In this section:

• Adverbs: Formation and Placement

• Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs

Adverbs: Formation and Placement 

Uses
In French as in English, an adverb describes the action of a verb. It answers such questions as ‘where’, ‘when,’ ‘how,’ ‘how long,’ or ‘how often.’ Adverbs are invariable and may be used with almost all verbs. For example:

An adverb may also qualify an adjective or another adverb. Consider the sentence: ‘Edouard cuisine très bien‘ (Edouard cooks very well). Très qualifies bien and both describe the action of the verb ‘cuisiner’.

Common adverbs

manner		bien, well		mal, badly		vite, quickly
time		souvent, often		quelquefois, sometimes		toujours, always
		jamais, never		tôt, early		tard, late
		bientôt, soon		aujourd’hui, today		hier, yesterday
		maintenant, now		déjà, already		demain, tomorrow
place		dedans, inside		dehors, outside		ici, here
		là, there		partout, everywhere		quelque part, somewhere
quantity or degree		beaucoup, a lot		très, very		trop, too much
		assez, enough		peu, little, not much		peut-être, maybe
sequence		d’abord, at first		puis, then, next		alors, then, so
		donc, thus		enfin, finally

Formation of regular adverbs 

A large number of French adverbs are derived from adjectives.

They are usually formed by adding -ment to the feminine singular form of the adjective. Note the exception ‘gentiment’, which is derived from the adjective ‘gentil’ (nice).

However, -ment is added to the masculine singular form of adjectives that end with a vowel. Note the exception ‘gaiement’ which is derived from the adjective ‘gai’ (cheerful).

Add -emment to the stem of adjectives that end in -ent; add -amment to the stem of adjectives ending in -ant. The stem is what remains of the adjective when -ent or -ant have been removed. Note that the one-syllable adjective ‘lent’ does not form its adverb, ‘lentement’, on this model.

Note the addition of an acute accent to form the following adverbs:

Placement

Use the following guidelines for placement of adverbs.

Adverbs that modify an adjective or another adverb
Adverbs are placed directly before the adjective or adverb that they modify

Adverbs that modify a verb
Adverbs are usually placed immediately after the conjugated verb. If the verb is negative, the adverb is placed after the negation.

Note that most common adverbs are placed directly after the verb before the objects.

Adverbs that modify a whole sentence
If an adverb is a comment on the entire sentence (malheureusement, en plus), it may be placed at the beginning or end of the sentence. Adverbs of this type include adverbs of time and place. In the following dialogue, contrast the adverbs that modify the whole sentence to those that modify just the verb.

See placement of adverbs with passé composé and the periphrastic future for further examples.

Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs 

Comparative of adverbs: indicating more, less, or equality
Plus + adverb + que conveys the idea of ‘more … than’, moins + adverb + que the idea of ‘less … than’. Aussi + adverb + que conveys the idea of ‘as … as.’

Note that mieux (better) is the irregular comparative form of the adverb bien (well). The other comparative forms of bien are regular (moins bien que, aussi bien que).

Superlative of adverbs: indicating the most, the least 
In French as in English, the superlative is a way to express a maximum or minimum quality or capacity: ‘the fastest’, ‘the least fast’. To form the superlative of an adverb, the masculine singular form of the definite article is always used: le, followed by plus (more) or moins (less) before the adverb. Note that the superlative of an adverb has only one form. Le mieux (the best) and le moins bien (the least well) are the superlative forms of the adverb bien (well).