Essential French Adverbs You Need to Know

French adverbs are an essential part of the language, as they modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, adding more precision and meaning to sentences. Adverbs answer questions such as how, when, where, how often, or to what degree, and they are often placed next to the verb in the sentence. In this blog post, we’ll look at a list of common French adverbs.

bien – well, good
actuellement – currently
agréablement (pleasantly)
apparemment (apparently)
assez – enough, rather
auparavant (previously)
automatiquement – automatically
beaucoup – a lot, much
bizarrement – strangely
brusquement (suddenly)
cependant – however
chaleureusement – warmly
clair – clearly
clairement – clearly
complètement – completely
constamment (constantly)
continuellement (continuously)
contrairement – contrary to
d’abord (firstly)
d’ailleurs – moreover
désormais – henceforth
difficilement – with difficulty
discrètement (discreetly)
doucement – softly
egalement – also
en général – generally
encore – still, yet
enfin – finally
énormément – enormously
ensemble – together
éventuellement – eventually
évidemment – obviously
exactement – exactly
extrêmement – extremely
facilement – easily
finalement – finally
fortement – strongly
franchement – frankly, honestly
généralement – generally
gentiment – kindly
haut – high
heureusement – fortunately
honnêtement – honestly
honnêtement (honestly)
ici – here
indépendamment (independently)
inlassablement (tirelessly)
intégralement (completely)
involontairement (involuntarily)
jamais – never
joliment – beautifully
judicieusement (wisely)
là-bas – over there
légalement (legally)
légèrement – slightly
lentement – slowly
littéralement – literally
loin – far
mal – badly, poorly
malheureusement – unfortunately
naturellement – naturally
néanmoins – nonetheless
nécessairement – necessarily
négativement – negatively
normalement – normally
notamment – in particular
parfaitement – perfectly
particulièrement – particularly
peu – little, not much
peut-être – perhaps, maybe
plutôt – rather
positivement – positively
précisément – precisely
probablement – probably
profondément – deeply
progressivement (gradually)
quotidiennement – daily
rapidement – quickly
rarement – rarely
récemment – recently
régulièrement – regularly
secrètement – secretly
séparément (separately)
sérieusement – seriously
seulement – only
silencieusement – silently
similairement – similarly
simplement – simply
simplement (simply)
simultanément – simultaneously
sincèrement – sincerely
soudainement – suddenly
sournoisement (sneakily)
souvent – often
spécifiquement – specifically
spontanément – spontaneously
sûrement – surely
surtout – especially, above all
tard – late
tellement – so, so much
temporairement (temporarily)
tôt – early
toujours – always
toutefois (however)
très – very, really
tristement – sadly
violemment (violently)
vite – quickly, fast
vraiment – truly
vraiment – really

As with all aspects of language learning, practice makes perfect. Try to incorporate these adverbs into your everyday conversation and writing. Listen to native French speakers and try to identify how they use adverbs in their speech. Over time, you will begin to use these adverbs naturally and fluidly.

Good luck with your French studies!