Language/French/Grammar/Adjectives-used-as-adverbs-without-addition-of-—ment

Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of —ment

Not all adverbs derived from adjectives end in -ment. The masculine forms of several adjectives can be used as adverbs in combination with a particular set of verbs. They do not change in gender or in number when used in this way: Adjective Used in expressions such as:

French adjective	French Expression	English translation
bas	parler bas	to talk quietly
	voler bas	to fly low
bon	sentir bon	to smell nice
	tenir bon	to hold on
chaud	servir chaud	to serve hot
cher	coûter cher	to cost a lot
	payer cher	to pay a lot (for sth)
clair	voir clair	to see clearly
court	tourner court	to come to an abrupt end
	couper court à qch	to cut sth short
	s'habiller court	to wear one's skirts/dresses short
creux	sonner creux	to ring hollow
doux	filer doux	to keep a low profile
droit	aller droit	to go straight on
dru	tomber dru	to fall in stair-rods (rain)
dur	travailler dur	to work hard
faux	chanter faux	to sing out of tune
ferme	tenir ferme	to hold out
fort	parler fort	to talk loudly
frais	servir frais	to serve cool
franc	parler franc	to say what you think
gras	manger gras	to eat rich food
gros	parier gros	to bet heavily
	risquer gros	to take big risks
haut	être haut placé	to be in a position of authority
juste	viser juste	to aim correctly
	deviner juste	to guess right
lourd	peser lourd	to weigh heavily
mauvais	sentir mauvais	to smell bad
net	s'arrêter net	to stop dead
	casser net	to make a clean break
pareil	penser pareil	to think the same
profond	creuser profond	to dig deep
serré	jouer serré	to play a close game

The fact that some of these adjectives are used as adverbs has allowed the creation of related forms ending in -ment with different meanings:

• bon: bonnement

bonnement is used almost always with tout to give tout bonnement: 'quite simply'

• cher: chèrement

chèrement is used with the verb vendre in the set phrase: vendre chèrement sa vie: 'to sell one's life dearly'.

• bas: basement

bassement has taken the meaning: 'in a mean or despicable way' and is used in the set phrase agir bassement: 'to act in a mean or despicable way'.

Other Lessons

• Sentence modifying adverbs
• Differences in the use of numbers in French and English once twice
• Optional use of neutral le
• Use of the definite article with superlatives
• Easy way of generating the Future and Conditional
• Use of soi
• “en” when numbers are direct objects
• Conjugation group 2 — verbs whose infinitive ends in —ir
• Polite Form
• Pronouns
• Use of on
• Infinitives
• “être” and “avoir” with verbs used intransitively and transitively
• Proper nouns
• Past participles used as adjectives with the verb "être"