French adverbs fit into comparisons as smoothly as English adverbs do. How did you do your work? Better than yesterday? More slowly? More gracefully? These sentences compare how a person does a particular thing, and they use adverbs; that’s what better, slowly, and gracefully are.
An adverb is a word that describes a verb, or how an action is done: well, poorly, gracefully, and so on. Adverbs are therefore invariable, so you don’t have to worry about making them agree in gender and number with anything.
Here are some common Frenchadverbs:
bien (well)
facilement (easily)
gentiment (kindly)
longtemps (a long time)
mal (poorly/badly)
précisément (precisely)
prudemment (prudently/cautiously)
rarement (rarely)
souvent (often)
tard (late)
vite (quickly)
To make a comparison using adverbs, follow these guidelines:
For a comparison of superiority, use this formula:
subject + verb + plus + adverb + que + second term of comparison
For example: Il court plus vite que son adversaire. (He runs faster than his adversary.)
The comparative of superiority of bien (well) is irregular. Say mieux instead of plus bien. For instance: Elle parle italien mieux que moi. (She speaks Italian better than me.) Also, English uses worse rather than more badly. French simply uses plus mal.
For a comparison of inferiority, use this formula:
subject + verb + moins + adverb + que + second term of comparison
For example: Tu conduis moins prudemment que ta mère. (You drive less cautiously than your mother.)
For a comparison of equality, use this formula:
subject + verb + aussi + adverb + que + second term of comparison
For example: Vous travaillez aussi bien que les autres. (You work as well as the others.)
