Ma routine (Frequency Adverbs & Daily Time)
Say how often you do things and describe your daily routine using frequency adverbs and time expressions.
Now that you know how to conjugate -ER verbs, learn to say how often you do things. French frequency adverbs go AFTER the verb, the opposite of English. Pair them with time-of-day expressions to talk about your full daily routine.
FREQUENCY ADVERBS: express how often something happens
SCALE from always to never: toujours (always) (always) > souvent (often) (often) > normalement (normally) (normally) > généralement (generally) (generally) > parfois (sometimes) / quelquefois (sometimes) (sometimes) > rarement (rarely) (rarely) > ne...jamais (never) (never)
POSITION: in French, frequency adverbs go AFTER the conjugated verb (opposite of English!): Je travaille toujours le matin (I always work in the morning). NOT Je toujours travaille
JAMAIS requires NE before the verb: Je ne mange jamais de viande (I never eat meat). In spoken French, ne is often dropped: Je mange jamais de viande (I never eat meat (informal)) (heard frequently but grammatically informal)
USEFUL TIME EXPRESSIONS: le matin (in the morning) (in the morning)
Common mistake: 'Je toujours travaille': WRONG. The adverb comes AFTER the verb: 'Je travaille toujours'
- Je travaille toujours le matin. — I always work in the morning.
- Elle écoute souvent de la musique. — She often listens to music.
- Nous voyageons parfois en train. — We sometimes travel by train.
- Je ne regarde jamais la télé. — I never watch TV. (ne … jamais)
ÊTRE EN TRAIN DE + infinitive: 'to be in the middle of doing something' (right now).
- Chut ! Le bébé est en train de dormir. — Shh! The baby is sleeping (right now).
- Je suis en train de préparer le dîner. — I'm (in the middle of) preparing dinner.
- Ils sont en train de regarder un film. — They are watching a film (right now).