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Pourtant and cependant: 10 questions on French contrast

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Practise pourtant and cependant at the start or inside a sentence. Ten questions test placement, verb forms and the contrast between two ideas.

In short

Pourtant (“yet”, “nevertheless”) and cependant (“however”) link a statement to an earlier contrasting idea. Write Le texte est court. Pourtant, il est difficile or Le texte est pourtant difficile. These adverbs keep ordinary subject–verb order.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A learner thoughtfully reading a very thin plain book beside a larger closed volume.
A short difficult text gives context to pourtant. Illustration: Atelier
Study first: three useful placements
PositionExample
At the startCependant, la solution reste coûteuse.
After the conjugated verbLa solution reste cependant coûteuse.
Between auxiliary and participleElle a pourtant tout vérifié.

Pourtant often stresses a surprise: you checked everything, yet an error remains. Cependant often introduces a reservation: an idea is useful, but it has a cost. Their meanings overlap. The questions below test sentence structure and meaning rather than asking you to rank two possible synonyms.

  1. Question 1No account needed
    Choose the opening with ordinary statement order.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Cependant, le texte est difficile.. Cependant introduces the contrast; le texte est difficile remains a complete statement.

  2. Question 2No account needed
    Put pourtant inside the statement.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Elle est pourtant convaincante.. Place pourtant after est: the subject and verb keep their ordinary roles.

  3. Question 3No account needed
    Choose the present form.Le raisonnement est long. Pourtant, il ___ clair.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    est. Pourtant does not select the subjunctive. Here the sentence states a present fact.

  4. Question 4No account needed
    Choose a complete contrast statement in the passé composé.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Il a pourtant relu le texte.. The passé composé uses a relu. Pourtant can sit between the auxiliary and participle, with no added que.

  5. Question 5No account needed
    Which continuation overturns the expectation created by “It looked easy”?L’exercice semblait facile. ___

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Pourtant, personne n’a réussi.. Something that looks easy is expected to be manageable; nobody succeeding is the surprise.

  6. Question 6No account needed
    A proposal is useful but expensive. Choose the reservation.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Cependant, elle coûte cher.. The high cost qualifies the positive judgement that the proposal is useful.

  7. Question 7No account needed
    Choose two complete statements joined with a semicolon.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Le texte est court ; pourtant, il est dense.. The semicolon separates complete statements. Pourtant adds no que, and the second statement needs est.

  8. Question 8No account needed
    Complete the subordinate version with bien que.Bien que le texte ___ court, il est difficile.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    soit. The subjunctive comes from bien que: bien que le texte soit court.

  9. Question 9No account needed
    Which sentence asks you to keep a positive result despite a limitation?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Les données sont limitées. Cependant, le résultat est encourageant.. The first balances limited data with an encouraging result; the other links express consequence or explanation.

  10. Question 10No account needed
    What does the writer mean here?L’explication était claire. L’exercice était pourtant difficile.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    The explanation was clear, but the exercise was still difficult.. Pourtant highlights that the difficult exercise goes against the expectation of an easy one.

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