French Indefinite Adverbs - Adverbes indéfinis

French equivalents for English indefinite adverbs

Lesson | Quiz

I find that one of the hardest things to translate into French is indefiniteness. I've never seen this covered in French grammar books, but I think French indefinite adverbs, or at least the French equivalents for English indefinite adverbs, are interesting and very useful.

Notes

• This is really a list of English indefinite adverbs with their French translations; many of the latter are actually adverbial phrases.
   
• Many of these terms are conjunctions as well, but the translations given here are only for adverbial meanings and usage.

Indefinite adverbs of frequency
	always	toujours
	never	ne... jamais
	often	souvent
	rarely	rarement
	sometimes	parfois quelquefois
Indefinite adverbs of manner
	anyhow	quand même de toute façon
	anyway (i.e., any old way)	n'importe comment
	how else	comment... autrement
	however	n'importe comment
	somehow	d'une manière ou d'une autre d'une certaine manière pour une raison ou pour une autre
Indefinite adverbs of place
	anyplace	n'importe où
	anywhere	n'importe où
	elsewhere	ailleurs autre part
	everywhere	partout
	nowhere	ne... nulle part
	somewhere	quelque part
	somewhere else	ailleurs autre part
	wherever	je ne sais où
Indefinite adverbs of quantity
	a lot	beaucoup (de)
	a number of	un nombre de
	as much/many	autant (de)
	few	peu (de)
	less/fewer	moins (de)
	little	peu (de)
	how many/much	combien (de)
	more	encore (de)
	some, about	quelque
	somewhat	quelque peu un peu
Indefinite adverbs of time
	any time	n'importe quand
	formerly, in the past	autrefois
	sometime	un de ces jours un jour ou l'autre
	whenever	n'importe quand

  

Quiz on indefinite adverbs Types and placement of French adverbs More adverb lessons Indefinite French     French grammar

  

The free, twice-weekly About French newsletter keeps you informed about changes to this site, including new lessons, articles, and forum discussions. Subscribe today! Subscribe to the Newsletter Name Email