Question 1

Why is fatigants spelled without a u here?

Accepted Answer

In French, verbs ending in -guer (like fatiguer) drop the u when they become verbal adjectives. Here, fatigants describes the state of the noun bruits just like a regular adjective, so it uses the adjective spelling without the u. If it were the present participle (meaning 'tiring out'), it would keep the u and be spelled fatiguant.

Question 2

Why is there an s at the end of fatigants?

Accepted Answer

Because it is acting as a verbal adjective, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Since bruits is masculine plural, fatigants takes a plural s. If it were acting as a present participle (describing an action), it would be invariable and never take an s.

Question 3

Does dropping the u change the pronunciation of the word?

Accepted Answer

No, the adjective fatigant and the present participle fatiguant sound exactly the same. The u in the verb fatiguer simply forces a hard 'g' sound before the vowel e. Since the adjective suffix is -ant, the g is already hard before the a, making the u unnecessary for pronunciation.

Question 4

How would the sentence change if I wanted to use the present participle fatiguant?

Accepted Answer

You would need to use it to describe an active process rather than a passive characteristic. For example: Ces bruits, fatiguant les voisins... (These noises, tiring out the neighbors...). Notice that as a present participle, it keeps the u and does not take an s to match bruits.

Ces bruits sont très fatigants.

Breakdown of Ces bruits sont très fatigants.

Questions & Answers about Ces bruits sont très fatigants.

Learn Ces bruits sont très fatigants and more in French