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) |
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).
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:
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 |
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 |
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:
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 |
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) |
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’.
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! |
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 |
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’.
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 |
‘-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 |
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).
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 |
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 |
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’.
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:
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:
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, . . . |
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:
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:
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 is a determiner in constructions such as the following. Here there is no article and tout agrees with the noun which it determines:
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 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 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:
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 |
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? |
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 |
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):
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:
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:
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’:
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 |
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 | là | 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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:
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:
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: