Language/French/Grammar/Adjectives-used-as-adverbs

French Grammar - Adjectives used as adverbs

A limited number of adjectives can also be used as adverbs. In this case they are invariable

French Adjective	French Example	English Translation
bas	Ils parlent bas	They're talking very quietly
bon	Le café sent bon	The coffee smells good
cher	Cela coûte trop cher	That's too expensive
clair	Je n'arrive pas à y voir clair dans son raisonnement	I can't make much sense of his argument
droit	Ils marchent droit	They are walking straight
dur	Ils travaillent dur	They work hard
faux	Elles chantent faux	They sing out of tune
fin	Il faut couper le jambon très fin	You must slice the ham very thinly
fort	Ils parlent trop fort	They're talking too loudly
grand	Ils ont vu trop grand	They attempted too much
jeune	Ils s'habillent jeune	They dress in a youthful manner
juste	Tu as vu juste dès le début	You understood from the beginning
lourd	Cet acte pèse lourd sur ma conscience	That act weighs heavily on my conscience
menu	de la viande hachée menu	meat cut up finely
vieux	Ils font vieux	They look old

Related Lessons

• Position of direct and indirect object pronouns
• Choice of some time adverbs relative to the moment of speaking
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Quand utiliser "et" ou "est" ?
• il or ça with impersonal verbs
• Use of faire + partitive faire du, de la
• Omission of plural indefinite des after the preposition de
• Talk about Prices
• subjects objects pronouns
• Formation of the passive in French
• Plurals of nouns ending in –al
• Differences in the use of numbers in French and English Kings, queens and popes
• Use of the definite article with quantities
• Stressed pronouns standing alone
• Stressed pronouns with même, aussi, seul, autres, tous and numerals