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.
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- 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!
It’s video time! Watch Alexa teaching French adverbs of manner.
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