120 French Adverbs: An Easy Guide For You!

Ling Learn Languages
4 min readAug 2, 2021

--

Original blog post: https://ling-app.com/tips/french-adverbs/

French dialects are not particularly difficult, but they still contain a few secrets that we will reveal together. This article will look at the placement of adverbs in the French language, their formation, and most importantly, we will give you an extensive list of the most useful French adverbs to know.

An adverb is a word that modifies verbs, an adjective, or another adverb. Often expresses how the subject performs an action. In French, many adverbs are formed by adding an ending to the feminine or masculine form of a cognate French adjective. Other adverbs are entirely different and need to be memorized.

Adverbs in French usually occupy the same position in a sentence as in English.

The “-ly” ending usually recognizes many English adverbs. The equivalent French ending is ‘’ment’’. However, unlike the obligatory agreement of French adjectives, adverbs in French do not agree with anything because they change adverbs, adjectives, or verbs, but not pronouns or nouns.

French Adverbs Characteristics

  1. May modify prepositions, adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs
  2. Are constant or invariable
  3. Are classified according to the sort of modification
  4. Follow particular placing rules

Follow these two rules to form an adverb:

  • A singular masculine adjective ending in a vowel adds “ment,” as shown in the below table.

If the singular masculine ends in a consonant, add an adjective to the singular feminine, as shown in the below table. Two exceptions include bref (short or brief), which is brève in the feminine adjective, and brièvement (shortly or briefly) as an adverb, and gentil (nice), which means gentille in its feminine adjective, and gentiment (nicely) as an adverb.

If the singular masculine ends in a consonant, add an adjective to the singular feminine, as shown in the below table. Two exceptions include bref (short or brief), which is brève in the feminine adjective, and brièvement (shortly or briefly) as an adverb, and gentil (nice), which means gentille in its feminine adjective, and gentiment (nicely) as an adverb.

Adjectives ending in -ent and -ant have adverbs ending in -emment and -amment, respectively. An exclusion is lent (slow), which in its adverbial form becomes lentement (slowly). See examples in the following table.

Some French adverbs have different forms from adjectives and must be learned.

Common French Adverbs

French Adverbs That Start With A, B, C, D, E, F

French Adverbs Starts With G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N

French Adverbs Starts With O, P, Q, R, S, T, V

Learn French Online With Ling

Ling by Simya Solution is designed to make language learning as easy, fun, and accessible as possible. Using a combination of mini-games and interactive teaching methods, you can immerse yourself in French using your smartphone. If you are a beginner and want to learn the basics of a language or are already fluent and want to learn advanced vocabulary or clarify your knowledge, your Ling French app can help you.

So, if you enjoy this lesson, you will need to learn French pronouns and French adjectives. However, we have also ensured the best value for Ling users by offering more than 50 languages in a single application. You can even try the Ling language learning app for free and see if it’s right for you. So, download and try it today. Also, if you have any questions, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

--

--

Ling Learn Languages
Ling Learn Languages

Written by Ling Learn Languages

Ling is a game-like language learning app with a pack of 60+ languages. You will learn languages in fun ways!

No responses yet