French grammar - The position of adverbs

The position of adverbs

The general rule is that French adverbs come directly after the verb that they are modifying.

There are however a few special cases:

• In complex tenses (like passé composé) certain adverbs come immediately after the (conjugated) auxiliary verb.

-- These include shorter adverbs (such as bien, mal, trop, assez) and certain indefinite adverbs of time (such as souvent, toujours, trop, quelque fois). The slightly longer adverbs beaucoup, rarement and vraiment are also included in this group.

-- In negative constructions, these adverbs are placed after the negated auxiliary construct - that is after the pas. The exceptions are certainement, généralement, peut-être, probablement and, sans doute.

• Adverbs that refer to adjectives or to other adverbs are placed before the adjective or adverb in question

• Adverbs that describe an infinitive come after the infinitive.

Examples:
	Il mange rapidement. He eats quickly. A regular adverb after the verb
	Il a mangé rapidement. He ate quickly. A regular adverb after the verb
	Il ne mange pas rapidement. He does not eat quickly. A regular adverb after the negated verb construct
	Il n'a pas mangé rapidement. He didn't eat quickly. A regular adverb after the negated verb construct
	Il mange trop. He eats too much. trop is a short verb
	Il a trop mangé. He ate too much. Short verbs come after the auxilliary verb
	Il ne mange pas trop. He doesn't eat too much.
	Il n'a pas trop mangé. He didn't eat too much. Short verbs come after the (negated) auxilliary verb
	Il mange beaucoup. He eats a lot.
	Il a beaucoup mangé. He ate a lot. beaucoup is treated like a short verb so comes after the auxilliary verb
	Il ne mange pas beaucoup. He doesn't eat much.
	Il n'a pas beaucoup mangé. He hasn't eaten much. beaucoup is treated like a short verb so comes after the (negated) auxilliary verb
	Il est assez bon. He is quite good. The adverb assez is in front of the adjective bon that it modifies
	Le repas est délicieux. The meal is delicious. The adverb très is in front of the adjective bon that it modifies
	Il ne veut pas manger rapidement. He does not want to eat quickly. Adverbs that describe an infinitive come after the infinitive
	Ils aiment beaucoup aller au cinéma. They really like going to the cinema. Here the adverb beaucoup modifies aimer and not aller
	Je mange rarement au restaurant. I rarely eat at restaurants.
	Il s'est rasé rapidement. He shaved quickly.
	Elle s'est habillée élégamment. She dressed elegantly. élégamment (adv) means 'elegantly'
	Ils ont beaucoup aimé le film. They really liked the movie. beaucoup is treated like a short verb
	Quelqu'un a mal fermé la porte. Someone has closed the door incorrectly. mal is a short verb