An adverb modifies a verb in some fashion. You have already encountered many adverbs in the program. Please review the following adverbs and their usual placement in a sentence:
These adverbs can occur either at the beginning or at the end of a phrase or clause, depending on where the emphasis lies:
Ici |
here |
là-bas |
there |
souvent |
often |
Ici on parle français. |
French is spoken here. |
On ne parle pas français ici. |
No French is spoken here. |
Souvent il m'appelle l'après-midi. |
Often he calls me in the afternoon. |
Il m'appelle souvent. |
He calls me often. |
The following adverbs are usually placed after the verb:
tout droit |
straight ahead |
tard |
late |
tôt |
early |
toujours |
always |
bien trop |
too much |
beaucoup |
much |
tout |
all |
plus |
more |
moins |
less |
Allez tout droit. |
Go straight ahead. |
Il se lève tard. |
He gets up late. |
J'ai toujours raison. |
I'm always right. |
Je ne dors plus beaucoup. |
I don't sleep much anymore. |
Ce chien mange trop. |
This dog eats too much. |
The following adverbs can modify other adverbs or adjectives:
Très |
very |
Plus |
more |
Moins |
less |
Trop |
too (as in "too much") |
Le TGV (train à grande vitesse) va très vite. |
The TGV (Express train) goes very fast. |
Les films de Goddard sont plus intéressants que ceux de Spielberg. |
Goddard's movies are more interesting than Spielberg's. |
Ce train part trop tôt. |
This train leaves too early. |
In compound tenses, short adverbs of time or place generally come after the helping verb.
Il a trop bu. |
He drank too much. |
Je me suis souvent demandé. |
I've often asked myself... |
Il a bien écrit. |
He wrote well |
In addition to these adverbs that have to be learned like any other vocabulary item, there exists a large family of adverbs that can be derived from the adjective. Just as one can recognize English adverbs by the "-ly"ending ("quickly," "fairly") one can recognize many French adverbs by their ment ending.
Le marchand de tabac en vend probablement. |
The tobacconist probably sells them. |
-ment adverbs are formed by adding the ending ment to the feminine form of the adjective:
discrète > discrètement |
discretely |
heureuse > heureusement |
luckily, happily |
rapide > rapidement |
rapidly |
For adjectives ending in ant or ent, the ending becomes amment and emment respectively (although the pronunciation sounds the same for both).
élégant > élégamment |
elegantly |
intelligent > intelligemment |
intelligently |
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