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Turning verbs into nouns — the key to written French. This guide explains La Nominalisation in French with clear rules, real examples and practice for every CEFR level. For instance: « la construction » — La construction du pont a commencé.
Turning verbs into nouns — the key to written French
| Verbe | Nom | Exemple |
|---|---|---|
| construire | la construction | La construction du pont a commencé. |
| augmenter | l’augmentation | l’augmentation des prix |
| arriver | l’arrivée | à l’arrivée du train |
| développer | le développement | le développement durable |
| fermer | la fermeture | la fermeture du magasin |
| Suffixe | Genre | Exemples |
|---|---|---|
| -tion / -sion | féminin | la création, la décision, la pollution |
| -ment | masculin | le changement, le développement |
| -age | masculin | le recyclage, le passage |
| -ée / -ure | féminin | l’arrivée, la fermeture, l’ouverture |
| Adjectif | Nom |
|---|---|
| riche → la richesse | beau → la beauté |
| lent → la lenteur | libre → la liberté |
💡 Pourquoi c’est du B2
Newspaper headlines & formal writing LOVE nouns: « Augmentation du chômage » instead of « Le chômage augmente ». Learn to switch between the two.
It makes your DELF written production denser and more sophisticated: « Grâce au développement des transports… » beats a string of verbs.
Watch the gender: nearly all -tion/-sion nouns are feminine; -ment/-age are masculine — a reliable shortcut.
📚 Free French lessons at learnfrench.co
augmenter → l’___ (the noun) (-tion, feminine)
augmentation
développer → le ___ (-ment, masculine)
développement
arriver → l’___ (feminine) (-ée)
arrivée
Translate into French: « The rise in rents worries residents. » (translation)
L’augmentation des loyers inquiète les habitants.
Translate into French: « The construction of the school will take two years. » (translation)
La construction de l’école durera deux ans.
Translate into French: « People talk a lot about global warming. » (translation)
On parle beaucoup du réchauffement climatique.
Go further: DELF B2 — a realistic study plan that works.
Turning verbs into nouns — the key to written French. Follow the rules and patterns in the lesson above, and practise with real sentences like « la construction » (La construction du pont a commencé).
Yes — « la construction » means « La construction du pont a commencé », and « l’augmentation » means « l’augmentation des prix ». The lesson above has many more examples with explanations.
This topic is introduced around B2 and refined at higher levels — pick your level from the links at the top of the page. You can also drill it with the interactive exercises and games below.
Games built from this exact page — turn what you just read into play:
5 quick questions on « La Nominalisation » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →