In French, like in any other language, the goal of adverbs is always the same: To modify la signification (the meaning) of words, phrases, and sentences. 

Let’s take this example:

Le scénario de ce film est magnifiquement écrit.

(The plot of this movie is magnificently written.)

Here the adverb magnifiquement is a word, and it serves to modify the adjective écrit.

* * *

In today’s post, we’ll go through some French adverbs which come as phrases, so that you can recognize them whenever you encounter them in a given sentence:

* French phrases as time-related adverbs:

• Au fur et à mesure: As one goes along
• À temps: In time
• De bonne heure: Early
• D’habitude: Usually
• D’ores et déjà: Already
• De suite: At once
• De temps en temps: From time to time
• N’importe quand: Anytime
• Sans cesse: Ceaselessly
• Sur-le-champ: Immediately
• Tout à l’heure: Later
• Tout de suite: At once, immediately

* French phrases as space-related adverbs:

• À côté: Beside
• Ça et là: Here and there
• Côte à côte: Side by side
• En bas: Down, downstairs
• En haut: Up, upstairs
• En arrière: Towards the back
• En avant: Towards the front
• En amont: Upstream
• En aval: Downstream
• En avance: In advance
• En dehors: Outside
• N’importe où: Anywhere

New French learners often get confused about how to properly pronounce some words en français.

One such French word is *PLUS.*

Indeed, one can sometimes hear French speakers pronounce it as “PLUSS” (with the “s“), and other times as “PLU” (without the “s.”)

So, how to tell the difference?

L’astuce (the trick) is actually quite easy.

Make sure you remember it well:

• When you want to say “MORE“, then you must pronounce the “s.”
• When you want to say “NOT ANYMORE, NO LONGER, NO MORE“, you drop the “s.”

For example:

Pretty easy, non?

If “PLUS” comes right before an adverb or an adjective, then the “s” must be dropped:

Examples:

• You don’t pronounce the “s” in “Je parle plus couramment le français qu’avant” (“I speak more fluently French than before”), since “couramment” is an adverb.
• You don’t pronounce the “s” in: “Il m’est plus facile d’apprendre le français que le grec” (“It’s easier for me to learn French than Greek“), because “facile” is an adjective.

Exception made if the said adverb or adjective starts with a vowel, then the “s” becomes a “Z“, in order to make the so-called “liaison“:

• “Je suis plus âgé que vous” (“I am older than you”), which is to be pronounced as “plu-Z-agee.“

Whether they come as words or as phrases, the function of French adverbs always remains to modify la signification (the meaning) of words, phrases, and sentences!

Take this example:

La passe faite par Lionel Messi à son coéquipier était merveilleusement jolie 

(The pass made by Lionel Messi to his team-mate was marvelously beautiful)

Here the adverb merveilleusement is a word, and it serves to modify the adjective jolie.

In today’s post, we’ll go through some French adverbs which come as phrases, so that you can recognize them whenever you encounter them in a given sentence:

• Au fur et à mesure: As one goes along
• Au minimum: At least
• Au maximum: At the utmost
• À côté: Beside
• A fortioti: Even more so
• À peu près: Pretty much
• À part: Separately
• À plus forte raison: Even more so
• A priori: A priori (Latin)
• À temps: In time
• À tue-tête: At the top of one’s lungs
• Ça et là: Here and there
• Côte à côte: Side by side
• D’arrache-pied: Flat out (to work)
• De bonne heure: Early
• D’emblée: Straightaway, from the outset
• D’habitude: Usually
• D’ores et déjà: Already
• De suite: At once
• De temps en temps: From time to time
• En bas: Down, downstairs
• En haut: Up, upstairs
• En arrière: Towards the back
• En avant: Towards the front
• En amont: Upstream
• En aval: Downstream
• En avance: Early in time
• En dehors: Outside
• En catimini: Secretly
• En général: In general
• En particulier: In particular
• En vain: In vain
• En définitive: Finally
• Et ainsi de suite: And so on
• Grosso modo: More or less (Latin)
• In extremis: In extremis (Latin), at the last moment
• N’importe qui: Anyone
• N’importe comment: Anyhow
• N’importe quand: Anytime
• N’importe quoi: Anything
• Par ailleurs: In addition
• Par contre: On the other hand
• Petit à petit: Little by little
• Sans cesse: Ceaselessly
• Sur-le-champ: Immediately
• Tout à fait: Completely
• Tout à l’heure: Later
• Tout d’un coup: All of a sudden
• Tout de suite: At once, immediately
• Tout de go: Straight out
• Vaille que vaille: Somehow
• Vice versa: Vice versa (Latin)