Adverbs

A.    FORMATION- Adverbs are generally formed by adding –ment to the feminine form of the adjective. The –ment ending is equivalent to the –ly adverb ending in English.

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB	TRANSLATION
Lent(e)	Lentement	Slowly
Sincere	Sincerement	Sincerely
Ouvert(e)	Ouvertement	Openly
Attentive(-ve)	Attentivement	Attentively
Heureux(-se)	Heureusement	fortunately

For the adjectives that end in –ant or –ent, drop the –nt and add –mment to creat the adverb form

IndependentÞ independamment- independently

IntelligentÞ intelligemment – intelligently

The following are some common adverbs that do NOT have the –ment ending.

Bien- well

Mal- badly

Tres- very

Bientot- soon

Souvent- often

Trop- too much/ many

Déjà- already

Toujours- always

Vite- quickly

Encore- still, yet

B.     POSITION- The normal position for adverbs in simple tenses is directly after the conjugated verb.

Il etudie attentivement          He studies attentively.

Elles jouent bien au tennis      They play tennis well.

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In compound tenses, such as the passé compose, the longer adverbs ending in

-ment normally follow the past participle. Short adverbs, suc has those above, follow the conjugated auxiliary verb and precede the past participle.

Il a etudie attentivement.                   He studied attentively.

Elle ont bien travaille.                          They worked well.