Most French adverbs of manner are derived from an adjective. For example, lent (slow) gives the adverb lentement (slowly). To form an adverb of manner, take the feminine singular form of the adjective (built from the masculine singular form) and add -ment to it. You follow this rule even for adjectives that have an irrregular feminine form, like mou (limp), attentif (attentive), sot (silly), and doux (soft).
| Masculine Adjective | Feminine Form | French Adverb | English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| attentif | attentive | attentivement | attentively |
| discret | discrète | discrètement | discreetly |
| doux | douce | doucement | softly |
| fin | fine | finement | finely |
| franc | franche | franchement | frankly/openly |
| heureux | heureuse | heureusement | fortunately |
| lent | lente | lentement | slowly |
| long | longue | longuement | at length/a long time |
| mou | molle | mollement | limply/half-heartedly |
| naturel | naturelle | naturellement | naturally |
| nouveau | nouvelle | nouvellement | newly |
| parfait | parfaite | parfaitement | perfectly |
| sot | sotte | sottement | in a silly way |
| timide | timide | timidement | timidly |
Check out a few adverbs of manner here:
Parle-moi franchement. (Speak to me frankly.)
Écoutons attentivement. (Let’s listen attentively.)
Elle nous a serré la main mollement. (She shook our hands limply.)
C’est une épave nouvellement découverte. (It’s a newly discovered shipwreck.)
Ils ont attendu longuement. (They waited a long time.)
A handful of adjectives are used as adverbs in specific expressions without adding -ment. The meaning of these adverbs is slightly different from the adjective itself, and they don’t agree in gender or number with anything. The most common ones are
bas (low), as in the expression parler bas (to speak softly)
bon (good), as in sentir bon (to smell good)
cher (expensive), as in coûter cher (to cost a lot)
clair (clear), as in voir clair (to see clearly)
dur (hard), as in travailler dur (to work hard)
faux (false), as in chanter faux (to sing out of pitch)
fort (strong), as in parler fort (to speak loud)
heureux (happy), as in ils vécurent heureux jusqu’à la fin (they lived happily ever after)
juste (just), as in chanter juste (to sing in tune)
mauvais (bad), as in sentir mauvais (to smell bad)