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Mission: understand news headlines

Nominalisation, turning verbs into nouns. Read verbless headlines and use the same trick in formal writing.

FrenchB2 · Reading the real worldAbout 9 min: 4 reading, 5 practiceUpdated

After this lesson you can
  • Link common verbs to their nouns (augmenter → la hausse, partir → le départ, décider → la décision)
  • Read a headline without a verb and rebuild the full sentence
  • Use the right article and gender for the noun
  • Replace a clause with a noun phrase after en raison de, après, suite à
  • Write one formal sentence with a nominalisation
Reading the real world: lesson 2 of 4
  1. B2 · Reading the real world
  2. Mission: read a novel's first page 10 min
  3. Mission: understand news headlines 9 min
  4. Mission: say exactly what you mean 10 min
  5. Mission: read an opinion column critically 9 min

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Level Level B2 (around the DELF B2 exam). Real French: reading headlines and formal texts.

What it is

Your mission: you are a trainee at a radio newsroom in Lille. The editor, Monsieur Garnier, hands you a list of headlines and says: "Inès, transformez-moi ça en vraies phrases avant neuf heures, pour la présentatrice." Turn each headline back into a spoken sentence, and name the verb hiding inside it.

French newspapers love nominalisation: they replace a verb with a noun, so a headline needs no verb at all.

  • augmenter (la hausse, l'augmentation): Hausse des prix de l'énergie
  • baisser (la baisse): Baisse du chômage chez les jeunes
  • partir (le départ): Départ du ministre des Transports
  • décider (la décision): Décision attendue jeudi
  • réformer (la réforme): Réforme des retraites
  • fermer (la fermeture): Fermeture de l'usine de Roubaix
  • refuser (le refus): Refus du conseil municipal
  • licencier (le licenciement): Licenciements dans une entreprise de transport

How a headline works. It usually drops the article (Hausse des prix, not La hausse des prix), has no verb or only a participle (Décision attendue), and uses de to show who acts or what is affected: Départ du ministre (the minister leaves); Fermeture de l'usine (the factory closes, or is closed).

Turning a headline back into a sentence:

  1. Find the noun and the verb behind it.
  2. The word after de becomes the subject (le ministre part), or the thing the verb acts on.
  3. Choose a tense: for news, the present or the passé composé: Les prix de l'énergie augmentent. / Le ministre est parti.

Gender helps you guess: nouns in -tion, -sion and -ure are almost always feminine, and those in -ée usually are (la décision, la fermeture, l'arrivée; exceptions: le lycée, le musée, le murmure); nouns in -ment are almost always masculine (le licenciement, le lancement; exception: la jument). Le départ and le refus are also masculine, and you learn them one by one.

Quick check

Tap an answer to check it.

  1. « Baisse du chômage chez les jeunes » means:

    Show answer

    Unemployment among young people has fallen.. baisse = baisser, to fall; du chômage = of unemployment.

Why it matters

Headlines and formal French are packed with nouns that hide a verb. If you can only read verbs, you will miss half the news. Nominalisation is also the tool of formal writing: En raison de la hausse des prix, les ménages réduisent leurs dépenses is more compact than Parce que les prix ont augmenté, les ménages… At B2 the DELF writing paper asks for a text of at least 250 words (B1: at least 160), and a formal text reads better with some noun phrases.

Worked example

In the newsroom:

  • M. Garnier: Inès, il me faut ces titres en phrases avant neuf heures.
  • Inès: « Hausse des prix de l'énergie », donc : « Les prix de l'énergie augmentent. »
  • M. Garnier: Bien. Et celui-ci ?
  • Inès: « Fermeture de l'usine de Roubaix : 200 emplois menacés ». Alors : « L'usine de Roubaix ferme, et 200 emplois sont menacés. »
  • M. Garnier: Et le dernier ?
  • Inès: « Baisse du chômage chez les jeunes » devient « Le chômage des jeunes baisse. »
  • M. Garnier: Parfait. Vous avez compris le principe.

All the headlines here are invented for this lesson.

Real French: headlines drop the article and the verb on purpose, to be short; spoken news bulletins turn them back into full sentences, as you just did. Phrases such as en raison de, suite à, à la suite de and après + noun are standard in formal writing: Suite à la décision du conseil, l'usine ferme. (Suite à is widespread in administrative writing, though some style guides prefer à la suite de.)

Common mistake

Keeping the verb form where a noun is needed, or getting the gender wrong: wrong: le décider du conseil, wrong: le baisse des prix, wrong: un fermeture. The nouns are la décision, la baisse, une fermeture.

Another trap is copying the clause into a phrase that needs a noun: wrong: en raison de les prix ont augmenté. After en raison de, put a noun phrase (en raison de la hausse des prix) or switch to parce que + a full clause.

Quick check

Tap an answer to check it.

  1. Rewrite "Because prices rose, …" in formal French with a noun.

    Show answer

    En raison de la hausse des prix, …. en raison de + noun phrase.

Key terms

la nominalisation
turning a verb into a noun (augmenter → la hausse)
le titre
the headline
la hausse / l'augmentation
the rise
la baisse
the fall
le départ
the departure
la décision
the decision
en raison de
because of (formal)
suite à
following, as a result of

Practise the key terms

Tap a card to turn it over. 8 cards.

FrontBack
la nominalisationturning a verb into a noun (augmenter → la hausse)
le titrethe headline
la hausse / l'augmentationthe rise
la baissethe fall
le départthe departure
la décisionthe decision
en raison debecause of (formal)
suite àfollowing, as a result of

Practice

Sort it

Masculine or feminine?

  1. départ

    Show answer

    Masculine. le départ

  2. baisse

    Show answer

    Feminine. la baisse

  3. décision

    Show answer

    Feminine. -sion nouns are almost always feminine

  4. licenciement

    Show answer

    Masculine. -ment nouns are almost always masculine

  5. fermeture

    Show answer

    Feminine. -ure nouns are almost always feminine (exception: le murmure)

  6. refus

    Show answer

    Masculine. le refus

Recognition drill

Pick the right answer, as fast as you can.

All pairs

Tap a card to turn it over. 7 cards.

FrontBack
augmenterla hausse
baisserla baisse
partirle départ
déciderla décision
réformerla réforme
fermerla fermeture
refuserle refus

Quick quiz

Tap an answer to check it.

  1. « Hausse des prix de l'énergie ». Which sentence says the same thing?

    Show answer

    Les prix de l'énergie augmentent.. hausse → augmenter; des prix de l'énergie → the energy prices rise.

  2. What is the noun for décider?

    Show answer

    la décision. décider → la décision.

  3. « Fermeture de l'usine de Roubaix ». Which sentence says the same thing?

    Show answer

    L'usine de Roubaix ferme.. fermeture → fermer; the factory closes.

Build the sentence

Build "Because of the rise in energy prices, households are cutting their spending." Start with the cause.

Show answer

En raison de la hausse des prix de l'énergie, les ménages réduisent leurs dépenses.. en raison de + noun phrase, then the main clause.

Practise speaking

Studyfern has no voice tools of its own. To practise out loud, copy this prompt into a voice-capable AI assistant and talk with it.

Mission role-play. You are Monsieur Garnier, a radio news editor. Speak naturally but clearly, at level B2, using vous. Give me, one at a time, five short invented headlines without a verb (for example « Hausse du prix du pain », « Départ du directeur de l'hôpital »). For each one, ask me to say it as a full spoken sentence and to name the verb hidden in the noun. After each answer, tell me in English what kind of mistake I made, if any (wrong verb, wrong article or gender, wrong meaning), and let me try again. Then ask me to rewrite one of the sentences in formal style with « en raison de » or « suite à ». The mission is complete when I have turned all five headlines into correct sentences and written one formal sentence: then say « Mission accomplie ! » and give me one tip. Keep every reply under 3 sentences.

Listen too. Listen to native speakers before and after: see the free listening and shadowing links.

Good to know. AI feedback on pronunciation is hit and miss, so check yourself against native recordings. Many assistants turn your speech into text first, so a vowel or liaison you got wrong may be silently “heard” as the right word. Don't share personal details: use a made-up name and town.

New to this? Read Practising speaking with an AI.

In short

  • A headline often replaces a verb with a noun: hausse, baisse, départ, décision, réforme, fermeture.
  • Headlines drop the article and often the verb; de shows who acts or what is affected.
  • To rebuild the sentence: find the verb, make the word after de its subject, choose a tense.
  • Gender helps: -tion, -sion, -ure, -ée usually feminine; -ment almost always masculine; learn départ and refus one by one.
  • Formal writing uses the same trick: en raison de la hausse des prix, suite à la décision du conseil.

Mastery check

Answer without looking back. Score 80% or more and the lesson is marked done. Your result is kept only in this browser.

Check yourself

Answer in your head first, then open the answer. Nothing is saved.

  1. Turn « Départ du ministre des Transports » into a sentence.

    Show answer

    Le ministre des Transports part (or: est parti).

  2. What are the nouns for augmenter and baisser?

    Show answer

    la hausse (or l'augmentation), and la baisse.

  3. Complete: « En raison de … des prix, les ménages achètent moins. » (augmenter)

    Show answer

    la hausse (or l'augmentation).

Further reading