Types of adverbs in French grammar
- Adverbs of Place
- Adverbs of Time
- Adverbs of Amount
- Causal Adverbs
- Adverbs of Manner
- Modal Adverbs
- Adverbs of Affirmation
- Adverbs of Negation
- Interrogative Adverbs (Question Words)
- Conjunctional Adverbs
- Lingolia Plus French
How many types of adverbs are there in French?
Adverbs (les adverbes) are describing words: they allow us to modify a verb, adjective, sentence or another adverb. We can 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).
Learn all about the different types of adverbs in French grammar with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then put your knowledge to the test in the exercises.
Example
Hier, j’étais à un concert de rock avec des amis. Philippe et moi sommes arrivés plus tard, les autres ont donc voulu nous attendre à l’intérieur. Ils étaient déjà tout devant en face de la scène. Mais il y avait trop de monde là-bas, alors Philippe et moi avons décidé de rester derrière. Nous avons bien fait.
Au début du concert les fans ont beaucoup chanté, ils ont quelquefois crié et on ne comprenait pas grand chose. Je n’avais certainement jamais vu autant de monde. J’aurais volontiers rejoint mes amis. Mais où étaient-ils? Nous avons donc attendu la fin du concert et enfin nous les avons trouvés puis nous sommes rentrés ensemble à la maison.
Adverbs of Place
Adverbs of place (les adverbes de lieu) allow us to answer the question where?. They give information about the location where an action takes place. The most important French adverbs of place are:
à côténext to, à droiteto the right, à gaucheto the left, ailleurselsewhere, à l’intérieurinside, dedansin, inside, dehorsoutside, derrièrebehind, devantin front of, dessousunder, dessuson, on top of, en basbelow en faceacross from, en hautabove, upstairs, icihere. làthere, là-basover there, loinfar, nulle partnowhere, partouteverywhere, prèsnear, quelque partsomewhere, tout droitstraight ahead
- Example:
- Les autres ont voulu nous attendre à l’intérieur.The others wanted to wait for us inside.
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of time (les adverbes de temps) answer the question when?. They give information about the moment in which an action happened. The most important adverbs of time in French grammar are:
aujourd’huitoday, aprèsafter, aussitôtimmediately, autrefoisin the past, avantbefore, bientôtsoon, d‘abordfirst, déjàalready, demaintomorrow, encoreagain, enfinfinally, en même tempsat the same time, ensuitethen, hieryesterday, jadisa long time ago, back then, jamaisnever, maintenantnow, quelquefoissometimes, parfoisoccasionally, puisthen, rarementhardly ever, soudainsuddenly, souventoften, tardlate, toujoursalways, still, tôtearly, tout à coupall of a sudden, tout de suiteimmediately
- Example:
- Hier, j’étais à un concert de rock avec des amis.Yesterday, I was at a rock concert with some friends.
Adverbs of Amount
Adverbs of amount (les adverbes de quantité) answer the question how much?. They express a quantity. The most important French adverbs of amount are:
assezenough, quite, aussias much/many as…, autantso much/many, beaucoupa lot, davantagemore, encoremore/again, environabout, moinsless/fewer, peulittle/few, plusmore, presquealmost, seulementonly, tantso, tellementso much/many, toutall, trèsvery, troptoo much/many, un peua bit
- Example:
- Mais il y avait là-bas trop de monde.But there were too many people there.
Causal Adverbs
Causal adverbs or adverbs of reason (les adverbes de relation logique) answer the question why?. They express the cause behind an action. The most important causal adverbs in French are:
aussialso, cependanthowever, doncso, en revancheon the other hand, encorestill, again, mêmeeven, par ailleursbesides, moreover, par conséquentas a result, pourtantyet, quand mêmeeven though, seulementonly, tout de mêmeall the same, toutefoishowever
- Example:
- Nous avons donc attendu la fin du concert.So we waited until the end of the concert.
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of manner (les adverbes de manère) answer the question how?. These adverbs give information about the way in which an action is performed. The most important French adverbs of manner are:
ainsiso, bienwell, calmementcalmly, deboutupright, standing up, d’habitudeas usual, doucementsoftly, ensembletogether, fortfirmly, gentimentnicely, malbadly, mieuxbetter, plutôtrather, surtoutespecially, vitequickly
- Example:
- Nous sommes rentrés ensemble à la maison.We went home together.
Modal Adverbs
Modal adverbs (les adverbes modaux) don’t refer to a specific part of the sentence, instead they indicate the speaker’s opinion about the topic. The most important modal adverbs in French are:
hélasunfortunately, heureusementfortunately, malheureusementunfortunately, unluckily, par bonheurluckily, certainementsurely, definitely
- Example:
- Je n’avais certainement jamais vu autant de monde.I’d definitely never seen so many people before.
Adverbs of Affirmation
Adverbs of affirmation (les adverbes d’affirmation) can reinforce statements or can soften the impact of a statement. The most important adverbs of affirmation in French are:
assurémentcertainly, doubtlessly, certainementdefinitely, certesof course, admittedly, ouiyes, peut-êtreperhaps, précisémentexactly, probablementprobably, sans doutewithout a doubt, volontierswillingly, vraimenttruly
- Example:
- J’aurais volontiers rejoint mes amis.I would have happily rejoined my friends.
Adverbs of Negation
Adverbs of negation (les adverbs de négation) are used to negate a sentence. These adverbs are often phrases formed with ne. The most common adverbs of negation are:
ne … aucunementin no way, ne … jamaisnever, ne … pasnot, ne … plusno longer, ne … riennothing, nonno, pas du toutnot at all
- Example:
- Je n’avais certainement jamais vu autant de monde.I’d definitely never seen so many people before.
Interrogative Adverbs (Question Words)
Interrogative adverbs (les adverbes d’interrogation) are question words. The most important ones are:
combienhow much, commenthow, pourquoiwhy, quandwhen, oùwhere
- Example:
- Où étaient-ils?Where were they?
Conjunctional Adverbs
Conjunctional adverbs (les adverbes de liaison) connect phrases together. They act as conjunctions in a sentence, hence their name. The most important conjunctional adverbs are:
ainsiso, therefore, alorsso, since, then, certesadmittedly, of course, doncso, en effetindeed, ensuitethen, enfinfinally, néanmoinsnevertheless, par contreon the other hand, pourtantyet, puisthen
- Example:
- Nous avons donc attendu la fin du concert et enfin nous les avons trouvés.So we waited until the end of the concert and finally we found them.
