Type A adverbs (parler clair), Type C adverbs (en clair), and lexical Type D adverbs (demain) exist in all Romance languages, whereas Type B adverbs (clairement) are absent from the vernacular tradition of Eastern Romance. On this basis, the article offers a comparative overview of Romance languages. Situating the position of French in the Romance language family is particularly useful for a better understanding of the traditions that underly the use of adverbs. It comes out that Type A is part of the vernacular, mainly oral tradition, being used in all Romance languages, particularly in less standardised varieties. Type B belongs to the formal, mainly written tradition, as it appears in normalised varieties of Romance languages which have established a written norm before the fifteenth century. Type C has a bifurcated tradition, with one part belonging to the formal-written tradition and the other to the informal-oral tradition.