Spelling Change Verbs -cer -ger

Verbes à orthographe corrective

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There’s no official name for them,* but I refer to French verbs that end in –cer or –ger as "spelling change verbs" because they require a small spelling change in certain conjugations. For the most part, these verbs are conjugated just like regular -er verbs, other than a little problem in some conjugations that must be corrected for reasons of pronunciation. It’s easy enough to do, once you understand why and how.

 Note that spelling change verbs are not the same thing as stem-changing verbs, though a few verbs belong to both categories.

–cer verbs

The letter c followed by e, as in the verb effacer, is pronounced [s]. But watch what happens when you conjugate it in the present tense:

For 5 of the 6 conjugations, there’s no problem: the c is followed by e, so the pronunciation is correct. But in "effacons," the c is followed by an o, which means the c is pronounced [k] (see Hard and soft vowels). Since we want the c to be pronounced [s] like it is in the infinitive and all the other conjugations, we need to soften it by changing it to ç (c cédille). So the correct conjugation table is this:

This same spelling change is required in all conjugations where c is followed by a or o:

There is no spelling change in the other conjugations of the above tenses and moods, because the c is followed by e or i, so it’s already soft.

Likewise, there’s no spelling change in any of these verb forms:

• past participle
• conditional
• future
• subjunctive

 You can see all of these conjugations in action in the effacer verb table.

More –cer verbs

–ger verbs

Verbs that end in –ger have the exact same problem with a slightly different solution. The letter g followed by e, as in the verb bouger, is pronounced [ʒ]. But look:

Once again, for most of the conjugations, there’s no problem: the g is followed by e, so the pronunciation is [ʒ]. But in "bougons," the g is followed by an o, which means the g is pronounced [g]. To get back to [ʒ], we need to soften the g by adding an e between it and the o. Here is the correct conjugation table:

This spelling change is required in all conjugations where g is followed by a or o – which are, of course, exactly the same conjugations as for –cer verbs:

There is no spelling change in the other conjugations of the above tenses and moods, since the g is followed by e or i, or in the past participle, conditional, future, or subjunctive.

 You can see all of these conjugations in the bouger verb table.

More –ger verbs   

* Le Bon Usage discusses these verbs in a section called Observations sur le radical, a) Verbes en -er : faits purement graphiques (as opposed to faits aussi phonétiques).

** These are spelling change as well as stem-changing verbs.

 Related lessons

• Present tense
• Regular -er verbs
• Irregular -er verbs
• Stem-changing verbs
• Introduction to verbs
• Vowels
   

 En español

• Verbos con cambio ortográfico
   

 In italiano

• Verbi di cambio ortografico
   

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