My doctor just told me to take NyQuil or something.
I would just got to bed but I have three days to memorize all of this:
Lesson 6 - Adverbs
I. General considerations
II. Forming adverbs from adjectives
III. Position of adverbs
IV. Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
V. Negative adverbs
I. Introduction
An adverb is an invariable word that can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs generally answer one of four questions: how, when, where, and how much
The following is a list of just a few adverbs:
adverbs of time (when): adverbs of manner (how):
aujourd'hui today bien well
autrefois in the past mal badly, poorly
tôt early ensemble together
bientôt soon vite quickly
tard late vraiment really
maintenant now réellement really, actually
aussitôt at once d'habitude usually
actuellement at present, currently heureusement fortunately, luckily
tout de suite right away, immediately
encore again, still, another time seulement only, however
déjà already autrement otherwise
d'abord first, at first brusquement suddenly, all of a sudden
hier yesterday très very
généralement generally
souvent often
adverbs of place (where): adverbs of quantity (how much, how many):
près near beaucoup a lot, very much
loin far peu a little, not much
ici here assez enough
là there, here trop too much, too many
là-bas over there plus more
ailleurs elsewhere moins less
partout everywhere
quelque part somewhere
adverbs of restriction
presque almost
peut-être perhaps, maybe
seulement only
à peine hardly, scarcely
Exercice (6.1)
II. Forming adverbs from adjectives
1. Many adverbs of manner end in -ment. This corresponds to the English -ly. To form such adverbs, take the feminine form of the corresponding adjective and add -ment :
curieux curieuse curieusement
normal normale normalement
2. If the masculine form of an adjective ends in a vowel, the adverb is formed simply by adding -ment (no extra -e is added):
poli poliment
absolu absolument
terrible terriblement
vrai vraiment
3. Adjectives which have two or more syllables and end in -ant or -ent are changed into adverbs by substituting these endings with -amment or -emment:
évident évidemment
différent différemment
courant couramment
élégant élégamment
4. The following adverbs are irregular:
adjectives adverbs
bon bien well
meilleur mieux better, best
mauvais mal badly
gentil gentiment nicely, pleasantly
rapide vite fast, quickly
bref brièvement briefly
commun communément commonly, generally
énorme énormément enormously, tremendously
aveugle aveuglément blindly
précis précisément precisely
profond profondément profoundly, deeply
Remember that vite is an adverb and cannot be used as an adjective. Rapide is the corresponding adjective:
Tu as mangé ton gâteau trop vite! Tu as mangé ton gâteau trop rapidement!
J'ai un modem très rapide.
5. Certain adjectives can be used idiomatically as adverbs:
coûter cher C'est très beau mais ça coûte cher.
It's very beautiful but it's expensive.
parler fort Pourquoi parles-tu fort?
Why are you speaking loudly?
parler haut/bas Pourquoi parles-tu bas?
Why are you speaking softly?
sentir bon/mauvais Ça sent bon ici.
It smells good in here.
chanter juste/faux Roseanne chante faux!
Roseanne is singing off key (badly).
voir clair Je comprends; maintenant je vois clair.
I understand; now I get it.
aller (tout) droit Pour arriver à la bibliothèque, tu vas tout droit.
In order to get to the library, you go straight ahead.
travailler dur Les élèves travaillent dur.
The students are working hard.
When used in this way, these adjectives are invariable (the masculine singular form only is used) and come directly after the verb.
Exercice (6.2)
III. Position of adverbs
a. in simple tenses
In simple tenses in French adverbs never come between the subject and the verb, as they often do in English. They are normally placed after the verb. Compare the following sentences in English and French:
Je vais souvent aux Etats-Unis.
I often go to the United States.
J'aime beaucoup les cerises.
I really love cherries.
If you want to place emphasis on adverbs of manner (how) that end in -ment, you can place them at the end of the sentence:
Il ferme la porte brusquement.
Certain adverbs usually come at the end of the sentence, or at least near the end. Specifically, these are adverbs of time (when) and adverbs of place (where):
Marie va au zoo aujourd'hui.
J'ai laissé mes affaires là-bas.
If you want to place emphasis on adverbs of time (when) or place (where), you can often place them at the beginning of the sentence:
Ici on ne fume pas.
Généralement, il fait beau en juin.
When the adverbs meaning "probably," such as peut-être, probablement, and sans doute begin a sentence, the subject-verb word order is inverted.
Ils sont peut-être en vacances. Peut-être sont-ils en vacances.
Tu as sans doute raison. Sans doute as-tu raison.
However, if one wishes to avoid the inversion, que may be used after peut-être:
Peut-être que vous êtes perdus.
b. in compound tenses
The position of the adverb in a sentence with a compound tense depends on the type of adverb. Most often, the adverb is placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. Adverbs that fall into this category are: adverbs of quantity, adverbs of manner , adverbs of manner that imply restriction, and certain adverbs of time.
Elle a bien fait son devoir.
Nous avons presque terminé notre repas.
Il a vite compris la leçon.
A second category of adverbs, however, never go between the auxiliary and the past participle. These are adverbs of place and certain adverbs of time (avant, après, aujourd'hui, hier, autrefois, tôt, tard):
Je ne suis jamais allée là-bas.
Etes-vous sorti hier?
Exercice (6.3)
IV. Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are used according to the following constructions:
comparative: (plus, moins or aussi) + adverb + que
Je marche plus vite que toi.
I walk faster than you.
superlative: (le plus or le moins) + adverb + de
Elle marche le plus vite du groupe.
She walks the fastest in the group.
* Note the use of de in the above sentence. Where English uses the word in in superlative expressions (in the world, in the class, in the family), French uses the word de (du monde, de la classe, de la famille).
Some adverbs have irregular comparative and superlative forms:
bien mieux le mieux
beaucoup plus le plus
peu moins le moins
* Remember that mieux and le mieux are adverbs (they describe verbs) and that meilleur(e) and le/la meilleur(e) are adjectives (they describe nouns).
Superlative adverbs, just like superlative adjectives, can be intensified by possible:
Venez chez nous le plus tôt possible.
Come over as soon as possible.
Il est arrivé le plus vite possible.
He arrived as soon as he could.
Exercice (6.4)
Exercice (6.5)
V. Negative adverbs
To form a negative sentence, you use both the negative particle ne and a negative adverb such as pas, jamais, rien, plus, etc. Study the list of negative constructions below:
ne ... pas not Ils n'ont pas appelé leur mère.
ne ... point not at all (literary) M. de Charlus n'aimait point les arrivistes.
ne ... plus no more, no longer Mon père n'a plus de cheveux.
ne ... jamais never Tu n'as jamais mangé d'huîtres?
ne ... que only Il ne mange que des hamburgers et des frites.
ne ... rien nothing Elle ne m'a rien offert.
ne ... guère hardly Ils n'étaient guère gentils.
ne ... pas encore not yet Vous n'êtes pas encore partis?
ne ... plus jamais never again Jean ne va plus jamais chez ce dentiste.
ne ... plus rien no more, nothing else Je n'ai plus rien à vous donner.
ne ... personne no one Ils n'ont vu personne au café.
ne ... nulle part nowhere Elle n'est allée nulle part toute la journée.
ne ... ni ... ni ... neither ... nor Il ne parle ni français ni espagnol.
ne ... aucun(e) none, not any Nous n'avons eu aucun problème.
ne ... nul(le) none, not any Il n'y a nulle raison de se fâcher.
* Note that aucun(e) and nul(le) are adjectives and agree in gender with the noun they modify. They always remain singular.
Il n'a aucun ami.
He has no friends.
*Note that de and d' replace du, de la, de l' and des after a negative adverb.
J'ai toujours de l'argent. Je n'ai jamais d'argent.
Il a des pommes. Il n'a plus de pommes.
However, this rule does not apply to ne ... que whose meaning is not negative.
Anne n'achète que des légumes frais.
Anne buys only fresh vegetables.
Ni....ni will replace indefinite or partitive articles but not definite (le, la, les) articles.
J'ai un frère et une soeur. Je n'ai ni frère ni soeur.
Voulez-vous du sel et du poivre? Je ne veux ni sel ni poivre, merci.
BUT: Tu aimes les chats et les chiens?
Je n'aime ni les chats ni les chiens.
Depending on the particular adverb, a negative adverb can be placed before or after the past participle of a compound tense such as passé composé.
Before the past participle:
Je n'ai pas vu cet homme que tu cherches.
Je n'ai rien acheté.
Je n'ai jamais entendu cette chanson.
Je n'ai plus écrit à mon frère.
Je n'ai guère travaillé hier.
The negative adverbs which go after the past participle:
Je n'ai vu personne.
Je n'ai fait que le premier exercice.
Je n'ai vu ni chien ni chat.
Nous ne sommes allés nulle part cette anée.
Similarly, if the negative adverb modifies an infinitive, it is sometimes placed before the infinitive and sometimes placed after it, depending on the particular adverb. The same adverbs that preceded the past participle will precede the infinitive and vice versa.
Before the infinitive:
Elle préfère ne pas voir ce film.
Nous préférons ne rien dire.
After the infinitive:
Elle préfère ne voir personne aujourd'hui.
Tu préfères ne faire que le début?
Il préfère ne lire ni celui-ci ni celui-là.
Nous préférons n'avoir aucun visiteur cet après-midi.
Je préfère n'aller nulle part ce weekend.
*If a negative adverb is used as the subject of a sentence, ne must be placed before the verb.
Personne ne m'a dit la vérité.
No one told me the truth.
Aucun de mes amis n'est venu à la fête.
Aucune de mes amies n'est venue à la fête.
None of my friends came to the party.
As you saw in the list at the beginning of this section, more than one negative adverb can be used in a sentence:
Je n'entends plus personne. I don't hear anyone anymore.
Il n'y a plus que moi. I am the only one left.
Elle ne va jamais nulle part. She never goes anywhere.
Ils ne parlent jamais ni de leur travail ni de leurs enfants. They never talk about their work or their children.
The negative adverbs will always be placed in the following order in a sentence:
que
rien
ne . . . plus . . . jamais . . . personne
ni . . . ni
nulle part
*Note: "pas" can only be combined with ni and que:
Je n'ai pas envie de la voir ni de lui parler.
I don't want to see her or talk to her.
Il n'y avait pas que des livres dans cette librairie.
There weren't only books in this bookstore.
When answering a negative question with an affirmative (yes), "si" is used instead of oui.
Tu n'as pas apporté les photos? You didn't bring the pictures?
Si, elles sont dans mon sac. Yes, I did. They are in my bag.
* Ne . . . que means only. The que is placed before the relevant noun.
Je n'ai acheté que deux pêches.
I only bought two peaches.
Exercice (6.6)
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