As a general rule, French adverbs should be memorized as vocabulary items. However, they can also be grouped into seven broad categories, although the same adverb may belong to different categories with different meanings. Those classifications are:
Adverbs of manner:
All adverbs ending in -ment (the equivalent of English -ly): facilement (easily), etc., ainsi (thus), bien (well), exprès (on purpose), plutôt (rather), volontiers (willingly), etc.
Adverbs of time:
d'abord (firstly), alors (then), auparavant (previously), jadis (a long time ago), enfin (finally), etc.
Adverbs of quantity:
à peine (hardly), davantage (more), guère (scarcely), tant/tellement (so much), etc.
Adverbs of place and direction:
ailleurs (elsewhere), çà et là (here and there), nulle part (nowhere), partout (everywhere), etc.
Adverbs of affirmation:
assurément (assuredly), sans aucun doute (without any doubt), vraiment (indeed), etc.
Adverbs of negation:
The main adverbs of negation are non (no) and ne...pas (not...). Non is used on its own to express a negation, whether the sentence is affirmative or negative. Ne expresses a negative idea on its own and is used in connection with other suitable words or expressions such as:
ne...guère (hardly):
Il ne me parle guère. (He hardly speaks to me).
ne...jamais (never):
Elle ne lui parle jamais. (She never talks to
him).
ne...personne (not...anyone):
Nous n'avons vu personne. (We saw no one).
ne...plus (not...anymore):
Vous ne fumez plus? (You no longer smoke?)
Note: In colloquial French, ne is often omitted: Je fume plus. (for je ne fume plus, I no longer smoke). This is, however, incorrect.
See Negatives and Indefinite and Negative Pronouns for additional information.
Adverbs of doubt:
peut-être (maybe), vraisemblablement (in all probability), sans doute (probably), etc.
They are:
combien? (how much,
how many?)
comment? (how?)
où? (where?)
d'où? (from where?)
pourquoi? (why?)
quand? (when?)
To form questions, interrogative adverbs are used with inversion of the following subject and predicate as well as with est-ce-que:
Comment faites-vous cette soupe?
or
Comment est-ce que vous faites cette
soupe?
(How do you make this soup?)
When the subject of the verb is a noun (as opposed to a pronoun), inverted questions are formed as follows:
Comment le cuisinier fait-il cette
soupe?
(How does the cook make this soup?)
With quand, comment, combien and où, questions can also be formed with the simple inversion of the subject and the verb:
Comment vont tes parents?
(How are your parents?)
Où est le paradis?
(Where is heaven?)
With pourquoi, the inversion is always necessary:
Pourquoi ne voyagez-vous pas en
Chine?
(Why don't you travel to China?)
Pourquoi Papa doit-il
travailler?
(Why must Dad work?)
They join independent clauses and behave both as conjunctions and adverbs:
Elle a couru à la gare.
Toutefois, c'etait trop tard.
(She rushed to the station. Nevertheless, it was too late.)
J'ai fait de mon mieux. Toutefois, j'ai râté
l'examen.
(I tried to do my best. However, I failed the exam.)
C'est mon écrivain préféré. D'ailleurs, mon professeur
l'aime bien aussi.
(He is my favorite writer. Besides, my teacher also likes him.)
See Also: