- Here are some common adverbs that do not end in -ment:
| alors | then, so, at that time |
| après | afterwards |
| après-demain | the day after tomorrow |
| aujourd’hui | today |
| assez | enough, quite |
| aussi | also, too, as |
| avant-hier | the day before yesterday |
| beaucoup | a lot, much |
| bientôt | soon |
| cependant | however |
| dedans | inside |
| dehors | outside |
| déjà | already, before |
| demain | tomorrow |
| depuis | since |
| derrière | behind |
| devant | in front |
| encore | still, even, again |
| enfin | at last |
| ensemble | together |
| ensuite | then |
| environ | about |
| hier | yesterday |
| ici | here |
| jamais | never, ever |
Tipjamais can sometimes be used without ne to mean never or ever.
| ‘Est-ce que tu vas souvent au cinéma?’ – ‘Non, jamais.’ | ‘Do you go to the cinema a lot?’ – ‘No, never.’ |
| As-tu jamais revu ton père? | Did you ever see your father again? |
là there, here là-bas over there loin far, far off, a long time ago longtemps a long time maintenant now, nowadays même even moins less où where parfois sometimes partout everywhere peu not much, not very
TipBe careful not to confuse peu, which means not much or not very, with un peu, which means a little or a bit.
| Il voyage peu. | He doesn’t travel much. |
| Elle est un peu timide. | She’s a bit shy. |
| peut-être | perhaps |
| plus | more |
| presque | nearly |
| puis | then |
| quelquefois | sometimes |
| si | so |
| soudain | suddenly |
| souvent | often |
| surtout | especially, above all |
| tard | late |
| tôt | early |
| toujours | always, still |
| tout | all, very |
| très | very |
| trop | too much, too |
| vite | quick, fast, soon |
Tipvite and rapide can both mean fast or quick. Remember, though, that vite is an adverb and rapide is an adjective.
| une voiture rapide | a fast car |
| Il roule trop vite. | He drives too fast. |
- assez de enough
| Nous n’avons pas assez de temps. | We don’t have enough time. |
- beaucoup de a lot of
| Elle fait beaucoup de fautes. | She makes a lot of mistakes. |
- trop de too much, too many
| J’ai mangé trop de fromage. | I’ve eaten too much cheese. |
- Several of the adverbs listed on Some common adverbs can also be used as prepositions: après, avant, devant, derrière and depuis.
- The question words combien (meaning how much, how many), comment (meaning how), pourquoi (meaning why) and quand (meaning when) are described on Question words.
- pas, plus and jamais are used in negative word pairs.
Key points
- Many very common adverbs do not end in -ment. They are worth learning.
- Several adverbs can be followed by de + noun and used to talk about quantities and numbers.