Learn the French Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner explain how something happens.

The majority of French adverbs of manner end in -ment, which is usually equivalent to the English ending -ly. These adverbs are formed from French adjectives, as follows:

If the French adjective ends in a vowel, add -ment to form the adverb:

Adjective	French adverb	English translation
	absolu admirable nécessaire passionné poli rude vrai	absolument admirablement nécessairement passionnément poliment rudement vraiment	absolutely admirably necessarily passionately politely roughly truly

If the French adjective ends in a consonant, add -ment to the feminine form:

Masculine adj	Feminine adjective	French adverb	English translation
	amical éventuel franc normal premier rapid sérieux vif	amicale éventuelle franche normale première rapide sérieuse vive	amicalement éventuellement franchement normalement premièrement rapidement sérieusement vivement	in a friendly way possibly frankly normally firstly rapidly seriously sharply, deeply
	Exceptions:
	bref gentil	brève gentille	brièvement gentiment	briefly kindly

Rules I and II ensure that French adverbs have a vowel immediately preceding the -ment ending. The following adverbs follow one of the above rules, but require an acute accent on this vowel:

aveugle
commun
conforme
énorme
intense
obscur
précis
profond
uniforme

aveuglément
communément
conformément
énormément
intensément
obscurément
précisément
profondément
uniformément

blindly
commonly
in accordance
enormously
intensely
obscurely
precisely
profoundly
uniformly

If the French adjective ends in -ant or -ent, remove the ending and add -ammentor -emment:

Adjective	French adverb	English translation
	apparent bruyant constant intelligent patient suffisant	apparemment bruyamment constamment intelligemment patiemment suffisamment	apparently loudly constantly intelligently patiently sufficiently
	Exception:
	lent	lentement	slowly

Irregular Adverbs:

bref

brièvement

briefly

gentil

gentiment

kindly

There are a few French adverbs of manner that don't end in -ment:

ainsi	thus
bien	well
debout	standing up
exprès	on purpose
mal	poorly, badly
mieux	better
pire	worse
vite	quickly
volontiers	gladly

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ThoughtCo. "Learn the French Adverbs of Manner." ThoughtCo, Feb. 26, 2018, thoughtco.com/french-adverbs-of-manner-4084830. ThoughtCo. (2018, February 26). Learn the French Adverbs of Manner. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-adverbs-of-manner-4084830 ThoughtCo. "Learn the French Adverbs of Manner." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-adverbs-of-manner-4084830 (accessed June 18, 2018).