Je mange toujours du pain le matin.
English: I always eat bread in the morning.
- Language
- French
- Level
- A1
- Unit
- Prépositions et adverbes
- Practice types
- 0
What this grammar point covers
Adverbes de fréquence are words in French that tell us how often something happens. They answer the question 'How often?'.
When to use it
Use adverbes de fréquence in French to talk about your habits, routines, or how often you do something. They help describe activities that happen regularly or occasionally.
Key forms
- toujours (always)
- souvent (often)
- parfois (sometimes)
- rarement (rarely)
- jamais (never)
- quelquefois (sometimes)
Examples
Nous allons souvent au cinéma.
English: We often go to the cinema.
Elle ne regarde jamais la télévision.
English: She never watches television.
Parfois, il fait du sport après l’école.
English: Sometimes, he does sports after school.
Tips
- In French, adverbes de fréquence usually come after the verb.
- With negative sentences, 'jamais' replaces 'pas' (e.g., 'Je ne mange jamais de viande.').
- Be careful with word order: do not put the adverb at the end of the sentence as in English.
Exceptions and edge cases
- With compound tenses (like passé composé), most frequency adverbs come between the auxiliary verb and the past participle (e.g., 'J'ai toujours aimé le chocolat.').