English -ly to French -ment: French Adverbs
English adverbs ending in -ly often have French counterparts ending in -ment: normally → normalement, directly → directement and exactly → exactement. Other translations use a different stem, such as easily → facilement and really → vraiment. These connections help you recognize words, but replacing -ly with -ment will not always give you the right French word.
Serious, seriously, well and other useful words
From adjectives to adverbs
English distinguishes serious from seriously; French makes the same distinction with sérieux and sérieusement. In “Elle est sérieuse ; elle ne plaisante pas.”, sérieuse describes the person, so the adjective takes its feminine form.
For many French adverbs, add -ment to the feminine singular adjective: normale → normalement and sérieuse → sérieusement. When the adjective already ends in -e, simply add -ment: facile → facilement. In “Il a répondu sérieusement, sans sourire.”, sérieusement tells you how he answered. Unlike French adjectives, these adverbs keep the same form whether you are talking about a man, a woman or several people.
Je suis sérieux quand je dis que je veux apprendre le français.
Elle est sérieuse ; elle ne plaisante pas.
Il a répondu sérieusement, sans sourire.
Nous avons parlé sérieusement de nos projets.
Recognizable pairs: directly, exactly and seriously
sujet verbe sérieusement.
Je rentre généralement directement chez moi après le travail.
C'est exactement ce qu'il me faut.
Il a répondu sérieusement, sans sourire.
Different stems: easily → facilement and really → vraiment
sujet verbe facilement complément.
Elle apprend facilement de nouveaux mots.
J’aime vraiment ce livre.
Adjective families and their -ment adverbs
| English adjective | French masculine adjective | French feminine adjective | French adverb |
|---|---|---|---|
| normal | normal | normale | normalement |
| direct | direct | directe | directement |
| serious | sérieux | sérieuse | sérieusement |
| easy | facile | facile | facilement |
| slow | lent | lente | lentement |
Exceptions and false friends: slowly, well, friendly and actually
Slowly translates as lentement, formed from lente + -ment, with the final -e kept. Well is bien: “Ma sœur chante bien.” means “My sister sings well.”
Although friendly ends in -ly, it is an adjective, so use an adjective such as sympathique for a friendly person or gentil for a friendly dog. These French adjectives agree with the person or thing they describe. Actuellement means currently, and the examples express that same meaning with en ce moment: “Le magasin est fermé en ce moment.”
For actually when correcting or clarifying something, use en fait: “En fait, j’habite à Londres.”
Le bus a traversé la ville lentement.
Cette vieille voiture marche encore bien.
Ma sœur chante bien.
Notre nouveau professeur est sympathique.
Ils ont un chien gentil.
Je travaille en ce moment dans un hôtel.
Le magasin est fermé en ce moment.
En fait, j’habite à Londres.
En fait, les billets sont gratuits.