Commonly Used Adverbs | Les adverbes communs

An adverb is an invariable word (neither masculine nor feminine) that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

In French, many adverbs are formed by adding “ment” which is the equivalent of “ly” in English.

For example:
Pierre-Oh est certainement une mascotte drôle.
Pierre-Oh is certainly a funny mascot.

An adverb is normally placed after the verb.

For example:
Il est encore à l’école.
He is still at school.

If an adverb pertains to the entire sentence, the adverb may be placed at the beginning or at the end of the sentence.

For example:
Maintenant que tu as tes outils, tu peux travailler.
Now that you have your tools, you can work.
Elle a mangé son repas debout.
She ate her meal standing.

However, when a compound verb is used, often the adverb is placed after the auxiliary and before the past participle.

For example:
Pierre-Oh a trop mangé de pizza parce qu’il avait très faim.
Pierre-Oh ate too much pizza because he was very hungry.

Adverbs of time and place are placed after the past participle.

For example:
Pierre-Oh c’est levé tard ce matin.
Pierre-Oh woke up late this morning.
Except for: toujours, souvent, enfin, encore, déjà, jamais.

These adverbs are placed after the auxiliary and before the past participle.

For example:
J’ai déjà vu ce film.
I already saw that movie.

But, if the adverb is long, it is preferably placed after the verb, even if it is a compound verb.

For example:
Nous avons vu dernièrement un bon film.
We have recently seen a good movie.