Verb drill
Fort or puissant: practise strong, loud and powerful in French
Practise fort, forte, fortes and puissant with sound, skill and power examples. A short transformation drill shows when fort changes and when it stays fixed.
- B1
- 8 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
Fort can mean strong, loud or good at a subject: un vent fort, parler fort, être fort en maths. Puissant usually highlights power: un moteur puissant. As an adjective, fort agrees; after parler, it stays unchanged.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Pattern | French example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fort / forte / forts / fortes | Ces voix sont fortes et claires. | These voices are strong and clear. |
| parler fort | Elles parlent fort. | They speak loudly. |
| être fort en + subject | Elle est forte en calcul. | She is good at arithmetic. |
| puissant / puissante | Cette lampe est puissante. | This lamp is powerful. |
Describe the thing and the sound separately
Find:
un bruit forta loud noise
Focus: the volume you hear
Le bruit est trop fort. Je baisse le son.
The noise is too loud. I’m turning the sound down.
un moteur puissanta powerful engine
Focus: the engine’s power
Ce moteur est puissant, mais assez silencieux.
This engine is powerful, but fairly quiet.
A powerful speaker can play quietly. A quiet engine can be powerful. The noun and the situation guide the English translation. The adjectives also overlap: une voix forte and une voix puissante can both describe a strong voice. For school subjects, keep the pattern être fort en.
What is the difference between fort and puissant?
Write only the missing word. For each row, the hint gives the adjective to use. Decide whether it describes a noun, or acts as an adverb after parler.
1 · Agreement and complete patterns
- La voix est . (fort · feminine singular)
- Les voix sont . (fort · feminine plural)
- Les voisins parlent . (fort · loudly)
- Les voisines parlent . (fort · loudly)
- Ces deux moteurs sont . (puissant · masculine plural)
- Ces lampes sont . (puissant · feminine plural)
- Ma sœur est en maths. (fort · feminine singular)
- Mes frères sont en calcul. (fort · masculine plural)