Adverbs (les adverbes) usually come after the verb they are describing when it is conjugated in a simple (non-compound) tense. Of course, this is just a general rule, there are some exceptions we need to be aware of.
• Hier, Annabelle est allée dans un magasin de sport pour acheter une raquette de tennis.
• Il serait sûrement facile de choisir.
• Avec ses amis, ils pourront jouer ensemble
As stated above, the general rule is that French adverbs come directly after the verb that they are describing, however there are a few special cases that we also need to keep in mind:
- When the verb is conjugated in a compound tense, shorter adverbs (bien, mal, …), adverbs of manner and amount (beaucoup, trop, assez, …) and certain indefinite adverbs of time (souvent, toujours, trop, quelque fois, …) are placed before the participe passé.
- Elle a bien testé une raquette.
- Adverbs that refer to an entire sentence usually come at the very beginning or at the end of the sentence in question, and only very rarely in the middle.
- Hier, elle est allée dans un magasin de sport.
- Elle est allée dans un magasin de sport hier.
(rarely: Elle est allée hier dans un magasin de sport.)
- When an adverb is placed before the verb in a declarative sentence, we usually put this adverb after the second part of the negation (pas) in negative sentences. Exceptions are: certainement, généralement, peut-être, probablement, sans doute.
- Elle a bien testé la raquette.
- → Elle n’a pas bien testé la raquette.
- Elle a probablement testé la raquette.
- → Elle n’a probablement pas testé la raquette.
Watch out! The adverb vraiment can be placed before or after the second part of the negation, however, the meaning of the sentence changes.
- Elle n’y connaissait pas vraiment grand chose. (She didn’t understand much about it)
- Elle n’y connaissait vraiment pas grand chose. (She didn’t understand anything about it)
- Adverbs that describe an infinitive come after the infinitive.
- Le vendeur proposa de lui montrer tranquillement plusieurs modèles.
- Adverbs that refer to adjectives or to other adverbs are placed before the adjective or adverb in question.
- Il y avait réellement beaucoup de choix.
- Ensemble always comes after the verb to which it refers.
- Ils jouent ensemble au tennis.
- Sûrement and certainement are never placed at the beginning of a sentence.
- Il serait sûrement facile de choisir.
Sûrement il serait facile de choisir.
- Elle préférerait certainement une raquette.
Certainement elle préférerait une raquette.
In French, many adverbs can be formed directly from adjectives. We can recognise such adverbs by their ending -ment, which is comparable to the English adverbial ending -ly.
- Au début, Charlotte eut énormément peur et elle réagit confusément. (At first, Charlotte was very scared and she reacted confusedly)
- To make an adverb, we usually take the feminine form of the adjective and add the ending -ment.
- seul, seule → seulement
Charlotte venait de commencer à manger sa glace depuis seulement deux minutes.
- Adjectives that end in -ant and -ent construct their adverbs with -amment and -emment.
- apparent → apparemment
L’araignée descendait apparemment le long d’un fil. - constant → constamment
L’araignée descendait constamment le long d’un fil.
⚠️ Exceptions:
- Some adjectives whose masculine form ends in -e construct their adverb with -ément.
- énorme → énormément
Charlotte eut énormément peur.
- Some adjectives whose masculine forms do not end in -e also construct their adverb with -ément.
- confus, confuse → confusément
Charlotte réagit confusément.
- Some adverbs are not constructed using the feminine form of the adjective.
- vrai, vraie → vraiment
Elle savourait vraiment sa glace.
- Two exceptions ending in -ent do not construct their adverb with -emment.
- lent, lente → lentement
Charlotte ne vit pas l’araignée qui descendait lentement le long du fil. - présent, présente → présentement
Charlotte ne vit pas l’araignée qui descendait présentement le long du fil.
- Some adjectives have completely different adverb forms.
Masculine Adjective |
Feminine Adjective |
Adverb |
gentil |
gentille |
gentiment |
bref |
brève |
brièvement |
bon |
bonne |
bien |
mauvais |
mauvaise |
mal |