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An adverb modifies a verb in some fashion. You have already encountered many adverbs in the program. Please review the following adverbs and their usual placement in a sentence:
These adverbs can occur either at the beginning or at the end of a phrase or clause, depending on where the emphasis lies:
| Ici |
here |
| là-bas |
there |
| souvent |
often |
| Ici on parle français. |
| French is spoken here. |
| On ne parle pas français ici. |
| No French is spoken here. |
| Souvent il m'appelle l'après-midi. |
| Often he calls me in the afternoon. |
| Il m'appelle souvent. |
| He calls me often. |
The following adverbs are usually placed after the verb:
| tout droit |
straight ahead |
| tard |
late |
| tôt |
early |
| toujours |
always |
| bien trop |
too much |
| beaucoup |
much |
| tout |
all |
| plus |
more |
| moins |
less |
| Allez tout droit. |
| Go straight ahead. |
| Il se lève tard. |
| He gets up late. |
| J'ai toujours raison. |
| I'm always right. |
| Je ne dors plus beaucoup. |
| I don't sleep much anymore. |
| Ce chien mange trop. |
| This dog eats too much. |
The following adverbs can modify other adverbs or adjectives:
| Très |
very |
| Plus |
more |
| Moins |
less |
| Trop |
too (as in "too much") |
| Le TGV (train à grande vitesse) va très vite. |
| The TGV (Express train) goes very fast. |
| Les films de Goddard sont plus intéressants que ceux de Spielberg. |
| Goddard's movies are more interesting than Spielberg's. |
| Ce train part trop tôt. |
| This train leaves too early. |
In compound tenses, short adverbs of time or place generally come after the helping verb.
| Il a trop bu. |
| He drank too much. |
| Je me suis souvent demandé. |
| I've often asked myself... |
| Il a bien écrit. |
| He wrote well |
In addition to these adverbs that have to be learned like any other vocabulary item, there exists a large family of adverbs that can be derived from the adjective. Just as one can recognize English adverbs by the "-ly"ending ("quickly," "fairly") one can recognize many French adverbs by their –ment ending.
| Le marchand de tabac en vend probablement. |
| The tobacconist probably sells them. |
-ment adverbs are formed by adding the ending –ment to the feminine form of the adjective:
| discrète > discrètement |
| discretely |
| heureuse > heureusement |
| luckily, happily |
| rapide > rapidement |
| rapidly |
For adjectives ending in –ant or –ent, the ending becomes –amment and –emment respectively (although the pronunciation sounds the same for both).
| élégant > élégamment |
| elegantly |
| intelligent > intelligemment |
| intelligently |
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