Language/French/Grammar/Function-of-adverbs

Function of adverbs

Adverbs are words or phrases of invariable form which modify the meaning of words, phrases or whole sentences:

• Il est entré dans un monde étrangement silencieux

He entered a strangely silent world

(étrangement modifies just silencieux; it is the silence which is strange, not the person or the world he enters)

• J'ai entendu un bruit dehors

I heard a noise outside

(dehors modifies just entendre un bruit; it indicates where the noise was, not where the person hearing it was)

• Soudain j'ai entendu un bruit

Suddenly I heard a noise

(soudain modifies the sentence and expresses the suddenness of the whole event)

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Auxiliaries & Combinations of adjectives.

Other Lessons

• "C'est" or "Ce sont"
• Plural forms of adjectives — Adjectives which end in al
• Adverbs ending in —(é)ment derived from past participles
• Subject verb agreement
• Location of adverbs modifying verb phrases
• Pronominal verbs used reciprocally
• Mass nouns used countably
• Reflexive pronouns
• Non agreement of direct object numerals with coûter, peser and mesurer
• Adjectives which normally occur before the noun
• French Ditransitive verbs
• Proper Nouns
• Punctuation
• How to Use Be
• How to use « il s'agit de » in French