<p>Adverbs of manner explain how something happens.</p><p>The majority of French <strong>adverbs of manner</strong> end in <strong>-ment</strong>, which is usually equivalent to the English ending <strong>-ly</strong>. These adverbs are formed from French <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/introduction-to-french-adjectives-1368789" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="1">adjectives</a>, as follows:</p><p>If the French adjective ends in a vowel, add -ment to form the adverb:</p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><em>Adjective</em></td><td><em> French adverb</em></td><td colspan="2"><em> English translation</em></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>absolu<br/>admirable<br/>nécessaire<br/>passionné<br/>poli<br/>rude<br/>vrai</td><td>absolument<br/>admirablement<br/><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/does-il-est-necessaire-que-subjunctive-1369208" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="2">nécessairement</a><br/>passionnément<br/>poliment<br/><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/un-truc-vocabulary-1372694" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="3">rudement</a><br/>vraiment</td><td colspan="2">absolutely<br/>admirably<br/>necessarily<br/>passionately<br/>politely<br/>roughly<br/>truly</td></tr></tbody></table><p>If the French adjective ends in a consonant, add -ment to the feminine form:</p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><em>Masculine adj</em></td><td><em>Feminine adjective</em></td><td><em>French adverb</em></td><td><em>English translation</em></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>amical<br/>éventuel<br/>franc<br/>normal<br/>premier<br/>rapid<br/>sérieux<br/>vif</td><td>amicale<br/>éventuelle<br/>franche<br/>normale<br/>première<br/>rapide<br/>sérieuse<br/>vive</td><td><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/amitie-vocabulary-1371535" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="4">amicalement</a><br/><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/ravi-vocabulary-1372467" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="5">éventuellement</a><br/>franchement<br/><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/ameliorer-vocabulary-1371532" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="6">normalement</a><br/>premièrement<br/>rapidement<br/>sérieusement<br/>vivement</td><td>in a friendly way<br/>possibly<br/>frankly<br/>normally<br/>firstly<br/>rapidly<br/>seriously<br/>sharply, deeply</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td colspan="4"><strong>Exceptions</strong>:</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>bref<br/>gentil</td><td>brève<br/>gentille</td><td>brièvement<br/>gentiment</td><td><p>briefly<br/>kindly</p><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>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 <strong>acute accent</strong> on this vowel:</p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>aveugle<br/>commun<br/>conforme<br/>énorme<br/>intense<br/>obscur<br/>précis<br/>profond<br/>uniforme</td><td>aveuglément<br/>communément<br/><a href="http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/g/conformement.htm" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="externalLink" data-ordinal="7" rel="nofollow">conformément</a><br/>énormément<br/>intensément<br/>obscurément<br/>précisément<br/>profondément<br/>uniformément</td><td colspan="2"><p>blindly<br/>commonly<br/>in accordance<br/>enormously<br/>intensely<br/>obscurely<br/>precisely<br/>profoundly<br/>uniformly</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If the French adjective ends in -ant or <strong>-ent</strong>, remove the ending and add <strong>-amment</strong>or <strong>-emment:</strong></p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><em>Adjective</em></td><td><em>French adverb</em></td><td colspan="2"><em>English translation</em></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>apparent<br/>bruyant<br/>constant<br/>intelligent<br/>patient<br/>suffisant</td><td>apparemment<br/>bruyamment<br/>constamment<br/>intelligemment<br/>patiemment<br/>suffisamment</td><td colspan="2">apparently<br/>loudly<br/>constantly<br/>intelligently<br/>patiently<br/>sufficiently</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td colspan="4"><strong>Exception</strong>:</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>lent</td><td>lentement</td><td colspan="2">slowly</td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>Irregular Adverbs:</strong></p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>bref</td><td> brièvement </td><td colspan="2">briefly</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>gentil</td><td> gentiment</td><td colspan="2"> kindly<br/> </td></tr></tbody></table><p>There are a few French adverbs of manner that don&#39;t end in -ment:</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><strong><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/ainsi-vocabulary-1371523" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="8">ainsi</a></strong></td><td valign="top">thus</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/bon-vs-bien-1368817" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="9">bien</a></strong></td><td valign="top">well</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong>debout</strong></td><td valign="top">standing up</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/ravi-vocabulary-1372467" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="10">exprès</a></strong></td><td valign="top">on purpose</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong>mal</strong></td><td valign="top">poorly, badly</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/meilleur-vs-mieux-1368878" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="11">mieux</a></strong></td><td valign="top">better</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong>pire</strong></td><td valign="top">worse</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong>vite </strong></td><td valign="top">quickly</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><strong><a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/volontiers-vocabulary-1372740" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="12">volontiers</a> </strong></td><td valign="top">gladly<br/> </td></tr></tbody></table>