Agent Nouns: -eur and -ateur
Revise Agent Nouns: -eur and -ateur for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Higher tier exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Agent nouns are formed by adding -eur or -ateur to a verb stem, as in porter becoming porteur.
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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.
This is a Higher tier only topic, so there's no Foundation paper — only the Higher worksheet and mark scheme below.
Topic overview
Agent nouns name the person who performs an action, and they are usually formed with -eur or -ateur. This is a Higher-only topic.
The suffix is added to the verb stem. Chanter gives un chanteur, jouer gives un joueur, vendre gives un vendeur. Verbs ending in -er often take -ateur instead: créer gives un créateur, and administrer gives un administrateur.
The feminine forms follow set patterns. -eur becomes -euse: une chanteuse, une vendeuse. -ateur becomes -atrice: une créatrice, une actrice. Learning these two pairs covers almost every agent noun likely to appear, and lets you form both genders from a single verb.
Revision notes
Forming agent nouns
Add -eur or -ateur to the verb stem.
Chanter gives un chanteur. Jouer gives un joueur. Vendre gives un vendeur. Créer gives un créateur. Administrer gives un administrateur.
The feminine forms
-eur becomes -euse: une chanteuse, une vendeuse, une joueuse.
-ateur becomes -atrice: une créatrice, une actrice, une administratrice. These two pairs cover almost every agent noun at GCSE.
Why they matter
They let you name a person from any verb you already know.
If you know chanter, you can produce chanteur and chanteuse without learning them separately. This is valuable for vocabulary range in speaking and writing tasks.
Key points
- Agent nouns name who performs an action.
- They are formed with -eur or -ateur.
- Chanter gives un chanteur.
- -eur becomes -euse in the feminine.
- -ateur becomes -atrice in the feminine.
- They can be formed from any known verb.
Worked examples
Example 1
Form the masculine agent noun from chanter. [2 marks]
Working
Example 2
Give the feminine form of un vendeur. [2 marks]
Working
Example 3
Give the feminine form of un créateur. [2 marks]
Working
Common mistakes
Using -eure for the feminine.
The pattern is -eur to -euse.
Using -euse for -ateur nouns.
They take -atrice instead.
Forgetting to change the article.
Un becomes une in the feminine.
Applying the suffix to the infinitive.
It goes on the stem, not the full infinitive.
Exam tips
- Add the suffix to the verb stem.
- Learn -eur/-euse and -ateur/-atrice as pairs.
- Change the article as well as the noun.
- Remember this is a Higher-only topic.
Key terms
- Agent noun
- A noun naming who performs an action.
- -eur
- A suffix forming masculine agent nouns.
- -euse
- The feminine form of -eur nouns.
- -atrice
- The feminine form of -ateur nouns.
Related topics
Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.