French-English Spelling Equivalents - Lawless French Writing


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Équivalents orthographiques

Thanks to extensive Latin and French influence on English, French and English have many corresponding spelling patterns. These come in handy when learning French, as it means there are lots of cognates (words that are identical or similar) that you’ll easily recognize and understand at first sight – though you do need to beware of faux amis.

Knowing common spelling equivalents can also helpful when you’re writing in French, potentially saving you from having to looking up so many words in a dictionary.

Before you start, a couple of notes:

For the most part, these aren’t hard and fast rules – consider them more like general guiding principles that are bound to have some exceptions.

Also remember that there are often other spelling differences between the two languages, such as accents in French and/or extra letter(s) in one of the languages. For example, it’s helpful to know that French’s –ment is equivalent to –ly in English, but rapidement has an "e" before the suffix that is missing in English’s "rapidly."

Equivalent Word Endings

*French*	*English*		*Exemple*	*Example*	Related lessons
-ain -aine	-an		américain.e marocain.e	American Moroccan	Nationalities
-aire	-ar -ary		nucléaire adversaire	nuclear adversary
-ais -aise	-ish		écossais.e polonais.e	Scottish Polish	Languages, Nationalities
-ance	-ance -ence		tolérance confiance	tolerance confidence
-ant	-ant -ent		redondant indépendant	redundant independence
-ant	-ing		amusant convaincant	amusing convincing	Present participle
-aque	-ack		attaque zodiaque	attack zodiac
-é	-y		calamité purité	calamity purity
-é -ée	-ed		épelé.e	spelled	Past participle
	-t	[UK]		spelt
-el -elle	-al		réel.le accidentel.le	real accidental
-en -enne	-an		agrarien.ne chrétien.ne	agrarian Christian	Adjectives
-ence	-ence		différence existence	difference existence
-ent -ente	-ent		apparent.e équivalent	apparent equivalent
-er	to + verb		choquer	to shock	Infinitives
-eur	-or -our	[US] [UK]	docteur odeur cuiseur	doctor odor/odour cooker	People
	-er
-eux -euse	-ous		curieux.euse fibreux.euse	curious fibrous
-gue	-g		analogue dialogue	analog dialog
-i	-y		canari délai	canary delay
-i -ie	-ed		fini.e	finished	Past participle
-ier -ière	-er		émeutier.ière jardinier.ière	rioter gardener	People
-if -ive	-ive		exclusif.ive distinctif.ive	exclusive distinctive
-ique	-ic -ical		aromatique logique	aromatic logic, logical
-ir	to + verb		choisir	to choose	Infinitives
-isation	-ization	[US]	naturalisation	naturalization organization
	-isation	[UK]	organisation	naturalisation organisation
-iser	-ize	[US]	agoniser	agonize categorize
	-ise	[UK]	catégoriser	agonise categorise
-isme	-ism		activisme bilinguisme	activism bilingualism
-iste	-ist -istic		cycliste fataliste	cyclist fatalist, fatalistic
-ment	-ly		abruptement constamment	abruptly constantly	Adverbs
-oire	-ory		illusoire accessoire	illusory accessory
-ois -oise	-ese		chinois.e viennois.e	Chinese Viennese	Languages, Nationalities
-re	to + verb		conclure	to conclude	Infinitives
-re	-er	[US]	centre	center fiber
	-re	[UK]	fibre	centre fibre
-tion	-tion		adoption compétition	adoption competition
-u -ue	-ed		répondu.e	responded	Past participle

Other Spelling Equivalents

*French*	*English*	*Exemple*	*Example*	Related lessons
^	_s	ancêtre hôpital	ancestor hospital	Circumflex
av-	adv-	aventure avantage	adventure advantage
é-	s-	écale étudier	scale study	Acute accent
en + -ant	-ing	en étudiant en lisant	studying reading	Gerund

Key

.x	Additional or different letter(s) needed for feminine noun or adjective (inclusive writing)
[US]	Applies mainly to American English
[UK]	Applies mainly to British English