Adverb position in French | Plumera French

English and French both place adverbs near the words or ideas they modify, but the usual position does not always match between the two languages.

In French, adverb position depends partly on what the adverb modifies and whether the verb has a simple form, a compound form, or an infinitive.

Adverbs with simple verb forms

Many adverbs that modify a verb appear after the conjugated verb. This position is common with adverbs of manner, frequency, and degree.

The adverb follows the verb in these common constructions:

French	English
Elle parle doucement.	She speaks softly.
Il travaille souvent.	He often works.
Nous mangeons beaucoup.	We eat a lot.
Vous répondez poliment.	You answer politely.

Time and place adverbs often appear later in the sentence:

French	English
Nous partons demain.	We are leaving tomorrow.
Elle travaille ici.	She works here.
Ils arrivent bientôt.	They are arriving soon.

The natural position varies with the adverb, so not every adverb follows exactly the same placement rule.

Adverbs with compound tenses

A compound tense contains an auxiliary such as avoir or être and a past participle. Many common short adverbs appear between these two verb forms.

Adverbs such as bien, mal, beaucoup, déjà, and souvent commonly come before the past participle:

French	English
J'ai bien compris.	I understood well.
Elle a beaucoup travaillé.	She worked a lot.
Nous avons déjà mangé.	We have already eaten.
Ils ont souvent voyagé.	They have often traveled.

Longer adverbs, especially many adverbs of manner, often follow the past participle:

French	English
Il a répondu poliment.	He answered politely.
Elle a parlé lentement.	She spoke slowly.
Nous avons travaillé sérieusement.	We worked seriously.

Time and place expressions can also follow the complete verb phrase, depending on what information the sentence emphasizes.

Adverbs with infinitives

An adverb that modifies an infinitive usually stays close to it. Common short adverbs often appear before the infinitive, while longer adverbs of manner often follow it.

Short adverbs commonly precede the infinitive:

French	English
Il veut bien comprendre.	He wants to understand well.
Nous devons beaucoup travailler.	We have to work a lot.
Il faut toujours vérifier.	You must always check.

Longer manner adverbs often follow the infinitive:

French	English
Elle essaie de parler lentement.	She tries to speak slowly.
Il apprend à répondre poliment.	He is learning to answer politely.
Nous voulons travailler sérieusement.	We want to work seriously.

The position reflects both the type of adverb and the expression it modifies.

Adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs

An adverb that modifies an adjective normally appears directly before the adjective. The same pattern applies when one adverb modifies another adverb.

Degree adverbs commonly appear immediately before the word whose meaning they strengthen or limit:

French	English
très intéressant	very interesting
assez difficile	quite difficult
trop cher	too expensive
vraiment utile	really useful
très rapidement	very quickly
assez souvent	quite often
trop lentement	too slowly

This close position makes it clear which adjective or adverb the degree word modifies.

Sentence-initial and sentence-final adverbs

Some adverbs can appear at the beginning or end of a sentence. This is especially common with adverbs of time and with adverbs that comment on the whole sentence.

Time adverbs can move according to which information receives more attention:

French	English
Demain, nous partons.	Tomorrow, we are leaving.
Nous partons demain.	We are leaving tomorrow.
Aujourd'hui, elle travaille chez elle.	Today, she is working at home.
Elle travaille chez elle aujourd'hui.	She is working at home today.

Sentence adverbs also have some flexibility:

French	English
Heureusement, tout va bien.	Fortunately, everything is fine.
Tout va bien, heureusement.	Everything is fine, fortunately.
Franchement, je ne sais pas.	Frankly, I don't know.
Je ne sais pas, franchement.	I don't know, frankly.

The beginning of the sentence gives the adverb greater prominence, while final position often adds it as a comment on what came before.

Adverb position and changes in meaning or emphasis

The position of an adverb can affect which part of the sentence it modifies. A different position can therefore change the emphasis or, in some constructions, the meaning.

The surrounding words determine the scope of adverbs such as seulement:

French	English
Elle parle seulement français.	She speaks only French.
Elle parle français seulement au travail.	She speaks French only at work.
Il travaille seulement le matin.	He works only in the morning.
Il travaille le matin seulement le lundi.	He works in the morning only on Mondays.

Adverb order can create a stronger change in meaning when negation is present:

French	English
Il ne travaille pas toujours le samedi.	He doesn't always work on Saturdays.
Il ne travaille toujours pas le samedi.	He still doesn't work on Saturdays.

In the first sentence, toujours belongs to the idea that the negation limits. In the second, toujours pas expresses a situation that remains negative.

From learning to practice

When listening to French, pay attention to short adverbs around conjugated verbs and to longer adverbs after verb forms. Notice especially where speakers place words such as bien, beaucoup, déjà, souvent, and seulement, since their position helps show which part of the sentence they modify.

What you'll learn