Verb drill
Keep the consonant after a French nasal vowel: chante, lampe, peinte
Practise endings that keep a nasal vowel: grand/grande, blanc/blanche and peint/peinte. Build the feminine forms and check which consonant becomes audible.
- A2
- 10 answers
- Checked all at once
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In short
A nasal vowel can be followed by a consonant: chante /ʃɑ̃t/ ends in /t/ and lampe /lɑ̃p/ ends in /p/. Several feminine forms keep their nasal vowel and add an audible ending: grand /ɡʁɑ̃/ becomes grande /ɡʁɑ̃d/.
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Study first: the vowel stays nasal
| Masculine | Feminine | Audible ending in the feminine |
|---|---|---|
| grand /ɡʁɑ̃/ | grande /ɡʁɑ̃d/ | /d/ |
| blanc /blɑ̃/ | blanche /blɑ̃ʃ/ | /ʃ/ |
| content /kɔ̃tɑ̃/ | contente /kɔ̃tɑ̃t/ | /t/ |
| patient /pasjɑ̃/ | patiente /pasjɑ̃t/ | /t/ |
| peint /pɛ̃/ | peinte /pɛ̃t/ | /t/ |
Each tilde still sits over the vowel in the feminine form. The added consonant comes after it. In blanche, the spelling changes from c to ch, giving /ʃ/. In grande, the final d becomes audible. Say the whole word in one smooth movement, then carry it into the sentence.
Ma tante est très patiente.
My aunt is very patient.
Both tante /tɑ̃t/ and patiente /pasjɑ̃t/ have a nasal vowel followed by /t/.
See the ending in a concrete phrase
Find:
Change the description to match the noun
Type the feminine form of the word in the hint. After checking, say each completed sentence aloud. Aim for the same nasal vowel as in the masculine form, followed by the new consonant. The first set builds the word; the second puts it into a short description.
1 · Make the feminine form
- grand → feminine
- blanc → feminine
- patient → feminine
- content → feminine
- peint → feminine
2 · Now complete the sentence
- La chambre est très . (grand)
- Ma tante est . (patient)
- La porte est en bleu. (peint)
- La lampe est . (blanc)
- Ma sœur est de son cadeau. (content)
How do bon and bonne sound different?
bon /bɔ̃/ → bonne /bɔn/good → good, feminine
Focus: Here the vowel becomes oral and /n/ is pronounced.
La soupe est bonne.
The soup is good.
fin /fɛ̃/ → fine /fin/thin → thin, feminine
Focus: Here the feminine has oral /i/ and a pronounced /n/.
Cette tranche est fine.
This slice is thin.
These last two pairs belong to another pattern. Keep them separate from the forms you just practised. A feminine ending can make a consonant audible while the vowel stays nasal, or it can change the vowel too. Learning a pair with a full phrase makes the difference easier to remember.