Learn French Adverbs Describing the Manner of an Event

Adverbs of manner explain how something happens.

Overview and Conugations

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	aveuglément communément conformément énormément	blindly commonly in accordance enormously intensely
intense obscur précis profond uniforme	intensément obscurément précisément profondément uniformément	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 -> kindlyExeptions

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