Question 1

How is the adverb intelligemment formed from the adjective?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the masculine adjective intelligent, which ends in -ent. To form the adverb, you replace the final -nt with -mment, giving us intelligemment. Even though it is spelled with an E, the ending sounds exactly like -amment.

Question 2

Why is intelligemment placed between a and construit?

Accepted Answer

In the past tense (passé composé), short adverbs and common adverbs of manner usually go between the helping verb (here, a) and the past participle (construit).

Question 3

Why does the sentence use cet instead of ce for the word "this"?

Accepted Answer

Argument is a masculine singular noun, so we would normally use ce. However, because argument starts with a vowel, ce changes to cet to make it flow better when spoken.

Question 4

Since we are learning to make adverbs out of words ending in -ant, why is brillant left as is?

Accepted Answer

Because brillant is acting as an adjective here, describing the noun argument (a brilliant argument). You only change it to brillamment if you need an adverb to describe how an action was done (for example, "he succeeded brilliantly").

Question 5

Does argument mean a verbal fight here, like it often does in English?

Accepted Answer

No, argument is a false friend. In French, it strictly means a logical point made in a debate, essay, or discussion. If you want to talk about an angry verbal fight, you would use a word like une dispute.

Il a intelligemment construit cet argument brillant.

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