Common mistakes
Effectuer or faire? Choose a natural French action verb
Use effectuer for checks, calculations and repairs, keep faire in everyday expressions, and practise clear rewrites with three focused questions.
- B2
- 3 corrections
- Examples and fixes
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In short
Effectuer means “carry out” or “perform” an action: effectuer une vérification, un calcul or une réparation. Faire has a much wider range, including making things and fixed expressions. For a clear short sentence, a direct verb often fits: vérifier, calculer, réparer.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
- effectuer une vérificationto prove everything is correctto carry out a check
Lina a effectué une vérification des dates.Lina checked the dates.
The action is a check. Add the result separately: Elle a trouvé une erreur means “She found a mistake”.
- faire un gâteaueffectuer un gâteauto make a cake
Il fait un gâteau pour ses amis.He is making a cake for his friends.
Use faire or préparer for making the cake. Effectuer goes naturally with a named operation or task.
- faire attentioneffectuer attentionto pay attention / be careful
Faites attention aux dates.Pay attention to the dates.
Keep the expression faire attention à. A formal verb cannot replace each occurrence of faire.
When do you use effectuer instead of faire?
| Direct verb | With faire | With effectuer |
|---|---|---|
| Elle vérifie les dates. | Elle fait une vérification des dates. | Elle effectue une vérification des dates. |
| Il calcule le total. | Il fait un calcul. | Il effectue un calcul. |
| Nous réparons la porte. | Nous faisons une réparation. | Nous effectuons une réparation. |
The longer version can fit a report or a description of a procedure. Faire is also correct in careful writing: Nous avons fait les vérifications nécessaires. Choose the version that says what happened clearly. A noun such as opération is useful when the reader already knows which operation you mean.
- Lina
J’ai effectué la vérification ce matin.
I carried out the check this morning.
- Paul
Tu as trouvé une erreur ?
Did you find a mistake?
- Lina
Oui, la date était incorrecte. Je l’ai corrigée.
Yes, the date was incorrect. I corrected it.
Lina a vérifié les dates ce matin et a corrigé une erreur.
Lina checked the dates this morning and corrected a mistake.
This shorter account keeps the person, time, check and result. A effectué is past; effectuera would make the action future.
An action and its object
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