Adverbs in French – the Basics

Hey, let’s talk about adverbs in French today. Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs and other adverbs. In French some adverbs are formed from adjectives, but there are also loads of adverbs which are not derived from adjectives. In this article we’ll have a look at some common adverbs.

There are many categories of adverbs. In this post we’re going to have a look at some of them.

Adverbs of Manner

The first category contains adverbs that are used to say how something is done, so in what manner something is done. Here are some examples of adverbs of manner. They all modify the verb:

Sophie cuisine bien.	Sophie cooks well.
Marie cuisine mal.	Marie cooks badly.
Elle marche vite.	She walks fast.

Temporal Adverbs in French

Next, we have adverbs that are used to say when something happens or is done. These are adverbs of time, or, more formally, temporal adverbs. Here are some common temporal adverbs. They all refer to time:

Nous étudions déjà.	We are already studying.
Il est encore jeune.	He is still young.
Vous regardez toujours la télé.	You (all) always watch TV.
Aujourd’hui je travaille.	I´m working today.
Ils chantent maintenant.	They´re singing now.

Local Adverbs in French

Adverbs that refer to location are called local adverbs. Here are the most common ones:

Nous travaillons ici.	We work here.
Vous travaillez là.	You work there.
Elles travaillent là-bas.	They work over there.

Modal Adverbs in French

Here are some common modal adverbs. They can modify adjectives, adverbs or whole sentences.

Elle est aussi vieille.	She´s old, too.
Nous sommes très intelligents.	We´re very intelligent.
C’est seulement un rêve.	This is only / just a dream.
Tu parles trop vite.	You speak too fast.

Naturally, there are more categories of adverbs and this post is by no means exhaustive.