Bien, mal, mieux, moins, peu (Irregular French Adverbs)

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2024-07-12

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We've already learned about Forming regular adverbs with "-ment" in French (French Adverbs) (feminine adjective + -ment).

However, some adverbs have irregular stems, meaning that they differ from the original adjective.
And some are just completely irregular.

Irregular adverbs in French

Here is a table of these irregular adverbs:

Feminine adjective	English	Irregular adverb	English
gentille	kind	gentiment	kindly
brève	brief	brièvement	briefly
bonne	good	bien	well
mauvaise	bad	mal	badly
petite	small	peu	not much
moindre	lesser	moins	less
meilleure	better	mieux	better

Listen to these examples:

Le bon nageur plonge bien.The good swimmer dives well.

C'était une brève rencontre : je l'ai vu brièvement.It was a brief meeting: I saw him briefly.

Une moindre personne lirait moins.A lesser person would read less.

Le meilleur élève parle mieux français que moi. The best pupil speaks French better than me.

Un mauvais vin vieillit mal. A bad wine ages badly.

Elle a une petite voix : on l'entend peu.She has a small voice: we don't hear her much.

Elle est gentille, et elle parle gentiment.She is kind, and she speaks kindly.

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