Verb drill
Piger or comprendre: practise “I get it” in French
Compare familiar piger with comprendre, study their present-tense forms and complete eight drills. Learn when comprendre means “include” instead.
- B1
- 8 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
Piger is familiar French for “to understand” or “to get it”. Comprendre is neutral and works across ordinary conversations and careful writing. Use comprendre for “include” too: Le programme comprend trois activités.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Study first: the present tense
| Person | piger | comprendre |
|---|---|---|
| je | pige | comprends |
| tu | piges | comprends |
| il / elle / on | pige | comprend |
| nous | pigeons | comprenons |
| vous | pigez | comprenez |
| ils / elles | pigent | comprennent |
Piger follows the regular -er pattern. Keep the e in nous pigeons, just as in nous mangeons. With comprendre, notice je comprends and tu comprends, but il comprend.
- Nora
Tu piges ce qu’il faut faire ?
Do you get what we have to do?
- Samir
Pas encore. On choisit une réponse ou deux ?
Not yet. Do we choose one answer or two?
- Nora
Une seule. Regarde l’exemple.
Just one. Look at the example.
- Samir
Ah, maintenant je comprends !
Ah, now I understand!
Nora’s question uses a familiar verb. Samir’s last reply uses the neutral verb in the same friendly conversation. If you need a clearer explanation, Je ne comprends pas cette consigne names the precise difficulty.
Eight forms in context
Type only the missing verb. Each cue tells you which verb to use, so you can concentrate on its form and the subject. The final two sentences use the “include” meaning.
1 · Understanding: familiar or neutral
- Tu la différence maintenant ? (piger · present)
- Nous mieux avec un exemple. (piger · present)
- Vous la question ? (comprendre · present)
- Elles enfin la règle. (comprendre · present)
- Je ne pas cette phrase. (piger · present)
- Il ton point de vue. (comprendre · present)
2 · Including parts
- Le programme trois activités. (comprendre · present · includes)
- Les deux dossiers les mêmes informations. (comprendre · present · include)
What does piger mean in French?
Je comprends ton idée, mais je ne suis pas d’accord.
I understand your idea, but I disagree.
Understanding and agreement are separate: je comprends tells the listener you follow the idea; je suis d’accord says you accept it. In a description of a programme or a file, comprendre can instead list what it contains.