Fort as a Noun, Adjective, and Adverb

By Marie-Claire Lander

You may be familiar with the word fort as an adjective meaning “strong.” But are you aware of its many other uses and various meanings? And did you know that fort can be used not only as an adjective, but as a noun and an adverb?

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In our previous lesson on adjectives used as adverbs, we learned that fort as an adjective means “strong,” or sometimes, in a more historical context, "fortified," as in un château fort (a fortified castle). Let’s go to France with Daniel Benchimol to find out more about the château fort of Gisors:

Le château fort de Gisors est un château dit à motte féodale.

The fortified castle of Gisors is a so-called feudal motte castle.

Caption 32, Voyage en France Vexin Normand - Gisors - Part 1
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We'll leave le château fort de Gisors to go to Canada to explore un fort (a fort)—Fort Chambly, to be exact. This is one of the few instances when fort is used as a noun:

Ça, le Fort Chambly c'est un fort de... peut-être une auberge dans le fond.

That, Fort Chambly is a fort of... possibly an inn, in fact.

Caption 1, Le Québec parle aux Français - Part 11
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Now let’s move on and discuss fort as an adverb. In the lyrics of the Stromae song Formidable, fort is equivalent to the adverb très (very). How do we know it’s an adverb and not an adjective? Because fort modifies the adjective minable (pathetic):

Tu étais formidable, j'étais fort minable

You were amazing, I was very pathetic

Caption 54, Français avec Nelly 12 Songs to Improve Your French - Part 2
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You'll also find fort used as an adverb in the French description of the video Manon et Margaux - Le Corbeau et le Renard:

« Le corbeau et le renard », la fameuse fable de Jean de La Fontaine, nous est contée puis expliquée d'une façon fort amusante par nos deux jeunes amies françaises.

The Crow and the Fox, the famous fable by Jean de la Fontaine, is recited then explained to us in a very amusing way by our two young French friends.

Notice how fort stays the same even though amusante takes a feminine ending. Fort is acting as an adverb modifying the adjective amusante, not the feminine noun façon.

Here is a third example of fort meaning “very,” in the expression fort bien. But this time, fort is modifying another adverb, bien (well):

Fort bien assumé, petit homme ! Je te prends à mon service.

Very well executed, little man! I'll take you into my service.

Caption 48, Il était une fois: Les Amériques 9. Cortés et les Aztèques - Part 3
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Now, just to make life more interesting, fort can sometimes be equivalent to bien (well)!

Non, pas vraiment, non, ça... Ça marche pas très fort, quoi.

No, not really, no, it... It's not going too well, you know.

Caption 41, Le Jour où tout a basculé J'ai été séquestré par mes amis - Part 2
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The speaker could also have said:

Ça ne marche pas très bien, quoi.

It's not going too well, you know.

You can even combine bien and fort in the expression pas bien fort (not too well):

Ça ne va pas bien fort.

It’s not going too well.

Conversely, in an affirmative sentence, fort bien means "very well." But note the change in word order:

Ça va fort bien.

It’s going very well.

In addition to meaning “well" or “very," fort can also mean “strongly” or "hard." In the following example, the adverb describes the action of appuyer trop fort (pressing too hard), which is what Marie did. She pressed trop fort (too hard) on her charcoal pen:

Ben, tu as appuyé trop fort. -Je fais des dégâts.

Well, you pressed too hard. -I'm making a mess.

Caption 56, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 17
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Also as mentioned in our previous lesson, the adverb fort can also mean “loudly,” as in parler fort (to speak loudly):

Le mieux, c'est d'ouvrir la fenêtre et de parler fort. -Voilà, d'accord.

The best thing is to open the window and to speak loudly. -Right, OK.

Caption 59, Lionel L'écluse de Réchicourt-le-Château - Part 3
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Finally, let’s go back briefly to fort as a noun. Here is a useful expression that you might like to use for yourself when you don’t feel too confident about something: c’est pas mon fort (it’s not my forte). Note that the expression is mostly used in the negative form. In the song "Les mots d'amour," the singer tells us he is not great at speaking:

Parce que parler c'est pas mon fort

Because speaking is not my forte

Caption 2, Debout Sur Le Zinc Les mots d'amour
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You might also like the expression c’est plus fort que moi (it’s beyond my control) when you feel powerless or can’t help yourself:

Mais là j'avoue que ça a été plus fort que moi.

But there I admit that that was beyond my control.

Caption 15, Melissa Mars From Paris with Love
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In conclusion, if French grammar, c’est pas ton fort (is not your forte), you can click on this link for more examples, and of course, Yabla videos and grammar lessons will come to the rescue. Before you know it, you will be fort en français (great at French)!

Thank you for reading!

Topics Vocabulary