Learn French: La maladie est très contagieuse, voire mortelle. - The illness is very contagious, and even deadly.

La maladie est très contagieuse, voire mortelle.

The illness is very contagious, and even deadly.

Breakdown of La maladie est très contagieuse, voire mortelle.

Questions & Answers about La maladie est très contagieuse, voire mortelle.

How does voire change the meaning compared to just using et (and)?

Voire doesn't just add information; it escalates it. It means "and even" or "if not [worse]". In this sentence, it takes the severity of the illness from just being highly spreadable (très contagieuse) to a much more extreme level (mortelle).

Is voire related to the verb voir (to see)?

No, they are completely different words, though they sound identical. Voir is the verb "to see", while voire is an adverb meaning "and even". It actually comes from an old Latin word meaning "truly". Be careful not to forget the final -e when writing it, as mixing them up is a common mistake even for native speakers!

I often hear French people say voire même. Could we use that in this sentence?

Yes, you will often hear people say voire même mortelle in everyday spoken French. However, strictly speaking, it is a pleonasm (a redundancy) because both voire and même carry the idea of "even". In formal writing or exams, it is always safer to stick to just voire, as shown in this sentence.

Why do contagieuse and mortelle both have feminine endings?

They are both adjectives describing la maladie, which is a feminine singular noun. Because voire links these two adjectives together as part of the same description, both must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.