A comprehensive overview of French adverbs, explaining their formation, types, placement in sentences, and role in modifying verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

French adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing information about how, when, where, or to what extent an action occurs. They can be short words like "bien" (well) or formed by adding "-ment" to the feminine adjective (e.g., "lent" → "lentement" meaning slowly). Adverbs can express manner, time, place, frequency, degree, and more. Unlike adjectives, adverbs do not change form to agree with gender or number. In French sentence structure, simple adverbs usually follow the verb (e.g., "Il parle clairement" – He speaks clearly), while in compound tenses, they often appear between the auxiliary and past participle (e.g., "Il a bien travaillé" – He worked well). Understanding French adverbs is key to adding nuance and precision to your communication.

A2

Time Adverbs

Frequency Adverbs

Place Adverbs

B1

Manner Adverbs

Degree Adverbs

Frequency Adverbs
French frequency adverbs are words that indicate how often an action occurs. They typically appear before the main verb or after the auxiliary in compound tenses.
Manner Adverbs
French manner adverbs guide, explaining how to describe actions using adverbs that express "how" something is done.
Degree Adverbs
Degree adverbs in French, such as plus, très, and trop, modify the intensity of adjectives, other adverbs, or verbs.
Place Adverbs
A comprehensive guide to French place adverbs, including examples and rules for describing location, direction, and movement.
Time Adverbs
Time adverbs in French, including common expressions, placement rules, and examples, to help describe when actions take place.

Last updated: Thu Jun 12, 2025

French

Adverbs

A2

B1

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