5 Adverbs

5.1 Function of adverbs

Adverbs are words or phrases of invariable form which modify the meaning of words, phrases or whole sentences:

Il est entré dans un monde étrangement silencieux He entered a strangely silent world
(étrangement modifies just silencieux; it is the silence which is strange, not the person or the world he enters)
J'ai entendu un bruit dehors I heard a noise outside
(dehors modifies just entendre un bruit; it indicates where the noise was, not where the person hearing it was)
Soudain j'ai entendu un bruit Suddenly I heard a noise
(soudain modifies the sentence and expresses the suddenness of the whole event)

5.2 Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment

5.2.1 Adverbs ending in -ment derived from the feminine form of an adjective

Most adverbs ending in -ment are formed from the feminine form of a corresponding adjective:

Exception:

Although -ment corresponds broadly to English ‘-ly’, French is much less productive than English. Often English ‘-ly’ adverbs must be translated by phrases (see 5.5).

5.2.2 Adverbs ending in -ment derived from the masculine form of an adjective

Where an adjective ends in -i (not -oi ), -é, or -u (not -eau or -ou ), the adverb is formed from the masculine form:

Exception:

Seven adjectives which end in -u but add a circumflex accent in the adverbial form are:

5.2.3 Adverbs ending in -amment and -emment derived from adjectives ending in -ant or -ent

Adjectives ending in -ant and -ent form the adverb with -amment and -emment, respectively:

Adjective Adverb
abondant abundant abondamment abundantly
apparent apparent apparemment apparently
brillant brilliant brillamment brilliantly
constant constant constamment constantly
courant current couramment fluently
précédent preceding précédemment beforehand
prudent prudent prudemment prudently
violent violent violemment violently
vaillant valorous vaillamment with valour

There are three forms which do not follow this pattern exactly:

lent slow lentement slowly
présent present présentement presently
véhément vehement véhémentement vehemently

NB: véhémentement is quite rare, and avec véhémence is usually preferred.

Three forms follow the pattern, but the present participles from which they derive no longer exist in modern French:

précipiter to precipitate précipitamment
(précipitant – old French) precipitately
noter to note notamment
(notant – old French) notably
(scire – old French/Latin) sciemment
knowingly

5.2.4 Adverbs ending in -(é)ment derived from past participles

Adverbs can also be formed in a similar way from the masculine form of past participles:

Verb Past participle Adverb
aveugler to blind aveuglé aveuglément blindly
conformer to conform conformé conformément in order
forcer to force forcé forcément necessarily
préciser to specify précisé précisément precisely

In a similar, but irregular, vein we find:

impuni unpunished impunément with impunity

5.2.5 Adverbs ending in -ément derived from adjectives ending in -e

A small number of adverbs ending in -ément have been created from adjectives ending in -e: some always end in -e, others are the feminine form of adjectives:

Adjectives which always end in -e

Adjective Adverb
énorme normous énormément enormously
immense immense immensément immensely
intense intense intensément intensely
uniforme uniform uniformément uniformly
commode useful commodément usefully

Exceptions

probable probable probablement probably
véritable real véritablement really

Feminine forms

Adjective Feminine Adverb
commun common commune communément commonly
confus embarrassed confuse confusément embarrassedly
importun disagreeable importune importunément disagreeably
obscur obscure obscure obscurément obscurely
opportun appropriate opportune opportunément appropriately
profond deep profonde profondément deeply
profus profuse profuse profusément profusely (literary)

5.2.6 Adverbs ending in -ment derived from words no longer in the language

Some adverbs ending in -ment are derived from words which no longer exist in the language:

Adjective Feminine Adverb
bref brief brève brièvement briefly
(brief - old French)
grave serious grave grièvement seriously
(grief - old French)
traître treacherous traîtresse traîtreusement treacherously
(traitreux - old French)
(journel - old French) journellement daily
(nuitantre - old French) nuitamment nightly

NB: grief is still used in certain set expressions: faire grief à quelqu’un de quelque chose ‘to hold something against somebody’, formuler des griefs ‘to express grievances’.

5.2.7 Adverbs ending in -ment derived from nouns

There are a few adverbs ending in -ment which are derived from nouns and function like degree adverbs (see 5.6.2). These would be used only in spoken French: vachement in particular is used in very informal spoken French:

bougrement C'est bougrement difficile It's bloody difficult
diablement Cette voiture est diablement lourde This car is hellishly heavy
vachement Elles sont vachement jolies, tes bottes Those are great boots!

5.3 Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment

Not all adverbs derived from adjectives end in -ment. The masculine forms of several adjectives can be used as adverbs in combination with a particular set of verbs. They do not change in gender or in number when used in this way:

Adjective Used in expressions such as
bas parler bas to talk quietly
voler bas to fly low
bon sentir bon to smell nice
tenir bon to hold on
chaud servir chaud to serve hot
cher coûter cher to cost a lot
payer cher to pay a lot (for sth)
clair voir clair to see clearly
court tourner court to come to an abrupt end
couper court à qch to cut sth short
s'habiller court to wear one's skirts/dresses short
creux sonner creux to ring hollow
doux filer doux to keep a low profile
droit aller droit to go straight on
dru tomber dru to fall in stair-rods (rain)
dur travailler dur to work hard
faux chanter faux to sing out of tune
ferme tenir ferme to hold out
fort parler fort to talk loudly
frais servir frais to serve cool
franc parler franc to say what you think
gras manger gras to eat rich food
gros parier gros to bet heavily
risquer gros to take big risks
haut être haut placé to be in a position of authority
juste viser juste to aim correctly
deviner juste to guess right
lourd peser lourd to weigh heavily
mauvais sentir mauvais to smell bad
net s'arrêter net to stop dead
casser net to make a clean break
pareil penser pareil (informal) to think the same
profond creuser profond to dig deep
serré jouer serré to play a close game

The fact that some of these adjectives are used as adverbs has allowed the creation of related forms ending in -ment with different meanings:

bon bonnement

bonnement is used almost always with tout to give tout bonnement: ‘quite simply’

cher chérement

chèrement is used with the verb vendre in the set phrase: vendre chèrement sa vie: ‘to sell one’s life dearly’.

bas bassement

bassement has taken the meaning: ‘in a mean or despicable way’ and is used in the set phrase agir bassement: ‘to act in a mean or despicable way’.

5.4 Phrases used as adverbs

A number of adverbs are composed of invariable phrases. The following are a sample:

au maximum to the utmost
à bon escient advisedly
au fur et à mesure as we go along
à brûle-pourpoint point blank
à côté beside
à l'heure on time
à tire-larigot (informal) non-stop
à tue-tête at the top of one's voice
à plat ventre on one's belly
à qui mieux mieux each one more than the next
à peu près nearly
à la fois at the same time
à part separately
d'ores et déjà from this time onwards
d'habitude usually
d'emblée straightaway
de plus belle with renewed vigour
d'arrache-pied flat out (to work)
de bonne heure early
de temps en temps from time to time
en haut up(stairs)
en bas down(stairs)
en arrière behind
en avant in front
en retard late
en avance early
en amont upstream
en aval downstream
en dehors outside
en vain in vain
en catimini in secret
en général in general
en particulier in particular
en définitive finally
n'importe oú anywhere
n'importe quand anytime
n'importe qui anybody
par hasard by chance
par monts et par vaux over hill and dale
par ailleurs in addition
par devant in the front
par dessus over and above
par contre on the other hand
dans la suite in what followed
et ainsi de suite and so on
de suite immediately
par la suite in what followed
sans cesse continuously
sans détour straight, to the point
sur ces entrefaites and with that
tout à fait completely
tout de suite immediately
tout à l'heure in a moment, later
tout d'un coup suddenly
tout de go straight out
côte à côte side by side
ça et là here and there
petit à petit little by little
sur-le-champ immediately
vaille que vaille somehow or other

Borrowings from Latin, frequently heard, are:

grosso modo more or less
a fortiori even more so
a priori a priori
a posteriori a posteriori
vice versa vice versa
in extremis at the last moment

5.5 English and French adverb formation

‘-ly’ is a more productive form in English than -ment is in French. Therefore, not every English form in ‘-ly’ will find a ready translation in -ment in French. The most frequent solution is an adverbial phrase introduced by a preposition such as avec, d’une manière . . ., d’une façon. . ., sur un ton . . .:

avec colère, sur le ton de la colère angrily
d'une manière concise, avec concision concisely
avec charme, d'une manière charmante charmingly
avec beaucoup de talent/d'imagination creatively
sur le ton de la plaisanterie jokingly
de façon possessive possessively
de façon réfléchie reflectively
avec tristesse sadly
avec entêtement stubbornly
de façon surprenante, à ma/ta grande surprise surprisingly
sur un ton vengeur vengefully

When colours are used as adverbs they are preceded by en:

le colorier en bleu to colour it blue
le peindre en rouge to paint it red

When shapes are used as adverbs, they have to be turned into an expression involving a noun in French:

lui donner une forme ronde to make it round
le couper au carré to cut it square

5.6 Types of adverbs

There are five main types of adverbs: manner adverbs, degree adverbs, time adverbs, place adverbs and sentence-modifying adverbs. Some forms fall into more than one of these categories. Typical examples of each are given in Tables 5.A, 5.B, 5.C, 5.D and 5.E (but the lists are not exhaustive).

5.6.1 Manner adverbs

Adverbs which describe the manner in which something is done are manner adverbs:

Je dors bien I sleep well
Les choses tournent mal Things are turning out badly

TABLE 5.A Typical manner adverbs

Typical manner adverbs Ending in -ment
ainsi like this/that, so, thus affectueusement affectionately
(can also be a sentence-modifying adverb - see 5.6.17)
bien well autrement differently
(can also be a degree adverb - see 5.6.2) (can also be a degree adverb - see 5.6.2)
debout standing clairement clearly
ensemble together confusément in a confused manner
exprés purposely, on purpose correctement correctly
mal badly facilement easily
mieux better lentement slowly
(for a comparison with meilleur see 5.6.6)
vite quickly précautionneusement cautiously
soigneusement carefully
vaguement vaguely
Invariable phrases
à dessein purposely
à genoux on one's knees
à pied on foot
à la fois at the same time
à tort wrongly
de travers crookedly

Representative examples:

Il s'est toujours comporté ainsi He always behaved like that
Tu chantes bien You sing well
Mets-toi debout Stand up
Il a mal lu l'étiquette He misread the label

5.6.2 Degree adverbs

Adverbs which indicate the extent to which something is the case are degree adverbs. As a class they can modify every kind of sentence element: verbs, adjectives, nouns, prepositions and other adverbs. But individually some of them may be restricted to modifying particular categories of item (e.g. très can modify adjectives, prepositions and adverbs – très heureux ‘very happy’, très à la mode ‘very fashionable’, très bien ‘very well’ – but not verbs *Je fume très ‘I smoke very’):

TABLE 5.B Typical degree adverbs

Typical degree adverbs Ending in -ment
assez sufficiently autrement much more
(can also be a manner adverb - see 5.6.1)
aussi as complètement completely
(modifies adjectives and adverbs)
autant as much ( modifies verbs) démesurément inordinately
beaucoup much modérément moderately
bien really particulièrement particularly
(can also be a manner adverb - see 5.6.1)
davantage more tellement so; so much
encore again; still; another terriblement terribly
juste just vraiment truly
même even
(when it follows a noun it may correspond to English 'very')
moins less(see 5.6.5) Invariable phrases
peu little au moins at least
(expresses a concrete estimate of a quantity: au moins dix personnes blessées; du moins expresses the speaker's view of an event: du moins, il n'estpas blessé- see 5.6.17)
plus more a peine hardly
(can modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions -see 5.6.5)
plutôt rather a peu pres nearly
presque almost de loin by far
(does NOT contract to *presqu' in front of a vowel: presque à la fin)
si so par trop by far
tant so much tout à fait completely
tout completely; quite (see 5.6.7) un peu a little
très very
trop too

Representative examples

C'est un acteur assez connu He is quite a well-known actor
La route tue autant que la guerre Road accidents are the cause of as many deaths as war
Elle est autrement intelligente que sa soeur She is much more intelligent than her sister
Ils ont beaucoup discuté pendant le weekend They spent a lot of time discussing over the weekend
C'est bien bête That's really stupid
Il y en a davantage qu'on ne le pense There are more than you think
Elle a acheté un billet juste avant de prendre le train She bought a ticket just before catching the train
On ramené même des souvenirs They even bring back souvenirs
Voici le vélo même dont il s'est servi This is the very bike he used
un monde si étrangement silencieux such a strangely silent world
Elle est tellement plus sympathique She is so much nicer
J'ai répondu tout de travers I replied in a quite confused way
Je suis ici depuis très longtemps I have been here for a very long time
Elle parle trop She talks too much

A number of degree adverbs also function as quantifiers modifying nouns (see Chapter 6.9):

assez d'excuses enough excuses
autant d'argent as much money
beaucoup de clients many customers
bien des problèmes many problems
tellement de travail so much work

Translating sentences such as ‘She was so beautiful’, ‘He drives so fast that he will have an accident’, ‘They cried so much’, ‘So many people came’, ‘(Very) many more are expected’, ‘The clothes are much prettier’, ‘They work a lot faster’ can be difficult for English speakers, because of the complex correspondences between English ‘so’, ‘(so) much’, ‘(so) many’, ‘more’, on the one hand and French si, tellement, tant, beaucoup, bien, davantage and the exclamative construction Qu’elle était jolie! ‘She was so beautiful’, Qu’il conduit vite! ‘He drives so fast’ on the other. Here are some rules of thumb, followed by examples of ways of translating such constructions.

si meaning ‘so’ can modify an adjective, or an adverb: Il est si grand! (adjective) ‘He is so tall!’, Tu chantes si bien! (adverb) ‘You sing so well!’, Il conduit si vite (adverb) qu’il risque d’avoir un accident! ‘He drives so fast that he will have an accident!’

tellement meaning ‘so’ can modify an adjective, an adverb or a verb: Il est tellement grand! (adjective) ‘He is so tall!’, Tu chantes tellement bien! (adverb) ‘You sing so well!’, Il conduit tellement vite qu’il risque d’avoir un accident! (adverb) ‘He drives so fast that he will have an accident!’, Ils ont tellement crié! (verb) ‘They shouted so much!’

tant meaning ‘so much’ can modify a verb: Ils ont tant crié! ‘They shouted so much’.

tant and tellement meaning ‘so much, so many’ can modify nouns: Tant de personnes sont venues, Tellement de personnes sont venues ‘So many people came’, Tant de travail a été accompli, Tellement de travail a été accompli ‘So much work has been done’.

davantage meaning ‘more’ can modify nouns: Les PMEs emploient davantage de personnes ‘Small and medium- sized businesses are employing more people’.

Here are some examples of these uses. Often, word for word translations are impossible and other ways of rendering the same idea may need to be considered:

5.6.3 Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs

In English, the majority of adverbs can be made into comparative forms by putting ‘more’, ‘less’ or ‘as’ in front of them, and into superlative forms by putting ‘the most’ or ‘the least’ in front of them:

A small set of English adverbs, however, have special comparative and superlative forms:

A similar pattern exists in French where the majority of adverbs can be made into comparative forms by putting the degree adverbs plus, moins or aussi in front of the adverb, and into superlative forms by putting le plus or le moins in front of the adverb. In the latter case le plus and le moins do not change in gender and number:

5.6.4 bien 'well', mieux 'better', mal 'badly', pis 'worse'

One adverb in French has special comparative and superlative forms:

bien mieux le mieux
well better the best

moins bien le moins bien
less well the least well

The adverb mal ‘badly’ has two sets of comparative and superlative forms, one regular and one irregular:

Regular
mal badly plus mal worse le plus mal the worst
moins mal less badly le moins mal the least badly
Irregular
pis worse le pis the worst

pis and le pis only occur these days in fixed expressions like:

tant pis too bad
Les choses vont de mal en pis Things are going from bad to worse
(or de pis en pis)
qui pis est, . . . what's worse, . . .
au pis aller if the worse comes to the worst
en mettant tout au pis, . . . at the worst, . . .

5.6.5 beaucoup 'much', plus 'more', peu 'little', moins 'less'

The comparative and superlative forms of the degree adverb beaucoup are plus and le plus (the final s is pronounced except in front of words beginning with a consonant); the comparative and superlative forms of the degree adverb peu are moins and le moins:

plus and moins are also used in expressions such as:

5.6.6 Difference between meilleur(e)(s) and mieux, and le/la/les meilleur(e)(s) and le mieux

meilleur(e)(s) and le/la/les meilleur(e)(s) are the comparative and superlative forms respectively of the adjective bon ‘good’. mieux and le mieux are the comparative and superlative forms respectively of the adverb bien ‘well’:

Il désire avoir une meilleure place He wants to have a better seat
Ces marchandises sont meilleures These goods are better
Elle s'habille mieux que les autres She dresses better than the others
Elle s'habille le mieux de toutes She dresses the best of all

Since the adverb bien ‘well’ can also sometimes function as an adjective close in meaning to bon, particularly with être, there are contexts where meilleur and mieux are both possible:

5.6.7 Form and uses of tout

tout can function as a determiner, a quantifier, a pronoun and an adverb. It behaves differently with respect to agreement in each of these roles, so it is important to distinguish them.

tout as a determiner

tout is a determiner in constructions such as the following. Here there is no article and tout agrees with the noun which it determines:

tout as a quantifier

tout is a quantifier (see Chapter 6.9) in the following examples. Its translation equivalent in English is usually ‘all’. It agrees with the noun which it modifies:

tout as a pronoun

tout is a pronoun when it is used as a subject, direct object, indirect object or follows a preposition.

When it has the indefinite meaning ‘everything, all’ it is invariable:

When it refers to people or things mentioned or implied elsewhere in the dis course, it agrees in gender and number with those entities, and takes one of the forms tout, toute, tous, toutes. In this use the final -s of tous is pronounced:

tout as an adverb

tout is an adverb when it modifies another adverb, a preposition or an adjective. It has the meaning of ‘completely, very’.

In front of an adverb or preposition it is invariable:

In front of an adjective it agrees if the adjective is feminine and begins with a consonant:

Agreement is optional in front of adjectives which are feminine and begin with a vowel or a silent h:

5.6.8 Time adverbs

Adverbs which indicate the time at which something takes place, or the duration or frequency of an event, are time adverbs (as shown in Table 5.C):

TABLE 5.C Typical time adverbs

Typical time adverbs
alors then, at that time soudain suddenly
(can also be a sentence-modifying adverb - see 5.6.17)
aujourd'hui today souvent often
auparavant beforehand tantôt this afternoon
tantôt . . . tantôt one minute... the next...
aussitôt immediately tard late
autrefois in the past tot early
bientôt soon toujours always; still
déjà already
demain tomorrow Ending in -meni
depuis since then actuellement currently
désormais henceforth dernièrement recently
dorénavant henceforth frèquemment frequently
encore again; still; yet précédemment previously
(can also be a sentence-modifying adverb - see 5.6.17)
enfin finally prochainement soon
ensuite afterwards récemment recently
entre-temps meanwhile
hier yesterday Invariable phrases
à présent at present
jadis in the (distant) past dés lors from then on
(the final -s is always pronounced)
jamais ever d'un instant à l'autre at any moment
longtemps a long time en ce moment at the moment
maintenant now par la suite subsequently
naguère in the recent past tout à coup suddenly
parfois sometimes tout à l'heure just now; presently
quelquefois sometimes tout de suite immediately

Representative examples:

Actuellement il sort avec ma sœur Currently, he's going out with my sister
II l'avait rencontrée deux ans auparavant He had met her two years before
Dès lors il voulait passer sa vie avec elle From then on he wanted to spend his life with her
Elle s'en est rendu compte aussitôt She realized immediately
Ensuite il ne s'est rien passe Afterwards nothing happened
Entre-temps elle avait rencontré quelqu'un d'autre Meanwhile she had met someone else
Son sourire n'a plus été le même par la suite His smile was never the same afterwards
Nous avons parlé longtemps We spoke for a long time
Le bureau occupe deux étages, naguère habités The office occupies two floors, formerly living accommodation
Quelquefois on me conduisait à Roubaix Sometimes they took me to Roubaix
J'ai souvent voulu le faire I've often wanted to do it
Sors tout de suite Get out of here immediately

5.6.9 alors

alors has two distinct adverbial uses. One as a time adverb meaning ‘then, at that time’:

In this use it can appear in the middle of a clause, as in the above example (for the position of adverbs see 5.7).

Its other use is as a sentence- modifying adverb meaning ‘so’, which occurs at the beginning of a clause. This use is as frequent in spoken French as ‘so’ is in spoken English:

Alors, quoi de neuf? So, what's new?
Alors, qu'est-ce que tu en penses? So, what do you think about it?

5.6.10 encore and toujours

encore and toujours have several meanings, and overlap in one of those meanings, which makes them difficult for the learner. Both encore and toujours can mean ‘still’ in clauses which express an ongoing state of affairs:

Est-il encore/toujours là? Is he still here?
(His being here is an ongoing state of affairs)
Elle se plaint encore/toujours She is still complaining
(Her complaining is an ongoing state of affairs)

In clauses which describe a completed action, or the potential for the completion of an action, however, encore means ‘again’:

Il a encore perdu sa clef He has lost his key again
(His losing of the key is a completed action)
J'ai peur de m'évanouir encore I am afraid of fainting again
(Although I haven't done so yet, fainting has the potential for being a completed action)

Note that if encore modifies the first clause, which expresses a state of affairs, it could mean either ‘still’ or ‘again’: J’ai encore peur de m’évanouir ‘I’m still afraid of fainting’ or ‘Once again I am afraid of fainting’.

Where encore modifies noun phrases or other adverbs it means ‘still more, further’:

Encore du pain, s'il vous plaît More bread, please

toujours, in addition to meaning ‘still’, can also mean ‘always’:

In sentences negated by pas, if toujours precedes the pas it means ‘still’, if it follows it means ‘always’:

Il n'est toujours pas arrivé He still hasn't arrived
Il n'est pas toujours arrivé He didn't always arrive/turn up
encore can only follow pas and means 'yet':
Il n'est pas encore arrivé He hasn't yet arrived

5.6.11 ensuite and puis

ensuite and puis both mean ‘afterwards, then’, but ensuite is a time adverb which can occur in the middle of a clause (for the position of adverbs see 5.7), while puis is a coordinating conjunction which can occur only at the beginning of a clause (see Chapter 17.2):

5.6.12 jamais

jamais is mostly used with ne to mean ‘never’ (see Chapter 16.9). It can, how ever, also mean ‘ever’ in questions, in si- clauses or when it is a complement to sans:

5.6.13 tard versus en retard

Both of these terms translate as ‘late’ into English. However, en retard is restricted in meaning to the idea of ‘not on time’:

tard has a wider range of meaning:

5.6.14 tout à l'heure

The meaning of tout à l’heure is determined by the tense of the verb in the clause which contains it. If the verb is in a past tense it means ‘just now’; if the verb is in a present or future tense it means ‘presently’:

5.6.15 Choice of some time adverbs relative to the moment of speaking

The meaning of some time adverbs is determined by their relation to the time of speaking. If someone says:

hier refers to the day before the day on which the person is speaking. Similarly, if someone says:

demain refers to the day after the day on which the person is speaking. By con trast, if someone says:

they are referring to a day before some point prior to the time when they are speaking. Similarly in:

le lendemain refers to the day after some point prior to the moment of speaking.

Different series of adverbs must be used depending on whether they refer to before or after the actual moment of speaking, or whether they refer to before or after some point prior to the moment of speaking. Examples are presented in Tables 5.D and 5.E.

TABLE 5.D Adverbs and time reference 1

More distant past Recent past Concurrent with the time of speaking Near future More distant future
avant-hier hier aujourd'hui demain aprés-demain
the day before yesterday yesterday today tomorrow the day after tomorrow
alors maintenant bientôt
then now soon
hier matin ce matin demain matin
hier midi ce midi demain midi
hier après-midi cet après-midi/ demain après-midi
tantôt demain soir
hier soir ce soir
yesterday morning, midday, etc. this morning, midday, this afternoon, this evening tomorrow morning, midday, etc
autrefois tout à I'heure actuellement tout à l'heure à l'avenir
jadis (literary) formerly just now récemment derniérement naguére recently currently ('tantôt' in parts of France, in Belgium and Quebec) presently in the future

TABLE 5.E Adverbs and time reference 2

More distant past Recent past Prior to the time of speaking Near future More distant future
I'avant-veille la veille ce jour-là le lendemain le surlendemain
the day before the day before the day before that day the day after the day after the day after
la veille au matin ce matin-là le lendemain matin
the morning of the day before that morning the morning of the day after
la veille à midi ce midi-là le lendemain midi
midday of the day before that midday midday of the day after
dans l'après- cet après- dans l'après-
midi de la midi-là midi du
veille the afternoon of the day before that afternoon lendemain the afternoon of the day after
la veille au soir ce soir-là le lendemain soir
the evening of the day before that evening the evening of the day after

5.6.16 Place adverbs

Adverbs which describe the place where an event occurs are place adverbs:

TABLE 5.F Typical place adverbs

Typical place adverbs
ailleurs elsewhere en amont upstream
en aval downstream
dedans inside en avant in/at the front
en dedans inwardly; facing inwards en arriere in/at the back
au-dedans on the inside
la-dedans in there
dehors outside ici here
en dehors outwardly; facing outwards
au-dehors on the outside
derrière behind there (used a lot to mean here: 'I'm here' Je suis là)
par derrière from behind
dessous underneath, on the bottom loin far away
en dessous underneath, on the back
au-dessous below
par-dessous underneath (implying motion: passer par-dessous 'to go underneath')
dessus over, on the top partout everywhere
en dessus on the top, on the front
au-dessus above
par-dessus across (sauter par-dessus 'to jump across')
ci-contre opposite (on a page) près nearby
ci-dessous below (in a piece of writing: voir ci-dessous'see below')
ci-dessus above (voir ci-dessus 'see above')
ci-apres later
ci-devant earlier
en bas (down) below
en haut (up) above

Representative examples:

Nous voulons habiter ailleurs We want to live elsewhere
Vous entrez dedans You go inside
Quelqu'un, dehors, s'est inquiété Someone, outside, got nervous
Derrière il y a un champ de betteraves Behind there is a beet field
Vous trouverez l'étiquette dessous You'll find the label on the bottom
L'adresse est marquée dessus The address is written on the top
bras dessus bras dessous arm in arm
On a laissé des papiers un peu partout Papers were left almost everywhere

5.6.17 Sentence-modifying adverbs

Sentence- modifying adverbs fall into two types. Those which establish a link between what has been said already and what is being said now:

The second group of sentence-modifying adverbs express the speaker’s assessment of the probability or desirability of the event described by the sentence being true:

Elle était pauvre, probablement She was probably poor
(probablement is the speaker's judgement of the likelihood of her being poor)
Je n'ai malheureusement pas pu venir Unfortunately I wasn't able to come
(malheureusement is an expression of the speaker's regret at not being able to come)

See Table 5.G for typical cases.

Representative examples:

TABLE 5.G Typical sentence-linking and speaker-oriented adverbs

Typical sentence-linking adverbs Typical speaker-oriented adverbs
ainsi so, in the same way alors so
(can also be a manner adverb - see 5.6.1) (can also be a time adverb - see 5.6.8)
au contraire conversely assurément surely
aussi so, thus bien sûr of course
(can also be a degree adverb - see 5.6.2)
cependant yet certainement certainly
d'ailleurs moreover, what's more certes certainly
encore for all that du moins at least
(can also be a time adverb - see 5.6.8) (expresses the speaker's reservation - au moins is a degree adverb (see 5.6.2) used when 'at least' is concrete: au moins dix fois 'at least ten times')
en effet indeed en général in general
en revanche on the contrary évidemment evidently
en somme in sum, briefly heureusement fortunately
néanmoins nonetheless peut-être perhaps
par conséquent consequently probablement probably
en conséquence
par contre on the other hand sans doute doubtlessly
plutôt rather seulement only
pourtant yet soit so be it
quand même all the same sûrement surely
toutefois nevertheless vraisemblablement in all likelihood

5.7 Location of adverbs

5.7.1 Location of adverbs modifying adjectives, prepositions, noun phrases and other adverbs

Adverbs which modify adjectives, prepositions, noun phrases, and other adverbs appear immediately in front of those items:

Je ne suis pas vraiment mauvais (modifying an adjective)
I'm not really bad
Nous irons loin au-delà de la frontière (modifying a preposition)
We'll go far beyond the frontier
Il y a au moins dix ans (modifying a noun phrase)
At least ten years ago
Je suis ici depuis très longtemps (modifying an adverb)
I have been here for a very long time

5.7.2 Location of adverbs modifying verb phrases

Adverbs which modify the verb phrase (manner, degree, some time and place adverbs) and adverbs which modify the sentence may have several possible locations.

Manner, degree and time adverbs which consist of just one word usually immediately follow the tense- marked verb:

NB: With verbs in simple tenses it is normal in French for these adverbs to occur between the verb and its complement, but not between the subject and the verb: the reverse is the case in English:

On ramène parfois des souvenirs NOT *On parfois ramène des souvenirs
Je veux souvent le faire NOT *Je souvent veux le faire
Elles refusent toujours de me parler NOT *Elles toujours refusent de me parler

Usually manner, degree and time adverbs consisting of just one word and modifying the verb phrase can also appear at the end of the clause:

But some appear most naturally in a clause-internal position after the verb. This tends to be the case for short monosyllabic adverbs: bien, mal, vite, trop, tant. An exception, though, is time adverbs which designate specific moments in the past or future: hier ‘yesterday’, demain ‘tomorrow’, la veille ‘the day before’, and so on. These usually appear at the beginning or the end of a clause, not in the middle:

J'ai ramassé les clefs hier or Hier j'ai ramassé les clefs
I picked up the keys yesterday
La veille elle avait vendu sa maison or Elle avait vendu sa maison la veille
She had sold her house the day before

Adverbs of manner, degree and time which consist of more than a single word, together with place adverbs as a class, usually come at the beginning or end of a clause, not in the middle:

Il a emporté le dossier à dessein He took the file away on purpose
Ici tout le monde fait la vaisselle Everybody does the washing-up here
Nous voulons habiter ailleurs We want to live elsewhere
Derrière il y a un champ de betteraves Behind there is a beet field
Vous trouverez l'étiquette dessous You'll find the label on the bottom
On a laissé des papiers un peu partout Papers were left almost everywhere

It is always possible, however, for such adverbs to occur clause-internally with heavy pausing on either side (indicated by commas in written French). This has the effect of stressing the adverb:

5.7.3 Location of adverbs modifying sentences

Sentence- modifying adverbs can usually appear at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of clauses:

There is a tendency in French not to put short constituents at the end of a sentence where a long constituent precedes. This can sometimes determine a preferred location for adverbs. For example, it is less natural to say:

where the short donc is in sentence-final position and is preceded by the long constituent que nous devons la suivre de près, than:

In a sentence such as:

the place adverb partout would normally appear at the end of the clause, rather than in the middle. But if the direct object is made longer, it becomes more natural to put it at the end, leaving partout in the middle:

5.7.4 Inversion of subject and verb after some sentence-initial adverbs

In formal written French, a small set of adverbs (drawn from several of the classes described in this chapter) may provoke subject-verb inversion when they occur in sentence- initial position. Inversion is likely with the following adverbs:

(For the properties of subject- verb inversion see Chapter 14.2.3.)

An alternative in the case of peut-être and sans doute is the use of a following que without inversion:

In spoken French peut-être que and sans doute que are frequent, but inversion is not, speakers locating the adverbs in a different position, or simply not inverting after the adverb. Other adverbs after which inversion is possible (but less likely) in formal written French are: