Breakdown of Je corrige cette faute d'orthographe dans mon cahier.
Questions & Answers about Je corrige cette faute d'orthographe dans mon cahier.
In French, verbs change their endings depending on the subject.
For corriger (to correct), the present tense starts like this:
- je corrige – I correct
- tu corriges – you correct (singular, informal)
- il/elle/on corrige – he/she/one corrects
So with je, the correct ending is -e, not -es.
The -es ending goes with tu (tu corriges), not je.
Ce / cet / cette / ces all mean this / that / these / those.
They change depending on the gender and number of the noun.
- ce – masculine singular before a consonant (ce cahier, ce livre)
- cet – masculine singular before a vowel or mute h (cet exercice, cet homme)
- cette – feminine singular (cette faute, cette maison)
- ces – plural for both genders (ces fautes, ces cahiers)
The word faute (mistake) is feminine, so you must use cette faute.
Ce faute would be incorrect.
Yes, une faute d’orthographe is the standard expression for a spelling mistake.
Literally it is:
- faute = mistake, fault, error
- d’orthographe = of spelling
So faute d’orthographe = a mistake of spelling, i.e. a spelling mistake.
It’s a very common fixed phrase, used in school, in corrections, etc.
You almost never say faute de lettre or something like that; faute d’orthographe is the normal way.
French uses elision: when de is followed by a word that begins with a vowel or silent h, de usually becomes d’.
- de + orthographe → d’orthographe
- de + école → d’école
- de + histoire → d’histoire
The apostrophe shows that a vowel has been dropped.
You never write de orthographe in standard French; grammatically it must be d’orthographe.
In faute d’orthographe, the structure is faute de + noun = mistake in / of + noun.
English: a mistake in the spelling
French: une faute d’orthographe
French doesn’t need an article (l’orthographe) here because de / d’ functions like “of” without the in this set expression.
You can say la faute de l’orthographe, but that would sound odd here and is not how you naturally talk about spelling mistakes. The idiomatic form is faute d’orthographe without an article after de.
Both faute and erreur can mean mistake, but usage differs:
- une faute d’orthographe is the usual way to say spelling mistake.
- erreur d’orthographe is possible but less common, and can sound a bit more technical or formal.
In many other contexts:
- erreur is used for wrong answers, miscalculations, bad decisions, etc.
- faute often has a sense of fault, transgression, or something you “shouldn’t” do (moral, social, or linguistic fault).
If you’re talking about spelling in school or writing, faute d’orthographe is the natural choice.
- dans mon cahier literally means in my notebook (inside it, on the pages).
- sur mon cahier means on my notebook (on the cover, on top of it physically).
When you correct a spelling mistake that you have written in your notebook, you are correcting it in the notebook, so dans mon cahier is the normal choice.
You would use sur mon cahier if you were talking about something literally on the surface of the notebook (e.g. Il y a une tache sur mon cahier – There is a stain on my notebook).
French possessive adjectives agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify, not with the person who possesses it.
The forms are:
- mon / ma / mes – my (masculine / feminine / plural)
- ton / ta / tes – your
- son / sa / ses – his/her/its
The word cahier (notebook) is masculine: un cahier.
So you must use the masculine form: mon cahier (my notebook), ton cahier (your notebook), etc.
Ma cahier would be incorrect because ma is used only before feminine singular nouns (ma maison, ma question, ma faute).
Un cahier is normally:
- a notebook / exercise book used in school
- or any bound set of lined pages used for writing notes, homework, exercises, etc.
It is not the same as:
- un livre – a book you read (novel, textbook, etc.)
- un carnet – often a smaller notebook, memo pad, pocket notebook
In a school context, mon cahier is what you write your exercises, notes, or homework in.
French present tense can correspond to both English forms:
- Je corrige cette faute d’orthographe can mean:
- I correct this spelling mistake (habitual or general)
- I am correcting this spelling mistake (right now)
If you really want to emphasize the “right now” aspect, you can also say:
- Je suis en train de corriger cette faute d’orthographe.
= I’m in the middle of correcting this spelling mistake.
But in most contexts, simple je corrige is enough and sounds very natural.
Approximate pronunciation in IPA: [fot dɔʁ.tɔ.ɡʁaf]
Key points:
- faute → [fot] (the final -e is silent; vowel is like “foht”)
- d’orthographe → starts with a vowel sound [dɔʁ-], so there is a smooth link from the t of faute to the d: [fot‿dɔʁtɔɡʁaf]
There is no liaison with a /z/ sound here; you don’t say foz d’orthographe.
You simply connect the final t sound of faute smoothly to the d of d’orthographe: faute d’orthographe.
Yes, je corrige cette erreur d’orthographe dans mon cahier is grammatically correct and understandable.
Nuance:
- faute d’orthographe is more common, especially in everyday language and in school contexts.
- erreur d’orthographe can sound slightly more formal or technical, but is also used.
If you’re not sure which to choose in ordinary conversation or writing practice, faute d’orthographe is the safest and most natural option.