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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If you've found this post useful you might want to considering looking at our post covering the best apps for learning French. We've looked a total 33 apps and have written comprehensive reviews of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and FrenchPod101.
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Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho (near Jackson, Wyoming) and have helped hundreds of students to learn French online since 2013.
