Chapitre Cinq
Forming Common Adverbs
Exercice 5.30
Forming Common Adverbs
Adverbs allow us to express how something is done—politely, quickly, sincerely, freely, etc—and they enrich our sentences. In English, many adverbs end in the suffix -ly. The French corresponding ending is -ment.
Note: While adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs, adverbs, and adjectives (and they are nice because they don’t have to agree in gender or number!). We have frequently seen and used irregular adverbs of judgment bien (from the adjective bon) and mal (from the adjective mauvais).
As we are building adverbs in French, we have to account for a few variations on the -ment ending. Here are some brief rules to get you started building adverbs from adjectives:
- In general, we will take the feminine form of an adjective and add -ment to form the adverb:
- When an adjective ends in a vowel, we add add -ment to the end of the masculine form to form the adverb:
- When a masculine adjective ends in -ant or -ent, we replace -ant with -amment and -ent with -emment to form the adverb:
Remember that we have seen and used many adverbs which are not built from adjectives; in fact, there are times when an entire phrase functions as an adverb. Let’s revisit some common adverbs that are not built from adjectives (many of these are adverbs of frequency, adverbs of quantity, or adverbs of time):
Another important aspect of incorporating adverbs into our sentences involves proper placement. As a general rule, short adverbs and adverbs of frequency go as close to the verb as possible (after the verb).
- Tu danses bien la salsa.
- Il lit beaucoup de livres.
- Je ne mange pas trop de chocolat.
- On se parle facilement.
- Tout le monde travaille très sérieusement.
- Personne ne travaille très sérieusement dans cette classe.
As a general rule, long adverbs go at the beginning or the end of sentences.
- Malheureusement, je ne peux pas aller avec toi aujourd’hui.
- Ils parlent en classe fréquemment.
- Elle conduit sa voiture prudemment.
When we are using the future proche or building two-verb constructions, most adverbs will go after the infinitive or at the beginning of the sentence. However, frequently used adverbs such as bien, souvent, beaucoup, and mal, will come between the conjugated verb and the infinitive.
- Il va bien dormir dans l’avion.
- J’aime bien parler au téléphone.
- Évidemment, ils vont venir.
- Ils doivent étudier consciencieusement.
Au passé composé, most adverbs are placed at the end of the sentence. However, frequently used adverbs such as bien, souvent, beaucoup, and mal, will come between the conjugated verb and the participle.
- J’ai attendu le bus patiemment.
- Je me suis brossé les dents soigneusement.
- Il a beaucoup parlé.
- Ils sont souvent venus nous rendre visite.
Exercice 5.30
alone
only
equal
equally
happy
happily
absolute
absolutely
easy
easily
polite
politely
evident
evidently
frequent
frequently
sufficient
sufficiently
often
enough
a lot/much
today
before
soon
tomorrow
right away
in the past
sometimes
as many; however much
around; about
since; for
never
early
late
yesterday
very
too much
almost
now
little; not much
quickly
from time to time
you dance salsa well
he reads a lot of books
I don't eat too much chocolate
we speak so easily to one another
everyone is working very seriously
nobody in this class works seriously
unfortunately, I can't go with you today
they speak frequently in class
she drives her car cautiously
he's going to sleep well on the airplane
I really like talking on the phone
evidently, they are going to come
they need to study conscientiously
I waited patiently for the bus
I carefully brushed my teeth
he talked a lot
they often came to visit us
