Adverbs in French

The difference between adverbs and adjectives

There are two major differences between adjectives and adverbs:

• adjectives modify nouns, whereas adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or even whole sentences
  

  Examples:

  Ta soupe est très bonne. (adjective)Your soup is very good.

  the adjective bonne describes the noun soupe

  Nous avons bien mangé. (adverb)We ate well.

  the adverb bien modifies the verb mangé

• adjectives change to agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe, whereas adverbs never change
  

  Examples:

  Les tartes sont délicieuses. (adjective)The pies are delicious.

  the adjective délicieuses agrees in gender (feminine) and number (plural) with les tartes

  Elles sont très bonnes. (adverb)They are very good.

  the adverb très stays the same

You can find more information and exercises on our page about adjectives.

The different types of adverbs

There are many types of adverbs, and they’re grouped by the kind of meaning they add to a sentence.

On Lingolia, we organise French adverbs into ten main types: de lieu (place), de temps (time), de quantité (amount), de relation logique (causal), de manière (manner), modaux (modal), d’affirmation (affirming), de négation (negating), d’interrogation (questions) and de liaison (conjunctions). Each of these adverbs has a different function in the sentence.

Examples:

Tourne à droite après le feu rouge. (adverbe de lieu)Turn right after the traffic light.

Aujourd’hui, nous sommes allés au parc. (adverbe de temps)Today, we went to the park.

Pourquoi le soleil se lève à l’est ? (adverbe d’interrogation)Why does the sun rise in the east?

On our page dedicated on the different types of adverbs, you’ll find explanations and word lists for each type, as well as plenty of practice exercises at the bottom of the page.

Adverb formation

Some adverbs are formed from adjectives. In many cases, we simply add the ending -ment to the masculine or feminine form of the adjective, but there are also exceptions.

Examples:

vrai → vraimentreal → really

-ment added to the masculine form of the adjective vrai

heureuse → heureusementhappy → fortunately

-ment added to the feminine form of the adjective heureux

gentil → gentimentkind → kindly

the form is different from the adjective (irregular adverb)

Visit our page on the formation of adjectives to learn how to form all types of adverbs, then practise with the exercises at the bottom of the page.

Comparative and superlative forms

There are three degrees of comparison for adverbs: the positive, the comparative and the superlative. The positive is the basic form of the adverb, while the comparative and superlative let us make comparisons.

Examples:

Marie vient souvent. (positive)Marie comes often.

Stéphanie vient plus souvent que Marie. (comparative)Stéphanie comes more often than Marie.

Delphine vient le plus souvent. (superlative)Delphine comes most often.

Learn more about the comparative and superlative along with their exceptions on our dedicated page, then practise with our online exercises.

Position in the sentence

In general, adverbs are placed after the verb when the verb is in a simple tense. For compound tenses, the position depends on the type of adverb (time, manner, etc.), the sentence structure, whether the sentence is affirmative or negative and several other factors.

Examples:

Victor court rapidement vers l’arrêt de bus.You run quickly to the bus stop.

Hier, nous sommes allés au cinéma.Yesterday, we went to the cinema.

Ils ont sûrement raté leur train.They’ve definitely missed their train.

Learn more about adverb placement and all the exceptions on our dedicated page. You’ll also find lots of practice exercises at the bottom of the page.