Verb drill
French g, ge and gu: a spelling and pronunciation drill
See why garder has /g/, mangeons has /ʒ/ and guitare keeps /g/. Study the spelling map, then complete eight short French sentences.
- A2
- 8 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
Before a, o and u, g usually sounds /g/, as in garder. Before e and i, it usually sounds /ʒ/, as in geste. The helper letters keep the intended sound: mangeons has /ʒ/ and guitare has /g/.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Spelling | Example | Sound | What to notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| ga, go, gu | garder /gaʁde/ | /g/ | Like the first consonant in English “go”. |
| ge, gi | geste /ʒɛst/ | /ʒ/ | Like the middle consonant in English “measure”. |
| ge before a or o | mangeait /mɑ̃ʒɛ/; mangeons /mɑ̃ʒɔ̃/ | /ʒ/ | The e keeps the soft consonant; it adds no syllable. |
| gu before e or i | guerre /gɛʁ/; guitare /gitaʁ/ | /g/ | The u keeps the hard consonant; it adds no vowel here. |
How does g change in verbs like manger?
nous mangeons → je mangeaiswe eat → I used to eat
Focus: Keep e before o and a.
Nous mangeons ensemble.
We eat together.
Je mangeais chez ma grand-mère.
I used to eat at my grandmother’s.
nous mangeons → nous mangionswe eat → we used to eat
Focus: Before i, g already has /ʒ/: no helper e.
Nous mangions des crêpes le dimanche.
We used to eat pancakes on Sundays.
The same spelling changes appear with nager: nous nageons, je nageais, nous nagions. Read the ending before choosing g or ge. The consonant stays /ʒ/ across these forms; the ending supplies the tense and person.
Two /g/ objects and two /ʒ/ objects
Find:
In bague /bag/ and guitare /gitaʁ/, the u is a spelling helper. In bougie /buʒi/, g stands directly before i, so it has /ʒ/. Keep aiguë /egy/ as a separate example: its final u is pronounced. You will also see the accepted spelling aigüe.
Complete each word or verb form
1 · Keep /ʒ/ in the verb
- Aujourd’hui, nous ensemble. (manger · present)
- Quand j’étais enfant, je chez ma grand-mère. (manger · imparfait)
- À cette époque, nous des crêpes le dimanche. (manger · imparfait)
- En ce moment, nous dans la piscine. (nager · present)
- Avant, je tous les matins. (nager · imparfait)
- L’été dernier, nous chaque jour. (nager · imparfait)
2 · Choose the object from its English meaning
- Il joue de la . (guitar)
- Elle porte une en argent. (ring)