Adverbs
The Adverbs hub covers French adverbs of three kinds: the derived adverbs built from an adjective with -ment, the irregular ones that come from an adjective but not by the plain rule, and the lexical adverbs that have no adjective behind them. The catalogue has about 170 adverbs.
Open Self Study → Adverbs. The hub has:
- Theory — Adverb grammar: the -ment rule and its other endings, the adverbs of their own, and comparison.
- Study — Reference (Adverb reference): the selected adverbs, with a badge for the kind.
- Practice — Select groups (Select adverb groups): choose which kinds appear. Then the drills: flashcards for the meaning of the selected adverbs.
The line under the hub title shows how many adverbs your kind selection gives you, out of the whole catalogue. The selection is the kinds you tick, within your level; the topics in Select word scope are not applied.
A recommended workflow. Read Adverb grammar once — the -ment rule is mechanical and needs no drilling. Then spend your time on Meaning with Lexical and Irregular ticked: those are the adverbs you have to learn as words.
Select adverb groups
Three kinds:
- Derived — the feminine of the adjective plus -ment: lent → lente → lentement, heureux → heureuse → heureusement. The largest group.
- Irregular — from an adjective, but not by the plain rule: constant → constamment, évident → évidemment, and vrai → vraiment, absolu → absolument.
- Lexical — no visible adjective behind them: bien, mal, vite, très, souvent, toujours, déjà , ici, là .
Tap a kind to switch it on or off; each row shows its size and a few examples. Tap ⓘ for an explanation and the list of adverbs of that kind. The line at the top shows how many adverbs you selected.
Adverb grammar
A reference page; nothing is recorded. Tap a card to open or close it.
- Adding -ment — -ment goes on the feminine singular: lent → lente → lentement, heureux → heureuse → heureusement, doux → douce → doucement. An adjective ending in a vowel takes it on the masculine: rapide → rapidement, vrai → vraiment, poli → poliment.
- Other endings — -ant becomes -amment (constant → constamment, courant → couramment) and -ent becomes -emment (récent → récemment, évident → évidemment). Both sound the same. lent → lentement is the exception. A few take -ément: précis → précisément, énorme → énormément, profond → profondément. Bon and mauvais have adverbs of their own: bien and mal.
- Adjectives without -ment — only adjectives that describe a manner or a degree have a -ment form. Colours, nationalities and category adjectives have none.
- Adverbs of their own — many common adverbs come from no adjective and are learned as words: time (maintenant, déjà , encore, souvent, toujours, jamais), place (ici, là ), amount (très, trop, beaucoup, peu) and manner (bien, mal, vite).
- Comparison — plus … que, moins … que and aussi … que: plus lentement que, moins souvent que, aussi vite que. Bien becomes mieux; mal becomes plus mal.
Adverb reference
A browse-only list of the selected adverbs with their translations, in sections for Derived, Irregular and Lexical, with a search field. Irregular adverbs carry an irr. badge and lexical adverbs a lex. badge. Nothing is recorded.
Tap an adverb to open its page: the adverb and its translation, its Kind (Derived (regular), Derived (irregular) or Lexical) and, for a derived adverb, a From row naming the adjective it comes from. Tap that row to open the adjective.
Adverb meaning
A flashcard deck for the meaning of the selected adverbs, in either direction. It works like Noun meaning. Every answer is recorded.