Verb drill
Petit or petite: which adjective endings can you hear?
Compare petit/petite, bon/bonne and joli/jolie, then complete eight descriptions. See when gender changes the sound and when grammar supplies the answer.
- A2
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In short
In petit /pəti/ and petite /pətit/, you hear /t/ in the feminine form. Other pairs change a vowel too, while joli and jolie sound alike. A written final e does not automatically add a syllable.
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Study first: three kinds of change
| Masculine | Feminine | What changes? |
|---|---|---|
| Il est petit. | Elle est petite. | /pəti/ → /pətit/: hear /t/. |
| Il est grand. | Elle est grande. | /ɡʁɑ̃/ → /ɡʁɑ̃d/: hear /d/. |
| Il est bon. | Elle est bonne. | /bɔ̃/ → /bɔn/: oral vowel plus /n/. |
| Il est long. | Elle est longue. | /lɔ̃/ → /lɔ̃ɡ/: nasal vowel stays. |
| Il est joli. | Elle est jolie. | Both /ʒɔli/: spelling changes. |
| Il est calme. | Elle est calme. | Both /kalm/: same spelling and sound. |
Compare bon/bonne with long/longue: the feminine form of bonne has an oral vowel, but longue keeps its nasal vowel. Learn the pair with its meaning. The extra consonant can be a useful clue, and the noun tells you which form belongs in the sentence.
Words to picture and say
Find:
Complete the descriptions
Write the adjective for the noun shown. In the first six rows, imagine saying the whole sentence to someone. For the last two, the sound stays the same: let the feminine noun guide your spelling.
1 · Eight descriptions
- Ma sœur est . (petit → feminine)
- Mon frère est . (grand → masculine)
- La soupe est . (bon → feminine)
- Le trajet est . (long → masculine)
- La route est . (long → feminine)
- Ma tante est . (grand → feminine)
- Cette robe est . (joli → feminine)
- La rue est . (calme → feminine)
Can you hear the difference between petit and petite?
Un petit enfant dort.
A small child is sleeping.
Before the vowel in enfant, masculine petit has liaison /t/.
Compare that phrase with Le sac est petit. An audible /t/ before a noun is not enough on its own to prove an adjective is feminine. In these exercises, the adjective comes at the end of the sentence, so you can focus on the form itself. Plural petites also has the same ending sound as petite in this position.