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Spelling Changes in Verb Stems

FoundationHigherAQA

Revise Spelling Changes in Verb Stems for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Some verbs change their stem spelling, such as mener becoming je mène and manger becoming nous mangeons.

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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.

Foundation

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Higher

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Topic overview

Some -er verbs are regular in their endings but change their stem spelling in certain forms, to keep the pronunciation consistent.

Verbs ending in -ger add an e before the -ons ending: nous mangeons, nous voyageons. Without the e the g would harden. Verbs ending in -cer change c to ç before -ons: nous commençons, keeping the soft sound.

Verbs like acheter and lever add a grave accent in the forms where the ending is silent: j'achète, tu achètes, il achète, ils achètent, but nous achetons and vous achetez keep the plain e. Appeler and jeter double the consonant instead: j'appelle, but nous appelons.

Revision notes

-ger and -cer verbs

-ger verbs add an e before -ons: nous mangeons, nous voyageons, nous nageons.

-cer verbs change c to ç before -ons: nous commençons, nous lançons. Both changes preserve the soft pronunciation that would otherwise be lost.

Acheter-type verbs

Acheter, lever, mener add a grave accent where the ending is silent.

J'achète, tu achètes, il achète, ils achètent. But nous achetons and vous achetez keep the plain e, because those endings are pronounced.

Appeler-type verbs

Appeler and jeter double the consonant instead of adding an accent.

J'appelle, tu appelles, il appelle, ils appellent. But nous appelons and vous appelez keep the single l. The pattern of which forms change is identical to acheter.

Key points

  • Some -er verbs change their stem spelling.
  • -ger verbs add an e before -ons.
  • -cer verbs change c to ç before -ons.
  • Acheter adds a grave accent.
  • Appeler doubles the consonant.
  • The nous and vous forms keep the plain stem.

Worked examples

Example 1

Give the nous form of manger. [2 marks]

Working

nous mangeonsadd an e before the -ons ending
The e keeps the g soft, which it would not be before oexplain the reason

Example 2

Give the nous form of commencer. [2 marks]

Working

nous commençonschange the c to ç before -ons
The cedilla keeps the c soft before oexplain the reason

Example 3

Give the je and nous forms of acheter. [2 marks]

Working

j'achète with a grave accentgive the singular form
nous achetons with a plain egive the plural form

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting the e in nous mangeons.

    Without it the g would harden.

  • Omitting the cedilla in nous commençons.

    The ç is required before o.

  • Adding the accent to nous achetons.

    The nous and vous forms keep the plain e.

  • Doubling the consonant in nous appelons.

    Only the silent-ending forms double it.

Exam tips

  • Add the e for -ger verbs before -ons only.
  • Use the cedilla for -cer verbs before -ons only.
  • Change the stem only where the ending is silent.
  • Keep nous and vous forms plain for acheter and appeler.

Key terms

Stem change
A spelling change preserving pronunciation.
Cedilla
The mark under ç keeping the c soft.
Grave accent
The accent in j'achète.
Doubled consonant
The change in j'appelle.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.