Question 1

Why is fatigant spelled without a "u" here, since the base verb is fatiguer?

Accepted Answer

This is a special quirk of some French verbs ending in -guer. When used as a standard present participle expressing an action, the word keeps the "u" (en fatiguant). But when it becomes a verbal adjective describing a noun, as it does here with travail, the "u" is dropped to become fatigant.

Question 2

How do we know fatigant is acting as an adjective in this sentence rather than a verb?

Accepted Answer

It is placed directly after the noun it describes (ce travail) and expresses a state or quality rather than an action. Because it acts like a normal adjective here, it must agree in gender and number with the masculine singular noun travail. If the noun were feminine, like une tâche (a task), it would add an "e" and become fatigante.

Question 3

What is the difference between il ne fait plus and il ne fait pas?

Accepted Answer

The standard negation ne ... pas simply means "not," so il ne fait pas means "he does not do." The negation ne ... plus means "no longer" or "not anymore." So, il ne fait plus translates to "he no longer does."

Question 4

Why do we use ce instead of cet before travail?

Accepted Answer

Travail is a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant, so it takes the standard masculine demonstrative adjective ce (meaning "this" or "that"). You only use cet for masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel sound or a mute H, like cet ami (this friend).

Il ne fait plus ce travail fatigant.

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