French nominalisation: turn an action into a noun phrase
Turn les prix augmentent into l’augmentation des prix. Compare full sentence rewrites, keep time and certainty clear, and try three short questions.
In short
Nominalisation turns an action into a noun phrase: Les prix augmentent → l’augmentation des prix. You can then use that phrase as a subject or after a preposition. Choose an established noun, keep its participants and put it into a complete sentence.
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How do you turn a verb into a noun in French?
| Action | Noun phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| les prix augmentent | l’augmentation des prix | the increase in prices |
| la séance commence | le début de la séance | the start of the session |
| le service ferme | la fermeture du service | the closure of the service |
| l’équipe met la réforme en œuvre | la mise en œuvre de la réforme par l’équipe | the team’s implementation of the reform |
The endings vary: augmentation, début, fermeture. A phrase such as mise en œuvre stays together as a unit. Learn the article too. Once the action becomes the subject of a new sentence, its noun controls agreement: La mise en œuvre est progressive.
Carry the action into a complete sentence
Les prix ont augmenté, ce qui inquiète les habitants.Prices have risen, which worries local residents.
Focus: The action is expressed by a verb.
clause + ce qui + result
L’augmentation des prix inquiète les habitants.
The increase in prices worries local residents.
Le service fermera demain. Les usagers ont été prévenus.The service will close tomorrow. Users have been notified.
Focus: The second sentence can name the event already announced.
ce/cette + action noun
Le service fermera demain. Les usagers ont été prévenus de cette fermeture.
The service will close tomorrow. Users have been notified of this closure.
The price example keeps the same consequence: residents are worried. The closure example uses cette fermeture to refer back to the announced event. That noun gives the reader a precise link to the earlier sentence. It can take several roles: cette fermeture inquiète les usagers or les usagers parlent de cette fermeture.
Keep time and certainty in the sentence
| Starting sentence | Rewrite | What carries the time or qualification? |
|---|---|---|
| La séance commencera à dix heures. | Le début de la séance est prévu à dix heures. | est prévu à dix heures |
| Les prix vont probablement augmenter. | Une augmentation des prix est probable. | est probable |
| Le service n’a pas encore fermé. | La fermeture du service n’a pas encore eu lieu. | n’a pas encore eu lieu |
A bare phrase such as la fermeture du service names an event. The surrounding words tell us whether it happened, is planned or remains possible. In the price pair above, probable preserves uncertainty. Replacing it with certaine would change the message.