague	vaguement	indistinctly, vaguely
vrai	vraiment	truly, actually, really

When a masculine adjective ends in -ant or -ent, -ant gets replaced by -amment and -ent gets replaced by -emment.

MASCULINE ADJECTIVE	ADVERB	ENGLISH
abondant	abondamment	abundantly, plentifully
brillant	brillamment	superbly
conscient	consciemment	consciously, knowingly
constant	constamment	constantly
courant	couramment	flunetly
diligent	diligemment	expeditiously
dégoûtant	dégoûtamment	disgustingly
excellent	excellemment	excellently, very well
flagrant	flagramment	obvious, evident, clear
fréquent	fréquemment	frequently
innocent	innocemment	innocently
méchant	méchamment	spitefully, maliciously, badly
négligent	négligemment	carelessly
patient	patiemment	patiently
pesant	pesamment	heavily
plaisant	plaisamment	pleasantly
prudent	prudemment	carefully
précédent	précédemment	previously, earlier
puissant	puissamment	powerfully
ravissant	ravissamment	delighfuly
récent	récemment	recently
savant	savamment	wisely
suffisant	suffisamment	enough
violent	violemment	violently
étonnant	étonnamment	amazingly, astonishingly, surprisingly

Some adverbs are formed by adding -ément ot the end of the adjective.

aisé -> aisément easily, comfortably
sacré -> sacrément bloody (slang)
précis -> précisement exactly
énorme -> énormement enormously
privé -> privément privately
aveugle -> aveuglément blindly
décidé -> décidément resolutely

There are some very common adverbs which we use all the time that are irregular.

Elle parle bien. She speaks well.
Je chante mal. I sing poorly.
Je me sens mieux. I feel better.

where to place the adverb

Generally speaking, adverbs usually following the verb they modify.

Je fais du ski fréquemment. I often ski.
Je travaille assidûment. I work diligently.
Je réponds intelligemment aux questions de mes étudiants. I answer my students’ questions intelligently.

In the passé comosé short adverbs (e.g. bien, mal) come after the auxiliary verb and long adverbs follow the past participle.

J’ai bien joué la chanson. I played the song well.
Elle a mal chanté la chanson. She sang the song poorly.
J’ai couru rapidement cet apres-midi. I ran fast this afternoon.
J’ai appris les adverbes français facilement! I learned the French adverbs easily!