Important or grave in French? Significance, seriousness and pitch

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Compare important and grave with decisions, serious errors and deep voices. Check adjective agreement and choose the meaning in four short questions.

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In short

Important means significant or substantial; grave often means serious, with worrying consequences. An important decision can be good news. A serious error is une erreur grave. With sound, grave has another meaning: une voix grave is a deep voice.

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Two colleagues calmly check a blank laptop before sending a meeting invitation.
Ce n’est pas grave reassures someone about a correctable mistake. Illustration: Atelier

What are you describing?

important / importanteimportant, significant; substantial

Focus: how much something matters, or its scale

C’est une étape importante pour notre association.
It’s an important step for our association.

Elle a consacré une somme importante au projet.
She devoted a substantial sum to the project.

graveserious

Focus: the seriousness of a problem or its consequences

La perte de ces documents est un problème grave pour l’équipe.
The loss of these documents is a serious problem for the team.

gravedeep or low-pitched

Focus: the pitch of a voice or sound

Il raconte une histoire drôle d’une voix grave.
He tells a funny story in a deep voice.

The two adjectives can describe the same situation from different angles. Un problème important stresses its significance or scale. Un problème grave stresses its seriousness. The reason that follows helps you hear the difference: il concerne tout le projet explains scope; nous risquons de tout perdre explains worrying consequences.

Un détail à corriger
  1. Lina

    J’ai écrit mardi au lieu de mercredi dans mon message.

    I wrote Tuesday instead of Wednesday in my message.

  2. Noé

    Ce n’est pas grave, personne ne l’a encore reçu.

    It’s all right; nobody has received it yet.

  3. Lina

    Je corrige la date. C’est un détail important pour les invités.

    I’ll correct the date. It’s an important detail for the guests.

Here Ce n’est pas grave reassures Lina because the message has not reached anyone yet. The date still matters to the guests. A detail can be important even when a mistake is easy to fix. The phrase is often translated as “It’s all right” or “It doesn’t matter” in a small everyday mishap.

Agreement: keep the noun in view
Noun phrasePlural
une décision importantedes décisions importantes
un détail importantdes détails importants
une erreur gravedes erreurs graves
un problème gravedes problèmes graves
Question 1No account needed
Which sentence says that the help was substantial?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Elle a reçu une aide importante.. Une aide importante describes substantial help; grave would not express that meaning.

Question 2No account needed
What does une voix grave describe?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

A low-pitched voice.. With voix, grave describes pitch rather than the person’s mood or importance.

Question 3No account needed
Choose the correct agreement for “important decisions”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

des décisions importantes. Décisions is feminine plural, so the adjective takes importantes.

Question 4No account needed
Why does Noé say Ce n’est pas grave in the exchange?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Nobody has received the message yet.. The message has not been received, so Lina can correct the date before it causes confusion.

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