PERSPECTIVES - PROGRAM SAMPLER

Adverbs —Il va cuire une heure et demie, doucement. Formation of adverbs To form an adverb from an adjective whose masculine singular form ends in a consonant, add the ending -ment to the adjective’s feminine singular form. If the masculine singular ends in a vowel, simply add the ending -ment to that form. absolu doux franc naturel poli absolument absolutely doucement gently franchement frankly naturellement naturally poliment politely To form an adverb from an adjective whose masculine singular form ends in -ant or -ent , replace the ending with -amment or -emment , respectively. bruyant constant évident patient bruyamment noisily constamment constantly évidemment obviously patiemment patiently An exception to this rule is the adjective lent , whose corresponding adverb is lentement. Remember that the endings -amment and -emment are pronounced identically. A limited number of adverbs are formed by adding -ément to the masculine singular form of the adjective. If this form ends in a silent final -e , drop it before adding the suffix. confus énorme précis profond confusément confusedly énormément enormously précisément precisely profondément profoundly A few adverbs, like bien, gentiment, mal , and mieux , are entirely irregular. The irregular adverb brièvement ( briefly ) is derived from bref (brève) . 2.3 60 STRUCTURES Tutorial