How often? From always to never
Frequency adverbs say how often something happens. You need them for routines and habits.
toujours
always
souvent
often
parfois
sometimes (also: quelquefois)
rarement
rarely
(ne …) jamais
never
Elle mange toujours des fruits.
She always eats fruit.
Il est parfois fatigué.
He is sometimes tired.
Je prends rarement le bus.
I rarely take the bus.
Where does the adverb go?
In English the adverb sits before the main verb (I often go). In French, short adverbs like souvent, toujours or rarement stand right after the conjugated verb. In the passé composé they stand between the auxiliary and the participle, as in English.
Simple tense
Il va souvent au cinéma.
He often goes to the cinema.
Je mange souvent au restaurant.
I often eat at the restaurant.
Passé composé
Elle a toujours aimé Paris.
She has always loved Paris.
Nous avons souvent voyagé.
We have often travelled.
At the start of a sentence
Souvent, je regarde un film le soir.
I often watch a film in the evening.
ne … jamais
Jamais (never) works together with ne around the verb and replaces pas: Je ne fume jamais. English “never” is one word, but French always needs the ne too. In the passé composé jamais stands between the auxiliary and the participle like the other short adverbs, and ne stays before the auxiliary.
Je ne fume jamais.
I never smoke.
Elle n’est jamais en retard.
She is never late.
Je n’ai jamais vu ce film.
I have never seen this film.
More exact frequency
Fixed expressions let you say more exactly how often something happens. Longer expressions usually stand at the start or the end of the sentence, not in the middle.
Je fais du yoga deux fois par semaine.
I do yoga twice a week.
D’habitude, je me couche à onze heures.
I usually go to bed at eleven.
De temps en temps, je lis un livre.
From time to time, I read a book.
