nécessitaitvsnécessitantWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nécessitait is a verb, nécessitant is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nécessitait” is a verb and “nécessitant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,722
“nécessitait” frequency rank
#13,850
“nécessitant” frequency rank
44572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nécessitait nécessitant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de nécessiter. Qui contraint et qui ôte la liberté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nécessitait and nécessitant apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
nécessitait
11 ch
nécessitant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nécessitait is \ne.se.si.tɛ\ while nécessitant is \ne.sɛ.si.tɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “nécessitait” becomes n in “nécessitant”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nécessitait is recorded at frequency rank #30,722, classified as averb, pronounced \ne.se.si.tɛ\. nécessitant is at rank #13,850, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ne.sɛ.si.tɑ̃\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 44572, this pair ranks #209,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nécessitait vs nécessitant

Shared letters: aceinsté. Private to "nécessitait": -. Private to "nécessitant": -.

"nécessitait" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC  ·  "nécessitant" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC

Frequency comparison

nécessitait#30,722
nécessitant#13,850

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nécessitait" and "nécessitant" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nécessitait" is a verb and "nécessitant" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nécessitait" or "nécessitant"?
"nécessitant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,850 in our French list, against #30,722 for "nécessitait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nécessitait vs nécessitant

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “nécessitait”; for an adjective, it's “nécessitant”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nécessitait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list