Varying Adverbs in French: Enrich Your Expression

Adverbs are essential tools to enrich our expression in French. Today, we will explore how to vary adverbs to avoid overly basic expressions like "très" or "vraiment". You will learn how to make your speech more precise and colorful with a diversified vocabulary. Let’s get started!

What is an adverb?

An adverb is a word that clarifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or even another adverb. It's a small word that adds extra information to the sentence: this could be about intensity, location, time, or manner. For example, in the sentence "Elle chante très bien", the adverb "très" clarifies the adjective "bien", indicating how well she sings.

Common intensity adverbs: "très" and "vraiment"

Many French learners often use the same intensity adverbs like "très" or "vraiment". These adverbs are correct but rather basic. To enrich your vocabulary, it's better to use a variety of adverbs that express different shades of intensity. For example, instead of saying "Il est très intelligent", why not say "Il est incroyablement intelligent"?

Varying intensity

Here are some examples of adverbs to express different levels of intensity:

- Low intensity:

- Moderate intensity:

- High intensity:

- Extreme intensity:

un peu	a little
légèrement	slightly
à peine	barely
assez	enough / quite
relativement	relatively
plutôt	rather
fort	very
très	very
vraiment	really
complètement	completely
profondément	deeply
énormément	hugely

Exercise

Changing the intensity of expressions

Let’s see how we can change the intensity of a sentence by modifying the adverb used:

• "Il a vraiment progressé": You can intensify this with enormously: "Il a énormément progressé".
• "Je suis plutôt d'accord avec toi": To indicate stronger agreement, you can say "Je suis totalement d'accord avec toi".
• "Je n'ai pas très faim": You can weaken it even more with barely: "Je n'ai à peine faim".

These variations make your conversations much richer and more nuanced.

A quick reminder: How to create an adverb in French?

Most adverbs in French are formed by adding the suffix -ment to an adjective. For example, "sérieux" becomes "sérieusement", "heureux" becomes "heureusement", and "actif" becomes "activement". Try creating your own adverbs from adjectives you know. To learn more about forming adverbs, you can read this article

Conclusion

Adverbs enrich your expressions and make your speech more precise. Varying adverbs allows you to communicate with greater finesse and avoid repetition. Don’t forget to practice by writing sentences in the comments and using different adverbs.

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