| J | H | R | O | S | E | - - | F | R | E | N | C | H | ! | ! |
L e s A d v e r b e s - - F r e n c h A d v e r b s
An adverb is an invariable word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs can provide additional information about time, manner, place, frequency, or quantity. They explain when, how, where, how often, or to what degree something is done.
Common adverbs
|
FREQUENCY |
MANNER |
TIME |
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| parfois souvent toujours rarement |
sometimes often always rarely |
bien mal vite -ment* |
well poorly quickly -ly |
aujourd'hui demain hier maintenant tard tôt déjà enfin actuellement bientôt ensuite longtemps |
today tomorrow yesterday now late early already finally currently soon next, then for a long time |
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|
PLACE |
QUANTITY | ||||||
| ici là là-bas partout quelque part |
here there over there everywhere somewhere |
assez beaucoup peu trop très |
quite, fairly a lot few, little too much very |
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* Nearly every French word that ends in -ment is an adverb, usually of manner. Its English equivalent ends in -ly: généralement = generally.
The placement of French adverbs can be difficult. Whereas in English their placement is sometimes arbitrary (they can be found in front of or after the verb, or even at the beginning or end of the sentence), the placement rules for French adverbs are much stricter.
When the adverb is modifying a verb, it is placed after the verb.
|
Nous avons bien mangé. |
We ate well. |
| Je regarde souvent la télé le soir. | I watch TV often in the evening. I often watch TV in the evening. Often, I watch TV in the evening. |
When the adverb is modifying an adjective or another adverb, is is placed in front of the word it is modifying.
| Nous avons très bien mangé. | We ate very well. |
| Je suis profondément ému. | I am deeply moved. |