A great many French adjectives can be turned into adverbs by adding -ment to the masculine form of the adjective:
poli, poliment (polite, politely); utile, utilement (useful, usefully)
If the masculine singular adjective ends in a consonant, -ment is added to the feminine singular:
doux/douce, doucement (soft, softly); secret/secrète, secrètement (secret, secretly)
Some adjectives ending in -e change the -e to -é before adding -ment:
énorme, énormément (enormous, enormously); précis, précisément (precise, precisely)
Adjectives ending in -ant and -ent change their ending to -amment and -emment:
constant, constamment (constant, constantly); récent, récemment (recent, recently)
Some of the most frequently used adverbs have forms different from the adjectives:
| Adjective | Adverb |
| bon (good) | bien (well) |
| mauvais (bad) | mal (badly) |
| meilleur (better) | mieux (better) |
| moindre (lesser) | moins (less) |
| petit (small) | peu (little) |
See Also: