The 58 most common French adverbs

These are the 58 adverbs among the 500 most common French words, in the order a corpus of everyday writing says you will meet them.

Meanings are given in English on this page. In the app they appear in your own language, translated on your device.

#	Word	Type	Meaning
13	pas	Adverbs	not (with ne)
27	plus	Adverbs	more, -er (comparative)
45	bien	Adverbs	well
48	même	Adverbs	even
66	très	Adverbs	very
76	où	Adverbs	where (interrogative)
78	encore	Adverbs	still
79	alors	Adverbs	then (at that time)
85	là	Adverbs	there
86	peu	Adverbs	little; not very much/many
96	toujours	Adverbs	always
102	donc	Adverbs	therefore, consequently; thus
103	ici	Adverbs	here
109	jamais	Adverbs	never
118	déjà	Adverbs	already, before
121	trop	Adverbs	too; too much
125	juste	Adverbs	exactly, precisely
127	oui	Adverbs	yes
128	vraiment	Adverbs	truly, really, genuinely
131	ainsi	Adverbs	in this way, thus
136	beaucoup	Adverbs	much, very much, a lot
144	comment	Adverbs	how
154	droit	Adverbs	straight, straight on
160	vrai	Adverbs	true; truly
161	mal	Adverbs	badly
164	beau	Adverbs	in vain
170	mieux	Adverbs	more, -er
174	pourquoi	Adverbs	why
197	aujourd'hui	Adverbs	today
212	également	Adverbs	equally
216	haut	Adverbs	high
221	lors	Adverbs	then, at that time
228	fort	Adverbs	strongly
235	tant	Adverbs	so much
241	genre	Adverbs	like, kind of
243	maintenant	Adverbs	now, currently
255	assez	Adverbs	to a sufficient or moderate degree; enough; sufficiently
265	ailleurs	Adverbs	elsewhere; somewhere else
266	souvent	Adverbs	often
276	surtout	Adverbs	above all
280	ensemble	Adverbs	together
283	enfin	Adverbs	finally; in the end
284	seulement	Adverbs	only
322	autant	Adverbs	so much
333	bas	Adverbs	low
345	loin	Adverbs	far, distant
352	notamment	Adverbs	especially, in particular, not least
374	ensuite	Adverbs	in turn, subsequently, thereafter, then
375	plutôt	Adverbs	rather, instead (indicating preference)
382	tard	Adverbs	late
400	vite	Adverbs	quickly
403	manière	Adverbs	somewhat, kinda, sorta, a bit, a little
442	parfois	Adverbs	sometimes
444	super	Adverbs	extremely, very (as an intensifier)
466	longtemps	Adverbs	for a long time; over a long period
468	cher	Adverbs	dearly
489	presque	Adverbs	almost
490	tellement	Adverbs	so; so much; very

All 500 A1 words are on this page, free, with no sign-up.

The rest of the list

A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsrisquer · santé · voix · feu · relation
B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsvéritable · comité · vacance · ouverture · document
B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordspape · relatif · monnaie · présenté · manifester

A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, in the app, where you can also send any word straight into spaced review and meet it again on the day you are about to forget it.

Where this comes from

The order is measured: it comes from how often each word appears in a large corpus, counted across all the forms of a word rather than each form separately, so a verb is ranked where you really meet it. The band edges are a convention rather than a measurement. Nothing says word 501 is harder than word 500; the levels are cut where established graded reader series cut theirs.

wordfreq 3.1 (frequency order) + en.wiktionary via kaikki.org (part of speech, gender, gloss). Corpus read on 2026-09-16.

Questions

Where does the order come from?

From how often each word appears in a large corpus of everyday writing. Frequency is counted across all the forms of a word and attributed to the dictionary form, so a verb is ranked where a reader really meets it rather than being spread thinly over a dozen endings.

Why are these lists shorter than the ones with 5,000 or 10,000 words?

Because past about 2,500 a frequency rank stops meaning much. Rank 6,000 in a web corpus is not a harder word, it is a word that happens to be common in journalism. Established graded reader series top out near 2,500 headwords for the same reason.

Is every word in the list a real dictionary word?

Yes. Every headword is checked against the language's own Wiktionary entry, which is where the part of speech, the gender and the meaning come from. That check is what removes the proper nouns, single letters and corpus noise that raw frequency lists are full of.

Do I need the app?

Not for this page. The A1 list is free here and free in the app. A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, and the app is also where a word can go from a list into a review queue, which is the part a page cannot do.

Has a native speaker checked these?

Not yet. The frequency order and the part of speech are mechanical, and the meanings come from a dictionary rather than being written by hand, but nothing here has been through native review. If you spot a meaning that is technically right and practically useless, we would like to hear about it.