Verb drill
French elision practice: l’amie, j’arrive and s’il
See what the apostrophe removes in l’amie, j’arrive and m’habille, then complete ten short phrases, including h muet, h aspiré and si elle.
- A1
- 10 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the A1 notebook →
In short
Elision removes a vowel from certain short French words: la becomes l’ in l’amie, and je becomes j’ in j’arrive. The apostrophe marks the missing vowel. This happens before a vowel or an h muet, but an h aspiré blocks it.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Starting words | Written phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| le + ami | l’ami | the male friend |
| la + amie | l’amie | the female friend |
| je + arrive | j’arrive | I’m arriving |
| me + habille | m’habille | get dressed: with je |
| de + Alice | d’Alice | Alice’s; of Alice |
| que + il | qu’il | that he |
L’ami and l’amie sound alike. Their genders remain different: un ami and une amie. The apostrophe shortens the article; it leaves the noun and its gender intact.
l’hommethe man
Focus: H muet permits elision.
L’homme attend dehors.
The man is waiting outside.
le hérosthe hero
Focus: H aspiré blocks elision.
Le héros arrive.
The hero is arriving.
Neither homme nor héros begins with an English /h/ sound. The labels tell you whether words connect across that boundary. A dictionary marks the h aspiré so you can choose le héros and les héros with the appropriate separation.
When does si become s’ in French?
S’il arrive tôt, nous partons ensemble.
If he arrives early, we leave together.
Si elle arrive tôt, nous partons ensemble.
If she arrives early, we leave together.
Si elides before il and ils. Keep it whole before elle and elles. Likewise, tu stays whole in standard writing: tu arrives. The usual apostrophe rule applies to a set of grammatical words, rather than every word ending in a vowel.
Join the words
Type the whole phrase named in the hint. Keep the apostrophe tight against both sides: j’arrive, with no spaces. Straight and curly apostrophes are both accepted in this sheet.
1 · Ten short phrases
- le français. (je + aime)
- est près de chez moi. (la + école)
- Je après ma douche. (me + habille)
- La sœur travaille ici. (de + Alice)
- Je crois arrive demain. (que + il)
- est dans le salon. (le + homme)
- parle. (le + héros)
- viennent, nous mangeons ensemble. (si + ils)
- vient, nous mangeons ensemble. (si + elle)
- à quelle heure ? (tu + arrives)